Andrew Bruun • CEO
Andrew Bruun is the Chief Executive Officer at YSAS and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Department of Psychiatry. Andrew has been active in the alcohol and other drug (AOD) and adolescent health fields as a manager, practitioner, researcher and educator since 1985. Andrew was a member of the YSAS implementation team and has been a Director, serving on that organisation’s Executive team since inception in 1998. Prior to his involvement with YSAS, Andrew was the joint managing-director of Task Force Community Agency, a drug and alcohol treatment service in Melbourne’s inner-south where he established programs for young people and families. Andrew has also worked in the dual diagnosis (Mental health and AOD) field with the Federal Government’s Community Rehabilitation Services and he established the first community youth outreach service for Victorian Department of Planning and Development housing estates in Melbourne’s Inner Northern Suburbs.
Pat O’Leary • Deputy CEO
Pat O’Leary (BA Human Services, M Public Policy & Man) is a mental health operations and service development professional with over three decades experience in the primary and specialist mental health sectors. Pat has previously worked extensively in service development roles beginning in the 1990’s with the decommissioning and rebuilding of the Victorian Mental Health system, for five years on building the National headspace network, and most recently with Beyond Blue on the National rollout of ‘The Way Back’, an aftercare service for people who have attempted suicide. Operationally, Pat has previously managed the Child and Youth Mental Health Service at Austin Health and the Community Mental Health Service at the RCH. Pat also had significant early career experience in the Youth Justice and Homeless service systems, and for three years managed the Community Infrastructure Group at Sport and Recreation Victoria.
Anne King • CFO & Corporate Services
She joined YSAS in 2021 as the Chief of Finance and Corporate Services. In her early career, she was a banker and held senior roles within business banking, private banking and forensic accounting. Since moving to the for benefit sector she held executive roles in a number of Not for Profit organisations, managed functional corporate services teams and consulted to Boards with a focus on improved financial reporting.
Anne holds a Bachelor of Business Accounting, a Grad Dip in Applied Finance and Investment, a Grad Dip in Psychology and is a Fellow of CPA Australia.
She has been a Rotarian for over 20 years with a passion for helping those experiencing disadvantage. She recognises that early access to appropriate services is the key to helping young people improve their long term prospects.
Dom Ennis • Quality and Service Development General Manager
Dom is the General Manager of Quality and Service Development at YSAS. Over the past 20 years at YSAS he has had a large range of roles including Practitioner, Manager and General Manager overseeing Operational Services, Research and training and now Quality and Service Development. Dom’s entire youth work experience spans over 25 years and includes roles in youth housing, family support and out of home care. Dom is especially interested in the development of innovative and accessible service responses that “work” and that are informed by the experiences and needs of the young people and communities that need them.
David Jeffery • Advocacy and Communications General Manager
David Jeffery is an advocacy and communications specialist with 10 years’ experience in the youth non-profit sector, Victorian public service and politics. David has led national campaigns and programs that aim to end violence against children, tackle the climate crisis, secure better rights for renters and increase access to public and social housing. For the 3 years prior to starting at YSAS he advised the Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens and Supreme Court of Victoria on community engagement, media and strategic communications. David is a Board Director at national renters rights lobby Better Renting and has spent periods of time consulting for organisations such as Equality Australia and Darebin Council. David’s lived experience in the Victorian public housing system and supporting immediate family to recover and rehabilitate from drug and alcohol dependence fundamentally shape his approach to advocacy which centres the self-determination and leadership of young people within their communities.
Jacqui Sundbery • Research and Practice General Manager
Jacqui Sundbery (Ph.D. Fam.Therapy, M. Fam.Therapy, M.A. Perf.Arts, Grad.Dip. Wom.Studies, B.A. (Hons) Perf. Studies) is the General Manager of Research and Practice at YSAS. A background in the arts and community cultural development have informed her current interest in participatory research methodologies that can stimulate, develop and sustain practice in health services. Previously Jacqui has authored practice manuals on family approaches to adolescent substance misuse, coordinated large state-wide projects fostering cross-sector collaboration, clinical supervision and practice support and has worked in Aboriginal health to provide culturally safe, relevant and accessible services.
Benaifer Sabavala• Human Resources General Manager
Benaifer joined YSAS recently as the General Manager, Human Resources. She has extensive experience in complex and challenging environments, has held senior leadership roles in Health and Community Services, Education, Manufacturing industries across Private, Public, State Government and Not-For-Profit sectors. Benaifer brings contemporary strategic thinking, holding post graduate qualifications in Public Administration, Management Studies, Human Resources Management, Training, Commerce and Law.
