Meet our team

Sam lives and works on Kaurna land and is known as one of Australia’s foremost experts on the NDIS and is Mum to two fabulous young men with NDIS Plans. She has worked in the disability sector as advocate, parliamentary advisor, family educator, board member and consultant. Sam is a strong believer in building inclusive communities for all, and is CEO of The Growing Space, and an appointed member of the NDIS’ Independent Advisory Council.

Nick lives and works in Wardandi Noongar land (Busselton WA), and has more than 25 years. experience in the disability and community services sectors, focused on advocacy and peer support, particularly in the NDIS space.  She’s the CEO of South West Autism Network (SWAN), and a member of the Every Australian Counts Steering Committee.  Nick is an NDIS participant and Mum to two awesome young adults who are also NDIS participants, and has been Self-Managing funding since 2012.

Anita lives and works on Cadigal land of the Eora Nation in Sydney and Anita is a mum to a wonderful son who has Down Syndrome, and she manages all of his NDIS funding and supports. Anita is passionate about inclusion and diversity in all settings such as education and workplaces, and she loves enabling people (and their carers) to self-manage their funding and live their best lives.  Professionally, Anita has over 20 years experience in Information Technology, and is the CEO of TechAbility – a consulting business that specialises in helping NDIS providers with all aspects of technology to enable them to provide better services to their clients. 

Meredith lives and mostly works on Cadigal land of the Eora Nation, and has 38 years’ experience in the disability, aged care and mental health sectors.  She is also a Carer advocate and supporter, facilitator and member of several carer support groups. Meredith has significant experience in Guardianship, Financial Management and Supported Decision making and is passionate about helping people live the life they choose with the decision-making support they need.  Meredith is a strong advocate for the safeguards and quality of life that family, genuine friendships and community connection provide us all to live well.  She has recently launched Community Circles Australia, partnering with Helen Sanderson in the UK with the goal of creating better, connected lives for everyone.

Meredith is also a mum and carer of an extraordinary young woman who is an NDIS participant who she supports to self-manage and reimagine her potential for a life of greater happiness and possibility.

Dr George Taleporos is from Wurundjeri land and is a disability rights advocate, policy expert, and host of the Reasonable & Necessary podcast. He has over 25 years of experience working to advance the rights of people with disability through research, policy, and advocacy. George is the Independent Chair of Every Australian Counts, a member of the Austin Hospital consumer advisory council, a director at InLife Independent Living and delivers regular peer support workshops on self management. He is a strategic advisor at the Summer Foundation, has a PhD in psychology, an honours degree in sociology and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Linda lives and works in Awabakal land in Newcastle, and has a long history as an advocate and has been immersed in the NDIS since the launch  in 2013.  She is the proud parent of Jacob Hughes, who has a disability and is an NDIS participant. Linda takes a “make it work” approach to the NDIS, as it is all about people living good lives as citizens in our communities.

Jarrod is a disability advocate living on Darkinjung land, central coast of NSW. Jarrod works at CDAH (Community Disability Alliance Hunter), taking him to Awabakal land in Newcastle. Jarrod is involved on a number of projects including Community Connections, a project that aims to connect people who are marginalised. Jarrod has been self managing his supports since he joined the NDIS, and before then he self managed his Victorian ISP. Jarrod is looking forward to supporting and advocating self management and self managers to get the most out of it.