About Us

Gary retired in December 2022 from the State Public Service after 41 years in the Commonwealth and State Public Services and the WA Parliament.

At the time of his retirement, Gary was the WA Commissioner for Consumer Protection. Gary was a director at Consumer Protection for 21 years, with responsibility for consumer protection policy and community education, amongst other things. Gary’s other experience includes working as: a senior lawyer within the Commonwealth and State Governments; a ministerial adviser; and a corporate investigator.

Gary joined the board of FCAWA in 2024.

Mandy has over 24 years of experience in community services, including roles as a Financial Counsellor, Caseworker, housing worker, and Mental Health Support worker. She is a passionate advocate for financial confidence and stability.

Most recently, since 2020 within The Salvation Army Moneycare, Mandy has been leading a team of financial counsellors focused on helping people strengthen their financial foundations and successfully navigate their way through financial hardship. She also volunteers with the Salvation Army’s emergency services team when needed during natural disasters. Mandy is an advocate of her favourite fashion brand ‘Salvos’ enjoying her love of op shop fashions (especially anything in the colour red).

Mandy joined the board as Treasurer in 2021 and as of 2024 remains on the board as Vice Chairperson.

Lanie is a Leadership Coach (ACC) and Leadership Development Facilitator with experience in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Her career has a strong front-line retail and commercial banking foundation, with head office roles in executive leadership development and human resource strategic projects (cultural change, strategy development, planning and implementation). Since 2007, Lanie has been running her own consulting practice, working with an array of corporate and not-for-profit clients.

Lanie is an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. These credentials have ongoing professional development requirements and ethical expectations similar to those of Financial Counsellors.

Lanie is passionate about her work on diversity and inclusion. She has had the pleasure of working with the WA Aboriginal Leadership Institute since 2015 as a Facilitator and in a voluntary capacity leading their pro-bono coaching program.

Dean has agribusiness, commerce and financial counselling qualifications with a strong working background within the rural bank finance and small business sector.

He is currently a Small Business and Rural Financial Counsellor with Rural West. Dean has a strong sense for rural communities and enjoys being actively involved in the community. He is a past elected member of the Shire of Manjimup as Deputy Shire President and has held executive positions with Merredin Community Resource Centre and Merredin Community Men’s Shed.

Dean is also a past president and current active member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the south-west region. In his working role with Rural West, he is highly passionate about effecting change and making a difference to the lives of farmers and small business owners.

Dean joined the Board in 2022 and was appointed secretary in 2023.

Veronica Johnson is a Financial Counsellor with 10 years of experience, having dedicated her life to building capacity in many different areas for the benefit of First Nations people, across Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Veronica has been recognised by Consumer Protection WA and won the Rona Okely award in 2024 for her achievements particularly the advocacy on remote communities, the Ian Macdonald Award FCAWA in 2022 and Developing Practice in 2021 FCAWA.

Veronica has travelled to many communities across the NT and WA. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience particularly for remote communities across these two states. This experience, together with her work across WA, will be a valuable contribution, adding value and a new perspective to the challenges faced on remote and regional areas. Veronica represents the regional and remote communities as part of the FCAWA board membership.

Suzanne is the Manager of Financial Counselling at St Vincent de Paul Society WA. She leads a team of Financial Counsellors, including the National Debt Helpline WA, the Rent Relief Program and face-to-face services across the Perth metro, Rockingham, Mandurah and Bunbury areas.

Suzanne has been working as a financial counsellor for the last 14 years and is well known for her caring approach to supporting clients experiencing financial hardship. Suzanne started her career in Australia in 2008 working for the Salvation Army across their community programs. Suzanne’s work is her passion, using her years of experience as a Financial Counsellor to make a difference to her clients, her team and the development of the sector.

Suzanne joined the board of FCAWA in 2019.

Tevy is an Accredited Financial Counsellor who has 35 years of service-related experience across the sectors of banking, finance, insurance, small business, telecommunications, financial counselling, community services and mining. Tevy has worked for eight years with Aboriginal communities across the East Kimberley, and more closely in the last two years with the Traditional Owner groups of the Argyle Diamond Mine, Rio Tinto, in his role as Advisor – Communities and Social Performance.

Tevy is passionate about advocating for the strong financial wellbeing of Indigenous people living remotely and regionally. He believes that strong financial wellbeing is key to mob’s self-determination and economic empowerment. In 2023 he completed a Master of Philosophy on Indigenous Research and Development at Curtin University, in which he explored how the financial wellbeing of East Kimberley Indigenous people can be enhanced. He is a Board member with Kimberley Small Business Support (KSBS), Waringarri Aboriginal Radio station 6WR (Kununurra) and Pacific Island Council Western Australia (PICWA).

Tevy joined the board of FCAWA in 2023.

Annette has over 20 years’ experience across the community and social impact sectors, working with government, corporate, not-for-profit and social enterprises. Annette has developed frameworks, grown programs, drafted policy and secured funding to support several social impact initiatives across mental health, aged care, and domestic violence.

Her work includes the establishment of a will’s clinic in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional abuse, tax clinics as wrap around support services for regional community legal clinics, financial literacy programs for women and business summer schools for Indigenous youth to build entrepreneur skills. Annette has held national leadership roles in corporate and academia.

Annette joined the board as an Independent Board Member in 2024.