Benaifer is values-driven and outcome-focused professional, working with key stakeholders to drive organisational transformation, cultural change and people strategies. She is keen to actively contribute to YSAS’ strategic priorities, building its agility and capability. She believes that an organisation with a great culture will be a great place to work and learn, attracting and retaining talented staff to support the health and wellbeing of our Young People.
Benaifer says that the most enjoyable part at YSAS is its inclusive and collaborative culture, with friendly people having utmost dedication to client service.
Aji Akintola • Residential and Primary Care General Manager
Aji Akintola career extends over 16 years in mental health having undertaken a range of clinical, managerial and policy development roles in metropolitan and specialist state-wide public mental health services. His interests include service development and redesign, service improvement and quality systems. Over the past 7 years Aji has led and participated in numerous service level reviews and investigations following critical incidents. He is a Registered Nurse and holds Bachelor of Nursing, Post Graduate Certificate in Psychiatric Nursing, Master of Health Management and a Master of Nursing Science. He is currently the General Manager of Residential and Primary Health Services at YSAS.
Tracey Martin • South East General Manager
Tracey Martin (BSW, Dip Youth Work) is the General Manager, Community Programs, Southern and Eastern Regions. She has worked in the Community Sector since the early 1990’s in case management, counselling, training and management roles. Tracey has a particular passion for supporting young people connected to statutory systems (Justice and Child Protection) and is a strong advocate for youth work models that embed family inclusive practice.
Juliette Hammond • North West General Manager
Juliette is the General Manager of the North and Western community sites, where she manages, oversees and guides service delivery across a number of service types. Juliette has worked extensively with youth populations in areas of AOD, mental health and crime prevention and has over 20 years of cross sector experience, holding senior management roles at YSAS, headspace National, Turning Point, FamilyCare and the Department of Justice. Juliette is a value driven, strategic and business minded social worker with a passion for leading programs that support the most vulnerable members of society.
Jason Nanayakkara • Finance Manager
Jason Nanayakkara is the Finance Manager at YSAS. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne, and is a CPA. He joined YSAS in 2017 and over the past two years, there has been considerable change within the Finance team, including a restructure of six positions, the implementation of a new accounting system, and an ongoing review of processes and policies. Jason is focussed on building strong, genuine relationships with both funders and sites, in order to provide sound financial management, day to day support for front-line services, quality reporting, and to ensure the long term financial sustainability of YSAS.
Patrick Bullock • Property and Fleet Manager
Pat has been with YSAS for 12 years in the role of Property and Fleet Manager. Pat’s role includes looking after YSAS’ 18 properties which includes maintenance (proactive and reactive), repairs, handling all leases and interacting with internal and external stakeholders. Pat’s role also includes looking after the YSAS fleet of 109 vehicles - purchasing, maintaining, servicing and repairs and selling the vehicles. Pat’s interests outside of work are family and sport.
Andrea Fernandes • Business Process Manager
Andrea Fernandes has been involved in the social purpose sector for 13 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University, with First Class Honours for research in diversity and social inclusion, she has also recently completed an MBA, specialising in Social Impact at UNSW. As the Business Process Manager at YSAS, Andrea has worked in project management, contract management alongside operations leads, and more recently, business support team management. Andrea is committed to improving business systems and processes, capability building, and strengthening internal and external partnerships, so that staff have the resources that they need to support young people.
Tienyi Long • Legal and Compliance Manager
Tienyi Long started as YSAS’ Legal and Compliance Manager in November 2020. Prior to this, she held legal, risk and compliance roles at the University of Melbourne and Glen Eira City Council. Tienyi is passionate about young people, particularly from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. She was previously a UNICEF Australia Young Ambassador and also Deputy Chair of Monash City Council’s Young Persons Reference Group.
Chris Chen • ICT Manager
Chris Chen (B.Comp.Sc, PMP, CEHv9, AWS, ITIL, MCSE) is the ICT Manager at YSAS. He specialises in helping organisations drive efficiency and productivity through the strategic alignment of technology. Chris has extensive NFP and international corporate experience working for successful global organisations; Chanel, Harley-Davidson, and Louis Vuitton. Throughout his career he has successfully transformed ICT Departments and lead teams across Asia Pacific to deliver high profile projects.