Your Team
We believe in equitable futures
Leadership Group
Working with people from our community to better understand the local experience and knowledge, and genuinely shape how we do governance in the future. Our Leadership Group represents a diverse composition of local individuals coming together to collectively define the problems the community is facing. Through a deep listening process, engaging with the community, the LG works to define and create a shared vision. They listen to and act in collaboration with the community, focusing on systems change by using data and context to move the needle towards greater equity.
Our Leadership Group promotes Capricornia SPSP values and principles, provides strategic guidance, and supports a co-designed community-led strategy. Members enable community voice, support partnerships and collaborations, and address social barriers to improve the effectiveness of interventions and service systems. The Leadership Group also influences policy and funding decisions and supports a collective, strengths-based community development approach while measuring progress and managing expectations for community-led change.
Our team’s backgrounds are a cross-section of:
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
- Australian South Sea Islander people, recognised as a distinct group by the Commonwealth
- LGBTQIA+ people
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) people as representatives of the Multicultural Community
- People with disability
- Diversity of Age
- Gender diversity
Our principles are underpinned by human rights, recognising the inherent value of every person and supporting individual freedom to make life choices, realise personal potential, and live free from fear, harassment, or discrimination.
Capricornia SPSP has been on an evolving journey since 2019. Many valued members of the community have contributed their time to our progress and make up the fabric of our organisation. We understand the challenges of this important work and acknowledge the ebb and flow community members gift at various stages. Giving, then resting, sometimes stepping back to nurture themselves and coming back to the work when motivation is high. But ever invested in the outcomes they desire for community wellbeing.
Meet the LG
Fee Welch
Leadership Group Facilitator
Fee is passionate about empowering underrepresented groups too often left behind. With firsthand experience as a regional patient navigating complex systems, she understands how policy gaps, siloed practices, and unequal access to resources can limit opportunity and prevent people from having a voice in decisions that affect them.
She supports building trust and stronger partnerships between services and the community, believing in creating solutions together with the people affected – not just coordinating services but transforming how systems truly listen and respond.
A former Registered Nurse with experience in medical, surgical, paediatrics, oncology, and gerontology, Fee has long championed families navigating public systems. Now studying Justice and having lived in Rockhampton on and off for 23 years, she brings both personal and professional insight to her role.
Dedicated to lifting local voices, Fee believes that when communities lead and systems listen, more equitable and lasting outcomes follow.
Sandra Truscott
Leadership Group Member
Sandra has lived in Mount Morgan for over 20 years. With 10 years experience of working for the federal government in the National Disability Insurance Agency, Sandras previous work was in Case Management for people with Disabilities.
Sandra spent 7 years working alongside the Queensland Police Project Booyah helping disadvantaged youth transition from school life to adulthood. 3 years working with the local Elders in building services for indigenous people and is now a Specialist Support Coordinator for people with mental health and physical disabilities.
It is Sandra’s goal to improve local support services in Mount Morgan including a fully staffed Public High School.
Helen Madell
Leadership Group Member
With over two decades of experience as a psychologist in the Capricornia region, Helen has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by families living in regional QLD.
Helen’s expertise includes PTSD (particularly in first responders and childhood trauma), depression, anxiety, and relationship issues to eating disorders and OCD. Employing a therapy dog to work with her at times by accompanying to suitable workspaces and events to support and assist clients.
Before becoming a psychologist, Helen served in the Royal Australian Army as a soldier/medic and worked in nursing, earning a commendation from the Chief of Defence for my overseas service. Currently, running a private practice, Helen is also a lecture at CQ University, where she co-ordinates courses in Advanced Clinical Interventions and Clinic Team IV.
Outside work, Helen enjoys hobbies in fitness and as an assistant instructor at my Taekwondo Dojang.
Dallas Fewquandie
Leadership Group Member
For over two and a half years, Dallas has been privileged to serve as a Leadership Group Member with Capricornia SPSP, championing community-led systemic change across our region. This role builds upon three decades of grassroots community work that has shaped her unwavering commitment to addressing intergenerational disadvantage.
As an Australian South Sea Islander representative, President of Rockhampton Australian South Sea Islander Community Inc, Oceans Consultant and CEO of the Australian South Sea Islander Resource & Advocacy Network Service, Dallas brings deep cultural understanding and lived experience to SPSP’s collective impact approach. Her journey spans mental health advocacy, youth services, women’s empowerment, and cultural heritage preservation—each role strengthening her capacity to facilitate genuine community consultation and build sustainable partnerships.
Dallas is passionate about amplifying community voices, honouring cultural diversity, and supporting place-based initiatives that create lasting transformation for our families and future generations, which means protecting and maintaining knowledge, important to a community’s well-being and identity, crucial elements that support and nurture future generations rather than being lost or forgotten.
Dr Jeanette Nedan
Leadership Group Member
With a professional background in social work, psychotherapy and education Jeanette has held diverse statutory roles in the Australian Public Service, UK Local Authorities, NHS and the not- for- profit sectors and as a university academic in Higher Education contexts in Australia and England in the fields of social work, family therapy, psychotherapy and higher education curriculum development.
