Melinda OLeary

Board Member and Chair

Ms OLeary is co-founder and consultant with Nova Systems, an engineering and project management company with more than 300 staff across the globe.

She has extensive experience in recruitment, including as SA State Operations Manager for Select Staff and SA General Manager for Manpower.

Ms OLeary is the Deputy Chair of the Training and Skills Commission and a member of the external review team of the First Principles Review of Defence Oversight Board. She is also a community representative on the Council for the Order of Australia.

She is a member of the Institute of Personal Consultants, has a Professional Certificate in Management from the Adelaide University Graduate School of Management, and has successfully completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.

She is a former Chair of The Hospital Research Foundation and its HR Committee, a former Board member of Time for Kids and has been a volunteer carer for 10 years.


David Russell

Board Member

Mr Russell retired in 2020 from RAA Insurance as CEO and continues to expand his non-executive director roles while managing his own leadership coaching and mentoring business.

Currently Director of the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) with previous board experience at Insurance Council of Australia and SA Institute of Managers and Leaders Regional Advisory Committee, Mr Russell has developed a deep expertise in the governance, risk management, and compliance of APRA-regulated and mutual-owned organisations.

His experience of the 2017 to 2019 Financial Services Royal Commission as a board member of the Insurance Council of Australia strengthened his insights on achieving sustainable business growth while maintaining customer and business integrity.


Kevin Cantley PSM

Board Member

Mr Cantley has worked for the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance for 29 years as a senior executive, in 2018 was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to financial management and infrastructure development in South Australia. Mr Cantley is also a qualified accountant and is a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA).

Retired in 2019 as General Manager of the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA), which is the SA’s central financing authority, captive insurer and fleet manager with assets totalling of over $35 billion. During this period, he assumed the dual responsibility of Executive Director of the Public Finance Branch from 2016 to 2018.

Mr Cantley has significant governance and board experience currently a member of the Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network Governing Board and the Central Adelaide Local Health Network Finance and Investment Committee. He was previously chair of the South Australian Government Captive Insurance Corporation (SAICORP), chair of Playford Capital Pty Ltd, member of the South Australian Superannuation Board and director of Generation Lessor Corporation, Transmission Lessor Corporation and Distribution Lessor Corporation.


Linda Matthews

Board Member

Ms Matthews has worked in senior leadership positions for more than 3 decades, in 3 states – South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.

Currently as the Chair of St. Marks College, a board member of the SA Housing Trust and board member of the Adelaide Benevolent Society and formerly the Chair of scosa, an organisation supporting people with disabilities. In 2019, she oversaw the merger of scosa with Novita.

Previously she was a Board member of Catherine House, a service for women experiencing homelessness. In March 2020, at the request of the Board of Catherine House, she took up the role of CEO of Catherine House leading the merger of Catherine House with Housing Choices Australia which took effect in December 2020.


Nicole Sykes

Board Member

Nicole's professional journey strongly reflects the core values of the LSA. With over three decades of experience in the medical field, she has excelled as an executive with a clinical background. Her career has been a dynamic blend of leadership roles in both large private organisations and government health care sectors, all driven by a profound commitment to people-centred, purpose-driven organisations. This dedication is exemplified by her recent appointment as CEO of the Australian Medical Association in 2023, a role where she continues to lead with a wealth of experience garnered from her 15 years in executive management positions.

Nicole’s strategic acumen is evidenced by her ability to identify opportunities, allocate resources to ensure sustainable expansion while maintaining a people-centric focus. Her vision and innovative mindset seek continuous improvement across all business aspects to ensure quality care is delivered.

Nicole is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a registered practitioner with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) which enriches her experience in the corporate governance and regulatory landscape. She also serves as a committee member for the Bedford Group, another purpose-driven organisation supporting individuals with disabilities in achieving independent living.


Sian Goodson

Board Member

Dr Sian Goodson is a GP, originally from the UK, who has practiced in the Northern Suburbs of Adelaide for over 11 years. She has experience as a GP Partner within the NHS, as a multi-site practice owner in SA and now works as a Director of Clinical Services for Better Medical, a corporate general practice group.

Dr Goodson is the Chair of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) SA Faculty and serves on the national RACGP Board. She is the inaugural chair of the SA Women in General Practice Committee, which aims to address inequalities such as the gender pay gap for women in medicine.

She is a non-executive director on the board of Sonder, a not-for-profit organisation in SA which provides services to support mental health, alcohol and other drug use, homelessness, disability, employment, Aboriginal health, and chronic disease. She is a member of the Ageing and Community Services Industry Advisory Board, at the University of Adelaide. Between 2020 and 2023 she was a non-executive director of the South Australian Postgraduate Medical Education Association (SAPMEA) which focuses on lifelong education and training for medical professionals.


Talia Begley

Board Member

Talia is a corporate and tax lawyer with 20 years’ experience in this field, including the last 6 years as an owner and director of boutique commercial law firm, JL Lawyers.

She is an honours graduate of the University of Melbourne, following which she spent 8 years working in the corporate advisory team of a top ten national law firm in Melbourne.

Talia is a Board member of the Guildhouse Inc, a not for profit organisation that supports and advocates for South Australian visual artists.

She is also an Associate member of the Tax Institute, a member of Law Society of South Australia and she sits on the Risk and Finance Committee of a national IT product and consulting company, Sensei Product Solutions.


Tim Binks

Board Member

Tim is a senior finance and governance executive with extensive experience in the investment industry in Australia and overseas. He is a Chartered Accountant, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, and a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tim’s current executive roles are as Chief Operating Officer of Argo Investments and Company Secretary of Argo Infrastructure, both large ASX-listed investment companies. Tim is also Chair of the Wilderness School Board of Directors.

His prior investment sector experience included various funds management roles with Capital Group and AMP Asset Management in London, institutional client investment advising with ABN Amro in Melbourne and retail client investment advising with JB Were in Adelaide. Before that, he began his career as an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand in Adelaide, working in Audit and Insolvency whilst completing an Economics degree.


Andrew Culley

Board Member

Andrew Culley has recently retired from Deloitte where he held a range of local, national, and global roles including Managing Partner of Deloitte Private and was the former Managing Partner of Deloitte South Australia. Andrew has worked in Adelaide for most of his career and has an affinity with the issues faced by both Private and Public organisations in this state. He served on the Deloitte’s National Executive and was a former member of the Board of Partners of Deloitte.

As a management consultant with over 20 years’ experience, he has worked across many aspects of enterprise performance and designed and delivered large scale technology programs centred around core business applications. From technology and data strategy through to system specification, selection and sourcing Andrew has overseen all elements of the project lifecycle with significant governance roles fulfilled at all stages.

His career spans across the manufacturing and industrial sectors and his portfolio of advisory clients included private businesses through to large corporations and government entities.

He was the co-author of Deloitte’s influential reports on South Australia “Make it Adelaide” and is a passionate advocate for advancement of the South Australian Economy. These reports identified the critical sectors of growth for the state in work that has influenced government policy across many sectors including Arts and Culture.

Andrew has also previously held management responsibilities for supply chain management, sales and marketing, customer service, information technology and financial performance.

Page last updated: 9 February 2024