About > Our people
Andrew Clark (Director & Chairperson)
Andrew has a professional background as an Occupational Therapist and has worked as a clinician in both disability and Aged Care Services. He worked and managed a range of Home & Community Care (HACC) services. Andrew has worked as a senior policy and program officer in a broad range of government and non-government organisations (NGOs), including the Home Care Service of NSW, NSW Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care, and the National Home Modifications peak body.
As a researcher, he has worked in a range of Universities and NGOs investigating community care policies and practices. Andrew has led a range of co-designed projects with people with disabilities and older people. Andrew has published many peer-reviewed papers and presented numerous conference papers both in Australia and overseas, in community care practices and policies. In 1993 Andrew received a Churchill scholarship to investigate how emerging information technologies could help older people and people with disabilities navigate health and care systems effectively.
Louise Bannister (Director & Deputy Chairperson)
Louise Bannister has been advocating for herself and other people with disabilities most of her life, and has been working in the ACT disability community sector for more than 20 years.
She is passionate about the right for individual choice and control, and about creating a fully inclusive community through mentoring, education, advocacy, leadership, and accessible urban planning. Her work was recognised as recipient of the ACT Chief Minister’s Award for Inclusion by an Individual in 2012.
Louise is currently a member of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing. This follows recent terms as Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, and on the ACT Disability Reference Group, as well as on the boards of Women With Disability ACT, and Health Care Consumers’ Association ACT. She continues to work closely with ACT Health, and local government to improve women with disabilities’ access to housing, services, and education. As well as her director role with R&IA, Louise is Chair of the “Opening the Door” project reference group.
Michael Fox (Director) AM, B Arch, MTCP, FAIA, FPIA
Michael Fox is an architect, planner and access consultant with involvement in access and equity since 1980, including as director of Access Australia and related architectural practice Michael Fox Architects. He is a member of ACAA – the Association of Consultants in Access Australia.
Michael is a director and previous Chair of Rights & Inclusion Australia. International roles include extensive involvement in the drafting, adoption and implementation of the UN CRPD, ratified by Australia in July 2008.
From 2004 to 2008 Michael prioritised key global issues, including CRPD adoption, as President of RI Global, a New York based international organisation and network advancing the rights and inclusion of people with disability.
From 1996 to 2004 he was Global Chair of ICTA, the RI International Commission on Technology and Accessibility. Related activities include corporate board member, House with No Steps, Sydney 2001 to 2010; university lecturer in Access, Equity & Design; and ongoing membership of Standards Australia ME / 64 Access and Mobility Committees.
Stephanie Gotlib (Director)
Stephanie Gotlib is a widely respected disability advocate and CEO in the not-for- profit sector with more than 25 years of experience. She is currently the Asia Pacific council representative for Inclusion International.
In recent years Stephanie has undertaken interim positions at VALID ((Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability), VALS (Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service), Communication Rights Australia and Inclusion International. She was the Chief Executive Officer of Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) from 2009-2019.
She has served on a broad range of Ministerial Advisory Committees and Expert Advisory Groups pertaining to broad areas of relevance including disability, children, education, young people, family sectors and the establishment of the NDIS. Stephanie also has experience of disability as a parent.
Stephanie’s experience has enabled her to confront issues regarding fairness, equal opportunity, participation in the community, acceptance of differences and “best practice” in service delivery and advocacy. Stephanie has frequently challenged the system to make improvements for people with disability.
Jeramy Hope (Director) MBA, CMgr FIML, MAICD
Jeramy Hope is the CEO of SDA Alliance, utilising his 20+ years of experience in the sector. His unique skillset draws upon broad sector and community expertise (not-for-profit, disability, aged & youth sectors) and business acumen (he holds an MBA & is a Chartered Fellow, Institute of Managers & Leaders). He demonstrates great practical experience in leadership, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement.
As an employee in the disability sector, as a person who lives with a disability himself, and as a carer of a child with a disability, Jeramy brings many different and hugely valuable perspectives to our Board. This includes through his heightened understanding of the human rights issues relevant to people with disability.
Through his senior leadership positions with disability providers across NSW and QLD, Jeramy has previously played an instrumental role in organisation department restructures, realigning organisational missions, cultures and values, and implementing significant change.
With extensive experience leading through systemic change, and digital transformation, including sector reform, Jeramy will continue to use these skills to assist R&IA.
Allan Hunter (Director)
Allan started his career as an Electrical Engineer at the (then) Electricity Trust of South Australia in 1988, moving to the defence sector in 1991. He retired a few years after completing a Masters in Systems Engineering in 2017.
Allan’s engineering career was interrupted in October 1998, when he broke his neck in a skydiving accident, becoming a C3/C4 quadriplegic. Those engineering skills come in handy to design and build his own (now SDA registered) thermally efficient and fully accessible home with extensive computer-based assistive technology.
After a few years as a research subject for disability projects, Allan ‘un-retired’ in 2021, initially to address technical problems in the 2019 SDA Design Standard and assist other NDIS participants dealing with SDA issues.
Allan is a member of the boards of both Australian Rehabilitation & Assistive Technology Association (ARATA) and R&IA.
David Havercroft (Chief Executive Officer, based in Canberra)
david.havercroft@riaustralia.org | phone: +61 (0)423 604 558
David Havercroft is the Chief Executive Officer of R&IA, commencing in this role in March 2024. He continues to lead the Opening the Door project for R&IA, having started with the organisation in late 2019 to work on our ACT Accessible Housing Innovation Project.
David's career reflects a longstanding concern with social justice issues and their intersection with housing. He moved to Canberra in 2019, after 16 years living in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). From 2016 to 2019 he worked with Aboriginal-owned architecture practice Tangentyere Design, working on a range of urban and remote projects including accessible housing. From 2009-2016 he was Central Australian Policy Officer with NT Shelter, the peak housing and homelessness organisation in the Northern Territory.
