School Principal

Velma was appointed principal of St John’s Primary School in January 2019. Her teaching experiences have been ranged from early childhood, primary and secondary education. Velma has held a number of short-term principal roles in both single stream and double stream primary schools, across the Perth Metro, Goldfields and the Wheatbelt. These principal experiences have enriched Velma’s professional leadership journey, as they have been extremely rewarding and have provided her with the opportunity to establish valuable networks, friendships, learn from the community and pass on new knowledge and experiences to the school communities.

Velma’s commitment to Catholic education is that every child should be given an opportunity to strive for excellence in learning, in a safe and supportive environment. Being an instructional leader, Velma has a passionate belief that a school must continue to offer the best programs and learning environments that cater for the needs of each child. Working closely with the St John’s staff, Velma encourages a keen sense of collaboration as well as empowering each individual to contribute to create an innovative learning environment.

Velma is very focused on building schools, where people feel supported and ‘community spirit’ is enhanced. At the same time, ensuring that people are challenged, both collectively and individually, to improve themselves and the educational standards and opportunities within the school.

Velma and her husband Scott have three children, two sons at university and one daughter currently in Year 12.

Parish Priest

Father Grant was appointed Parish Administrator to Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Scarborough, in August 2018, and was installed as Parish Priest in September 2019.

Growing up in Bunbury, one of four children, he attributes the roots of his Catholic faith to his parents. After working as a control systems engineer in Perth for six years, and having been involved in youth ministry, Fr Grant responded to a call from God to the priesthood. After a period of formation, including a Masters in Theology specialising in marriage and family, he was ordained in August 2015. Fr Grant’s younger brother, Fr Stephen Gorddard, was ordained at the same time and he also serves in the Archdiocese of Perth.

Community and Communications Sub Committee

Richard is an experienced strategic advisor, corporate affairs and government relations professional. He has held a number of high-profile and executive level roles in Australia and the UK, predominantly in the infrastructure, public transport, roads, utilities and ports sectors and is currently the Head of Media & Government Relations at the Water Corporation.

Richard, who joined the Board in November 2017, has three children, one in Year 7 at Sacred Heart College and two at St John’s (Year 6 and Year 2). He is passionate about the St John’s community and brings expertise in all aspects of communications, corporate affairs, government relations, governance, marketing and major project coordination to the Board.

Board Member
Finance Sub Committee

Greg is currently the Chief Executive Officer for WGH Holdings Pty Ltd, a private family office which owns and controls large agricultural assets both in Australia and overseas. Prior to this Greg was the Finance Director, Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer for the public company Wellard Limited, one of Australia’s largest Agricultural businesses where Greg oversaw the Group Finance, IT, HR and Media Relations functions.

Previously, Greg has served as the Group Financial Controller for the public company Austal Limited and has previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Westpac Bank, City of Stirling and Dominion Mining.

Greg joined the St John’s Board in July 2018 and is passionate about the St John’s community and brings expertise in all aspects of finance, corporate affairs, governance, and statutory reporting to the Board.

Greg has three children with his youngest two boys currently enrolled at St John’s in Year 5 and Year 2.

Marketing Sub Committee Lead

Grant is currently Acting Chief Executive Officer at Tenacious House which is an Alcohol and Other Drugs Residential Rehabilitation House based in Bullsbrook.

Prior to his current role Grant has held Executive Senior Sales Management roles over the last 10-years in the Pharmaceutical industry, Community Land Development and Aged Care Not for Profit sectors. Grant’s passionate about developing successful high performing sales teams that ultimately improves the quality of life of those receiving services/goods.

Grant joined the Board in December 2019 and has three boys who have all attended St John’s from 3-year old kindy. His two eldest sons now attend John XXIII College with his youngest son Mason completing year 4 in 2020 at St John’s.

Outside work life Grant coaches Junior Cricket at Scarborough Junior Cricket Club as well as coaching Indoor Soccer.

Assets and Maintenance Sub Committee

Luke is the Manager of Economic and Community Development at the City of Belmont and has over 15 years experience in property development and asset management in commercial and public sector environments. Luke has a good understanding of all facets of the property and asset lifecycle, from acquisition through to development, management, leasing, maintenance and disposal.

Luke is a Fellow of Leadership WA, a Graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served on a number of not-for-profit Boards.

Luke and his wife Suzanne have two daughters Eva and Claudia.

Luke joined the Board in November 2018.

Board Member
Assets and Maintenance Sub Committee

Lisa is an experienced Corporate Banker having worked in Institutional, International Subsidiary and Head Office disciplines across International and Domestic Banks in Australia.  Lisa has experience in Project Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Education infrastructure and Syndications.

Over the past 13 years she has worked for HSBC where her roles have been diverse from completing event transactions, portfolio management, managing teams of people and projects.  She currently works as a Senior Manager driving and developing sales strategy for the Corporate Bank coupled with the co-ordination the Graduate Program.

Lisa joined the Board in 2019 and has two children, Jordan in Year 4 and Abigail in Kindy.

Marketing Sub Committee

Robert is currently the Senior Oil Trader at Woodside Energy Ltd where he manages and executes the buying and selling of Woodside’s crude and condensate portfolio. 

Previously, Robert was a Shipping Consultant for a private firm Poten & Partners. Robert has worked in New York, London and Perth where he has been involved in Business Development, Capital Services, Shipping and Trading within the Oil & Gas Industry. 

Robert joined the Board in December 2019.

Robert has two children and both are currently enrolled at St. John’s in Year 3 and Year 1. 

ICT Sub Committee

Simon is an internationally accomplished and versatile Board Director & Non-Executive, with a 15-year track record of success working across differing territories in acquisitive wealth management firms, large commercial banks, asset management businesses, fast-paced financial advisory firms, national accountancy practices and commercial privately-owned SMEs in a high-growth phase.

Having served as Chief Executive Officer in a number of organisations, Simon combines high levels of financial acuity with advanced planning and business development skills to shape and execute M&A roadmaps, operational strategies, go-to-market plans and transformation programmes which maximise profitability / performance for stakeholders.

Besides being awarded the ultimate accolade in Management, becoming a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the CMI and achieving a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2018, ranked in one of the top 1% of global business schools, Simon is a proud member of St John’s School Council since 2021 and aims to help assist the school with its strategic plan.

Simon has a daughter in Year 5 at St John’s that he enjoys seeing happy at such a lovely school, and outside of this together with his wife, the family are very much great explorers of Australia and in particular our wonderful state of WA which they have seen from top to bottom multiple times.

Stephanie is Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Western Power, where she ensures effective management of enterprise frameworks related to risk, corporate compliance, internal audit, assurance and process excellence.  There she has also gained experience leading a significant business transformation program as well serving several years as a Finance Manager.

Prior to moving to Australia with her husband Ryan, Stephanie was a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers in NYC for ten years.

Stephanie also serves as Board Member and Treasurer of Kidsafe WA, a not for profit organisation dedicated to promoting safety and preventing childhood injuries and accidents in Western Australia.

Stephanie joined the St John’s Board in February 2020 as the P&F Representative.  She and her husband have two sons, currently in Year 1 and Year 3 at St John’s.

David is the current Chair of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Council. He sits on the board as a representative of the parish community. David is currently a Development Officer for Surf Life Saving WA, responsible for the Nipper and Youth Programs across the state. Formerly he taught in catholic schools and held the position of Assistant Principal for fifteen years.”