Leadership roles included Programs Lead for Family Therapy, Systemic Supervision, Systemic Psychological Therapies, Field Education, National Chair of Family Therapy Association UK, Vice President of The Australian and NZ Social Work and Welfare Education and Research Organization, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Advance HE.
Now retired, Jeanette continues her commitment to social justice through diverse community volunteering including as a Justice of the Peace, through arts-based play in an art museum and through supporting inclusive and accessible community dance.
Elizabeth Jacobson
Leadership Group Member
I was born in Biloela, Central Queensland, as one of five children, and grew up on cattle properties in the surrounding area. Those early years gave me a strong sense of community and a belief in the importance of supporting one another — values that have shaped both my life and my career.
I attended boarding school in Rockhampton and have lived and worked in the region for most of my adult life. I am a proud mother of four children, and for more than 30 years I have worked as a teacher and school leader in Central Queensland. During my decade as Principal at Depot Hill State School, my focus has been on creating safe, supportive, and inclusive places for children to learn and grow.
I am passionate about equity and opportunities for all families, and I believe strong communities grow from strong connections, where every child and family feel they belong.
Michael Page
Leadership Group Member
With over 35 years of experience as a community leader, Michael is dedicated to empowering local populations and driving positive change. His journey spans corporate and grassroots sectors, where he honed his skills in fostering inclusive collaboration and building high-performing teams internationally.
Michael founded and scaled a digital technology company, which equipped him with a strong foundation in strategic vision and innovation. His leadership experience includes formal governance roles from the age of 19, emphasising his deep understanding of organisational dynamics and community needs.
Michael is passionate about promoting equity and accessibility, demonstrated through his work with various organisations focused on social impact. His ability to mobilise stakeholders and nurture valuable partnerships positions him as a strong community representative on the Leadership Group, dedicated to strengthening community equity and driving systemic change in Capricornia.
Fletcher Kendall
Leadership Group Member
Being a Yeppoon local, Fletcher has enjoyed the town, people and natural environment, all of which have supported his growth. Fletcher’s diverse experiences throughout the years in Yeppoon, included contributing his energy to the State Emergency Service, the Yeppoon Running Festival, Parkrun, local theatres, and appreciating the community spirit.
Having recently completed a Bachelor of Engineering and become a full-time graduate electrical engineer, he is interested in contributing to a group that fosters constructive ideas and develops community-led initiatives to support the well-being of this wonderful community.
Fletcher’s keen engineering mindset, combined with his passion for community development and engaging personality, reflects his hopes to support the SPSP in fostering long-term well-being for families and children throughout our region.
Backbone Team
The Backbone Team acts as the central, neutral facilitator within a community. It’s a dedicated team that supports and coordinates community efforts to develop and implement a tailored strategy and action plan. The team works closely with a local leadership group, which are the community connection points, and is accountable to them. Their role includes facilitating local planning, inclusive engagement, data collection, measurement, evaluation, and collaborative decision-making.
In Stronger Places, Stronger People demonstration communities, each community has a local Backbone Team to support inclusive community engagement, facilitate and/or coordinate regional planning and action, support collaborative decision-making, and lead local understanding, measurement, evaluation, and learning activities. The sector-neutral Backbone Team is accountable to the community’s Local Leadership Group, who enable the community connection.
Backbone Teams then support the community to build a knowledge base, allowing community needs and aspirations to be identified, and solutions that work locally to be designed and communicated in a way that everyone involved can understand and take action.
They can also enlist the support of stakeholders outside of the community to reduce silos, advance change, and play varied roles at a local, regional, state, or national level.
Meet the BBT
Stephen Iles
Executive Director
Stephen is an experienced social sector leader and innovator. Working to help people overcome poverty and disadvantage animates his life. Following a career in financial markets and international banking, he was Deputy Director at the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership. Stephen was the foundation CEO of the Kaiela Institute, CEO of State Schools’ Relief, a charity clothing disadvantaged students in government schools. More recently, Stephen was Chief Impact Officer at the Stronger Smarter Institute and Head of Research & Evaluation at Children’s Ground in Alice Springs.
Stephen has degrees in Economics and History. He is a social innovation graduate of Central Queensland University, completed the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at Stanford. And a keen gardener.
Working Together - Partners and Friends
CQUniversity is an auspice partner to two SPSP demonstration communities. Capricornia SPSP & Gladstone Region Together.
CQUniversity is a leader in social innovation and is globally ranked as #25 for its social, environmental, and economic impact in the 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings. The university is also the first and only Ashoka U Changemaker Campus in Australia, a recognition of its global leadership in social innovation in higher education.
The university has a long-standing commitment to social innovation, with its work embedded across its education, training, and research. And has a dedicated Social Impact Lab that drives new initiatives to solve systemic problems through collaboration with communities, government, industry, and the for-purpose sector.
Find Us Here
Address
Building 65, 554-700 Yaamba Road, North Rockhampton, QLD 4701
We respectfully acknowledge Darumbal, Woppaburra, and Gangulu. Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and collaborate for an equitable future. We pay respect to the First Nations Peoples and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We extend this respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
