Our Executive Management

Frances’ natural drive and pursuit of excellence resulted in her former employer gaining accreditation as an Employer of Choice for Women, and ACT Employer of the Year for Apprenticeships & Traineeships. 

Frances was drawn to YWCA Canberra in 2010 as she had always identified as a feminist, and has a strong belief in social justice, which she attributes to her mother’s influence. Having faced discrimination during her own career journey, she is now committed to being a strong voice for women. 

Frances has been the CEO of YWCA Canberra since 2013. She has led YWCA Canberra through a significant change process in integrated services delivery, corporate service review and evaluation frameworks. In response to identified community need, including during the COVID-19 crisis, Frances has spearheaded a range of new programs in the areas of addressing domestic and family violence and women’s homelessness, as well as empowering women to take authentic leadership journeys. 

Frances is currently a Council Member for the ACT Work Safety Council as appointed by the Minister and the ACT Work Safety Commissioner. Frances also volunteers on a variety of boards and committees, including Homelessness Australia. Frances was formerly on the board of ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), is a former Board Director of WESNET, former Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Committee for Women and former Co-Chair of Anti-Poverty Week in the ACT.  

In 2015, France received an Edna Ryan Award for advancing the status of women in the ACT. In 2016, Frances was named ACT Leader of the Year at the Australian Leadership Excellence Awards run by the Australian Institute of Leadership and Management. She also attended Commission for the Status of Women in New York in 2017, 2018 and 2019.  

In 2021 Frances was selected to participate in the inaugural Social Impact Leadership Australia (SILA) program, where she completed a 10-month program on leadership development and capacity building for CEOs of for-purpose organisations in Australia. 

She has a strong focus on our services providing quality education to children, empowering the next generations. To enable this, Bernadette has increased the number of professional development opportunities available to staff, instilled a culture of continuous improvement within our services, and increased the quality control and professionalism of our services.

Bernadette has been a member of the ACT Government’s Office of Children Youth and Family Services Advisory Committee since 2016 and was a member of the ACT Government’s Early Childhood Advisory Council from 2017 until it ended in 2020. Bernadette believes in working closely with the regulator CECA to ensure high quality across all our children’s services programs and enjoys a good, mutually beneficial working relationship with other government agencies as well.

This has included Therapeutic, Community Development, Domestic Violence Specialist Services, Family Law, Emergency Relief, Specialist Homelessness Services, Community Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Child Protection, Child, Youth and Family, Disability, Employment, Health and Wellbeing, and Employment and Community Capacity Programs across numerous funding contracts. She is passionate about social justice, equity, and working towards improving inclusion and community outcomes.

Cara is interested in corporate governance, sector collaboration, and has held several board positions. She is currently the Chair of the Joint Pathways Network, the cross sector-government homelessness network, providing strategic advice to the Minister for Homelessness.  She formerly held the position of Director of Client Services at Marymead and a Senior Manager of Client Services at the Australian National University. Her previous roles in Central Western NSW include CEO of Anglicare Western NSW, Manager Community Programs at Centacare Bathurst and Regional Manager Interact Injury Management. Cara is self-driven to perform at a very high standard and this has seen her successfully plan, design, deliver, and evaluate quality services, manage multi-disciplinary teams, deliver project and program outcomes on time, develop high-level reports, achieve accreditation, and develop and win significant community services tenders and grants to respond to community needs.

Cara holds a Master of Management Studies with First Class Honours, Postgraduate, Graduate and Undergraduate qualifications in International Business Management, Strategic Management and Marketing, Advanced Diploma Community Sector Management and has completed studies in Mediation, Psychology, Sociology and Mediation. She holds a Cert IV in Government Contracting and Procurement, is a Quality Assurance Internal Auditor (ISO 9001) and has completed the AICD Company Directors and Governing for Vulnerable People courses. Cara is completing the final subject of a Master of Social Work degree.

Pek’s job roles in her career path included internal audit team leader, financial accountant, management accountant, project consultant, advanced financial analyst, senior finance manager and executive director. Pek has worked in many industries including consulting firms, bank, retail organisations, membership organisations and multinational information technology companies. In her current role, Pek oversees the finance & corporate services of the YWCA Canberra, accountable for the financial and risk management operations of the organisation and, the development of a financial and operational strategy to ensure financial sustainability of the organisation.

Pek has a passion for leading change through innovative digital finance transformation to improve productivity. Digital finance focuses on the ways we are using technology to replace manual accounting practices through AI and automation.

Pek is a volunteer mentor with the CPA Australia Mid-Career Mentoring Program. Pek would like to share the skills and experience she has gained throughout her career journey, giving back to the community, and helping to shape the career of a fellow member, as well as the opportunity to benefit from reverse mentoring by learning and developing new skills.

Her most recent role was in Marketing & Partnerships at HopeBox Vietnam, a grassroots social enterprise supporting women who are survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, and child marriage.

With a strong background in developing strong people-centered approaches to capacity development, Eleanor helps organizations in developing markets deliver their objectives