Scholarship council

The Mary Jane Lewis Scholarship council is a team of motivated professionals, passionate about helping young women achieve their educational goals. Our diverse group has experience in management, finance, marketing, government, sales, human resources and more, as well as a former recipient of the Mary Jane Lewis Scholarship. Learn more about each member of the MJL Scholarship Foundation council below.

Scholarship council

Fiona Reed, Chair

Fiona Reed is a Non-Executive Director with experience on several boards. She is the Chair of the Mary Jane Lewis Foundation of which she has been a scholarship trustee since 2008. Fiona joined the board of Gippsland Grammar in 2021 and is a member of the Flinders Golf Club governing Committee.

Previously, Fiona has been on the RACV Superannuation Board and the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club Board. She also reported to the Council of La Trobe University. Fiona has broad and deep experience as a Senior Executive in large organisations across a range of sectors. She has also worked as a management consultant for two global consulting firms: Accenture and Mercer. Fiona began her career as a secondary teacher and she was most recently the Executive Director of Human Resources at La Trobe University.

Gaye Morris

Gaye Morris is the People and Culture Leader at Mercer for the Pacific region. She is a seasoned and senior Human Resources professional with 20+ years of experience across financial services, professional services and the public sector.

Gaye has been a long-serving trustee of the Dafydd Lewis Scholarship Trust and an inaugural trustee of the MJL Scholarship Foundation. She started her career as a teacher and understands the advantages and opportunities education provides.

Deborah Beale AM

Deborah began her working career in the finance industry where she was employed by Merrill Lynch for over a decade. She then moved to Ernst & Young where she specialised in governance and risk management. Deborah has also served and continues to serve on several governments, public, private and not-for-profit boards. Deborah’s broad experience includes the areas of finance, corporate governance, public relations and risk management. Deborah has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia and a Master’s of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School. On January 26th 2019 Deborah was awarded as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to the business and public sectors, and to the community of Victoria.

Anastasia Arestia

Anastasia is a former recipient of the Mary Jane Lewis Scholarship and is currently a Sales Engineer for Geofabrics Australasia. She has over 5 years of experience working in technical sales across the mining, construction, and civil sectors, and is passionate about working with people face-to-face.

Sally Capp AO

Sally has extensive experience in CEO and executive leadership roles. Sally is currently the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Prior to becoming Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Sally was Executive Director Victoria at the Property Council of Australia and before this she was COO at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, responsible for operational issues and growth strategies. Immediately before joining the Victorian Chamber, Sally was a Director with KPMG. Prior to that Sally represented the Government of Victoria as Agent General across Europe and Israel, the first female Agent-General for Victoria. Sally has also been the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne and was the first female director of the Collingwood Football Club.

Georgie Fidge

Georgie is a marketing and communications specialist with 20+ years’ experience across several industry groups. Georgie has extensive experience in developing and delivering strategic marketing and communications programs including branding and sponsorship initiatives. Whist working at Australis cosmetics, Georgie was responsible for their not-for-profit Self Made Girl program, a national program dedicated to educating young girls about the importance of financial independence.

Andrew Smith

Andrew is currently Investment Manager with Karara, joining in 2016 from Freehold Investment Management where he was responsible for managing an absolute return fund and dedicated REIT and Infrastructure portfolios. Andrew has over 23 years experience undertaking senior positions for several respected funds management firms including Goldman Sachs, APN Property Group and Portfolio Partners. Andrew holds BComm and BSc degrees from Deakin University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from FINSIA.

Julia Thomas

Julia is a financial markets and investment professional with over 20 years’ experience. She is an Executive Director of UBS and was previously with the Macquarie Group in both London and Melbourne. She has led industry-wide initiatives around diversity in finance and also has a strong history in philanthropy, from board level to mentoring a number of award-winning social entrepreneurs. Julia is a Non-Executive Director of Phantm, an innovative natural materials start-up company.

Amongst her qualifications, Julia holds an Arts (economics) degree from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from the University of Oxford.

To get in touch with the MJL Scholarship Foundation council, call us on 03 8623 5000.