Ciara Sterling - CEO

Ciara is the Chief Executive Officer Thriving Communities Partnership, with over 15 years’ experience working across government, corporate and the community sector addressing issues around hardship and vulnerability. Her experience, extensive network and vision for a better future for people experiencing vulnerability has catalysed the Thriving Communities Partnership.

At Yarra Valley Water Ciara developed pioneering approaches to customer support that have led to several ground-breaking programs and partnerships. The establishment of the highly regarded WaterCare program, and innovative partnerships with community organisations such as Uniting Kildonan have positioned Yarra Valley Water as a leader in supporting vulnerable community members. She has also driven new organisational capability and capacity to respond to issues such as family violence, diverse language groups and other factors of vulnerability.

Ciara’s expertise is called on by companies from across the services industry, and she recently completed a secondment to the Essential Services Commission to develop amendments to the Customer Service Code arising from the Royal Commission into Family Violence.  She is a sought-after speaker, presenter and champion for responsible and sustainable approaches to address the drivers of vulnerability and hardship.

Emma Martin - General Manager, Partnerships

Emma has over 13 years’ experience in partnering in the not for profit sector and is passionate about bringing together partners that have a shared vision to solve complex and systemic societal challenges. Inspired by the powerful change collaboration can bring to some of the significant global challenges we face in the world today, Emma’s partnering approach is centred around Partnership Brokering - and to continually aim to create value for all involved.

Katrina Moore - General Manager, Strategy & Programs

Katrina is a passionate social innovator, specialising in developing strategic programs in response to complex societal challenges and has run successful programs across the public, private and community sectors.

She is in her element when experimenting with new ideas and exploring the impact that collaboration can make to embed sustainable and impactful change. These interests have driven her career so far and allowed her to work on some amazing projects addressing complex societal scenarios through innovative ways of thinking and approaching complex challenges globally.

Paul Oglethorpe - Head of One Stop One Story (OSOS) Hub Operations

Paul is an experienced People and Project Management professional with a proven record of accomplishment in planning and implementing people, customer and technology projects, predominantly in the corporate sector. He is experienced in customer process change and building teams in support of business goals and objectives, including through major transformation projects. Paul approaches work in a logical, objective and energetic way, who is action oriented and able to communicate directly and openly with people of all levels. He is a strategic thinker with the ability to remove complexity from everyday people management, customer process and operations through communication and a flexible approach. During his time at TCP, he has learnt more about the collaborative approach across the partnership and applied these learnings in his role at TCP.

Jackson Millwood - Content and Communications Lead

Jackson joined TCP following years of study and volunteer roles in media communications and copywriting. An avid writer, both creatively and professionally, he has built a broad catalogue of published works, orchestrating public relations and communications activities for national fundraisers before joining the TCP team and continuing his professional development. Leading the production and coordination of content and communications across multiple TCP-led and facilitated initiatives, Jackson is relishing the opportunity to grow, learn and strengthen his skills, supporting positive social change along his career path, wherever it may lead him.
 

Bridgette McManus - Strategy & Innovation Lead

Bridgette joins the team as a Service & Strategic designer.  Her career started out in healthcare before moving into TV and design industries in Melbourne, UK & Ireland.  Bridgette brings experience in research, co-design, facilitation, ideation and delivery.  Throughout her time at TCP she has led the co-design and community engagement strategy to support the launch of the One Stop One Story Hub.  She loves that human centred design is a practice that considers people, products, partners and processes holistically and how they interact;  and always tries to bring it into her work.

Sophie McKenna - Design Lead

Sophie has always gravitated towards the process of gaining user insight, building empathy and creating visual content to communicate a story. While studying a double degree at university, she volunteered at TCP and has since been involved in a number of initiatives that have grown her understanding of vulnerability and the importance of developing united, and accessible systems. Now working as a designer, she is inspired by the culture of empowerment at TCP and is delighted to develop her career skills in such a creative and impactful field.

Alana Faust - Project Manager, Strategy & Programs

Alana is an accomplished professional with a strong alignment to the values of Thriving Communities Partnership (TCP). With a passion for community development, transformational partnerships, and human-centered design, she brings a wealth of experience to her role as the Programs & Strategy Project Manager at TCP. She was previously the NSW State Manager at a youth mentoring organization where she managed over 100 mentoring programs, led the organisation's youth engagement strategy, and grew partnerships with schools and their communities to support more young people across the state. Alana has further experience leading education and development programs in Australia and overseas for young people.  

Her commitment to incorporating a human-centered approach and working in partnership with communities makes her a valuable asset to TCP's cross-sector collaboration. At TCP, Alana is eager to contribute to TCP's mission of driving systems change with some of Australia's largest organisations by incorporating the voice of lived experience and working collaboratively across sectors.

Khalid Muse - Partnership Administration Officer 

Khalid is a 19-year-old Applied Public Health student who is driven to champion sustainable societal change. He hopes to influence the state agenda and amplify the voice of marginalised communities by partaking in the structural development of policies and programs, and is passionate about co-design and community led initiatives.

Khalid has held roles in various spaces such as food systems, multicultural empowerment, mental health, youth engagement, local government, grant assessing and arts as a means for social connection. Recipient of the Mayoral Community Award 2022, Khalid is passionate about cross-sector collaboration and hopes to broaden his knowledge of the Transformational Partnership space through his role with TCP.

Tracy Collier - General Manager, Strategy and Programs (Mat Leave)

Tracy Collier has joined the Thriving Communities Partnership as General Manager, Strategy and Programs. With many years’ experience developing cross-sector partnerships and people-centred programs, both within Australia and internationally, she blends innovative thinking with project management to turn big ideas into action. Tracy is excited to work with a network of partner organisations that are pushing boundaries to achieve social change.