Jim Hungerford

Role: Chief Executive Officer

Appointed CEO of The Shepherd Centre in February 2011, Jim Hungerford comes to the role with 30 years' experience in health sciences. Prior to joining The Shepherd Centre, Jim held CEO positions in Australia and internationally, most recently CEO of Pareto Fundraising. Jim's prior roles include CEO of Intervet in the United Kingdom, various senior management positions in companies in Germany and in the United States, as well as positions in the biotechnology sector and as a Veterinarian in private practice. Jim is also a Director with WorkVentures Ltd, a charity that engages with individuals and communities to improve lives through new skills, access to technology, community contribution and fulfilling employment.

Aleisha Davis

Role: Director of Clinical Programs

Area of responsibility: Program Services

Aleisha joined The Shepherd Centre in 2003, working as a full time Auditory-Verbal Therapist for 5 years before moving into the management of the clinical program. This encompasses the Early Intervention Program, Cochlear Implant Program and Program for families from rural and remote areas. It also includes responsibility for Auditory-Verbal Therapists, Audiologists and Family Support Workers. Aleisha also lectures at the University of Sydney in Aural Habilitation. She has a Masters in Applied Linguistics from Cambridge University UK researching the nature of language acquisition and speech and language disorders and a Masters of Speech Pathology from Macquarie University, Sydney Australia.

Bernard Ho

Role: Director of Operations

Area of Responsibility: Corporate Services

Bernard joined The Shepherd Centre in June 2011, taking on the stewardship of managing the Operations Team. The core responsibilities are Financial Mangagement, Workplace Health and Safety, Facilities & Infrastructure, Human Resources & Corporate Governance.

The overriding objective in Operations is to provide advisory services to the organisation, embed efficient processes, improve the shared service experience and create a culture of strong accountability across the organisation. In his most recent past role, he headed up the Finance Team at Mater Medical Research Institute & has a sound knowledge of the Not for Profit sector. He has an Accounting degree at Macquarie University and is a qualified CPA.

Yetta Abrahams

Role: Principal Audiologist

Yetta is the Principal Audiologist at The Shepherd Centre, overseeing all the audiological services at each of the five centres. She completed her Masters in Clinical Audiology at Macquarie University researching Late Auditory Responses in School-Aged Children. She has a background in diagnostic audiology and has worked with cochlear implants for the past ten years. Along with a keen interest in research, Yetta has lectured at a university level for the past six years and, prior to starting at The Shepherd Centre in 2008, held the position of Audiology Discipline Specialist in the Speech Pathology Department at the University of Sydney in 2008 and 2009. She has presented at a number of national and international conferences over this period.

Tracy Hopkins

Role: Principal Listening & Spoken Language Specialist

Tracy is a certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist and Speech Pathologist and has been with The Shepherd Centre since she graduated with a Masters in Speech and Language Pathology in March 2003. Before going back to study speech pathology, Tracy worked as a research assistant as part of a research team investigating the mechanisms involved in auto-immune diseases and then moved into high school science teaching. During Tracy’s time at The Shepherd Centre, she considers herself lucky to have had several roles, which have allowed her to travel around all the centres and get to know most of our families.

Sara Beresford

Role: Principal Child and Family Counsellor

Sara started at The Shepherd Centre in October 2010. She has over 28 years of experience in various child and family-focused roles, clinical social work and counselling positions in government, charity organisations and in the private sector. This has been both in direct clinical work and in management capacities. Sara works across the Liverpool and Sydney centres, but also works with the Child and Family Counsellors at the other centres. She works clinically with families, as well as developing the Child and Family Counselling team and the services it provides across all the centres.

Donna Sperandio

Role: Principal Listening and Spoken Language Specialist

Donna joined the Shepherd Centre in 2011 as Principal Listening and Spoken Language Specialist. Her key roles are Clinical Coordination and Training and Mentoring of therapists. Donna completed her Masters in Education (Hearing Impairment) at the University of Melbourne in 2002. She achieved Auditory-Verbal certification in 2003. She has worked since 1997 delivering therapy to children with hearing impairment, and since 2003 as an Auditory Verbal Therapist, working throughout New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Her particular interests are in habilitation following cochlear implantation, the development of theory of mind in children with a hearing loss, and mentoring of auditory verbal therapists.

Sharon Hill

Role: Co-ordinator Families & Centres

Sharon has been with The Shepherd Centre since 2009. Sharon’s role is to co-ordinate support services for children and families who come to The Shepherd Centre and is instrumental in the successful running of our annual Residential Workshops. Sharon also performs the role of assistant to the Director of Clinical Programs and the Principal Listening & Spoken Language Specialists.

Moana Wood

Role: Fundraising Manager

Moana has been with The Shepherd Centre since the start of 2011 and oversees all fundraising activities for the organisation including individual giving, direct mail and fundraising events.

Mark Bond

Role: Communications Manager

Mark joined The Shepherd Centre at the end of 2011 and manages all internal and external communications including media and public relations, social media, the organisation’s online platforms and associated publications.

Duncan Knight

Role: Key Relationships Manager

Duncan joined The Shepherd Centre in 2011. As a member of the Fundraising Team, Duncan assists with the development and nurturing of relationships with new and existing supporters of The Shepherd Centre, including those who leave a gift (Bequest) in their Will.

Berthe Youakim

Role: Grants Manager

In 2011, Berthe joined the organisation to secure support from various institutions, such as trusts, foundations, philanthropic organisations and through corporate sponsorships. Berthe also manages the Centres interests in relation to government funding cycles and coordinates submissions and acquittals.