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Advisory Board

Robert Forsyth
Chairman
Robert Forsyth retired as Anglican Bishop of South Sydney at the end of 2015 having served in that role from 2000. Previously he was Rector of St Barnabas Broadway and Anglican Chaplain to the University of Sydney.
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Jeffery D Cummings
Vice Chairman
Former Area Seventy in the South Pacific, Mission President in New Zealand and National Advisor of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia. He is a self-employed corporate advisor and professional non-executive.
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Keith Thompson
Secretary & Managing Director
Keith Thompson is a Professor in the Sydney School of Law and Business at the University of Notre Dame Australia. In the 1980s he was a partner in a commercial law firm in Auckland and then worked for 20 years as International Legal Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific from offices in Sydney and Auckland and in Africa from Offices in Johannesburg and Accra in Ghana.
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Rev Keith V Garner
Board Member
Keith Garner is the Superintendent and CEO of Wesley Mission, based in Sydney, Australia. He originated in Britain and served in the British Methodist Church for 25 years. He was appointed to this key role in 2005. Wesley Mission is one of the most dynamic city centre churches in the world and the largest parish in the Uniting Church in Australia, with a hugely diverse community service program in 180 centres. Sir Alan Walker was one of Keith’s predecessors. Keith oversees over 2,200 staff and close to 6,000 volunteers, in a Mission that combines strong community services work and a passionate Christian commitment and Wesley Mission has a $250million budget. As well as leading the organisation, he preaches each week and presents a weekly television program, Wesley Impact! He has been a strong advocate to work in relation to Financial Stress, Homelessness and Suicide Prevention. Keith is best known for his preaching and teaching ministry and commitment to social justice. He is regularly sought for comment on matters of social concern. For six years, he served as the Deputy Co-Chair of the Premier’s Council on Homelessness. His ministry has taken him across the world to North America, the Bahamas, South Africa, Myanmar (Burma), India, New Zealand, Iceland and three trips to China. Wesley Mission is a multi-faceted Mission with eleven separate congregations meeting in the Wesley Centre each Sunday and the work amongst Chinese, Samoan and Indonesian Christians has grown greatly in recent years. In 2015 Keith was honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his work with the homeless and marginalised. Keith Garner has sat on numerous Boards including the Community Council of Australia and is a founding Director of the End Street Sleeping Collaboration Ltd.
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Brendan Long
Board Member
Dr Brendan Long is an economist and published religious thinker. He has over 25 years of experience as an economist – ten years, as an economist in Government for central agencies like the Treasury, the Prime Minister’s Department and the Productivity Commission, ten years in leadership roles for national peak bodies in the not for profit sector and academe, and six years as a political adviser to four Federal Cabinet Ministers. He has degrees in economics and philosophy from ANU and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge. Dr Long’s academic research focuses on the dialogue between economics and theology focusing on the work of Adam Smith. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture which is a research institute of Charles Sturt University.
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Gawaine Powell Davies
Board Member
Gawaine Powell Davies is Chair of the Buddhist Council of NSW. He was Associate Professor and a director of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at the University of NSW, where he led the primary health care research stream. He is also on the Board of Nan Tien Institute and the committees of Sydney Insight Meditators and the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.
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Philip Hughes
Board Member
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Michael Casey
Board Member
Michael Casey is the Director of the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University. Before joining ACU in 2015, Michael worked for many years for the Catholic Church and served on the governing bodies of a number of Catholic higher education providers in Melbourne and Sydney. Michael holds a PhD in sociology from La Trobe University, Melbourne, and degrees in law and arts from Monash University, Melbourne. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC (Nov 2006–Jan 2007), and completed the Oxford Advanced Leadership and Management Program at Säid Business School at the University of Oxford in 2014. His published writings are focused on democracy, culture and religion.
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Jeremy Jones
Board Member
Jeremy Jones AM is the Director of International and of Community Affairs for the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. He is an Honorary Life Member and Former President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and is a member of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. He has been awarded the 2007 Australian Human Rights Medal and the 2016 Stepan Kerkyasharian AO Harmony Award for his work in interfaith dialogue and fighting discrimination and racism.
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Ida Walker
Board Member
Ida Walker serves as the National Director of Public Discourse at the Baha’i Office of External Affairs. She represents the Baha’i community in its engagement with the Australian Government, religious communities and civil society organisations on matters which have a bearing on the betterment of Australian society. This involves promoting and collaborating to address issues of social importance including social cohesion, gender equality, the role of religion, inter-faith harmony, and the role of youth in society, amongst others. She attends the Commission on the Status of Women annually as part of the official Baha'i International Community’s delegation to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Ida has also spent several years coordinating empowerment projects and educational programs for the Australian Baha'i Community across QLD, NSW, VIC & TAS addressing the material, social and spiritual empowerment of people at the grassroots. Ida Walker has a background in clinical and counselling psychology, also working with SMEs and NGOs such as Lifeline & YWCA to implement leadership and development programs.
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Neil Foster
Board Member
Neil Foster is an Associate Professor in Law at the Newcastle Law School in the University of Newcastle, NSW. He has a combined Arts/Law degree from UNSW, qualifications in Theology through Moore Theological College in Sydney (BTh, Australian College of Theology; DipTh from Moore), and a research LLM from the University of Newcastle. He teaches and researches in the areas of Torts, Workplace Health and Safety, and “Law and Religion”, on which topic he runs a blog (https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog ). He attends Hunter Bible Church in Newcastle, an independent evangelical church which is a part of the wider FIEC Australia network.
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Jeremy Stuparich
Board Member
Jeremy Stuparich is Public Policy Director at Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Previously he worked in the Australian Public Service and has served as an adviser to Senator Steve Fielding and Senator Brian Harradine. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Canberra.
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Rattan Deep Kaur Virk
Board Member
Dr Rattan deep kaur Virk Ma(OT); Adv.Dip. Pharm ; Post Grad. Dip. Mgt ; MD Physician (Ukraine). Dr Rattan Virk worked as a Medical Doctor in India and has been working as a Senior Rehabilitation Consultant in Australia since 2007. She also manages a property portfolio as the Director of a family owned property development company and is a member of the Australian Sikh Community.
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Colleen Geyer
Board Member
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Rob Floyd
Board Member
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Stu Cameron
Board Member
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Donna Crouch
Board Member
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David Collinson
Board Member
Major David Collinson is the Public Relations Secretary for the The Salvation Army New South Wales Division. David is a former secondary college teacher who has been serving in the Salvos for the last 20 years. He has served as a youth worker, corps officer (church minister) and territorial appointments in three states. David is an author and is a graduate of the Leaders for Geelong and Arrow Executive Leadership Programs. In 2020 he completed his MBA at the University of Adelaide.
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Ahmet Orhan Polat
Board Member
Ahmet Orhan Polat is the Executive Director of Affinity Intercultural Foundation, in Sydney. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Australian Intercultural Society, in Melbourne. Ahmet’s engagement in dialogue for over ten years has continued to strengthen his beliefs in achieving Universal Human Values for a peaceful world. Prior, Ahmet’s drive and passion for social justice and world peace, has grown and flourished through his secondary teaching and administration of almost twenty years in Australia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. Ahmet received his Master's degree in Management and Human Resources from the University of Sydney.
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Abbas Alvi
Board Member
Abbas is the President of the Indian Crescent Society of Australia Inc. He is also a published poet and composer, a life member of the Australia India Business Council and a member of the Blacktown City Multicultural Advisory Committee.
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Dr Mahsheed Ansari
Board Member
Mahsheed Ansari is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Islamic Studies & Civilisation, Charles Sturt University. She is a reader in Islamic thought a community activist working in the areas of interfaith dialogue, social harmony and leadership-mentoring programs with Muslim youth and Muslim women. Her research interests include the history of Islamic thought, spirituality and culture. She is currently in the final stages of completing her book titled: Modern debates in Prophecy and Prophethood in Islam: Muhammad Iqbal and Said Nursi. She has been working on an oral history project - Muslim Pioneers Post WWII and is currently focused on writing the Biography of Dr Ashfaq Ahmad.
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