AOP is guided by a team of development experts skilled at developing innovative partnerships and managing complex programs.

Staff

Brayden Howie

CEO

Brayden firmly believes that the international development sector can and should be more accessible to new participants. He has held senior leadership roles in the international development and social services sectors for 15 years across both commercial and non-profit organisations, based in Sydney, Bangkok, and Pyongyang. Outside the world of international development, Brayden is a company director, photographer, occasional adventurer, and daggy dad.


Karen Brogan

Head of Finance and Administration

Karen is a qualified Chartered Accountant with years of experience gained in both the corporate and the not-for-profit space, including with EY, WWF and Adara Group. Karen is passionate about the not-for-profit sector and using business skills to affect social change. Karen enjoys travelling and sharing those experiences with her young family.


Praveen Lata

Head of Program Operations

Meghal Shah

Asia Regional Director

Meghal believes lasting and scalable social impact occurs when purpose-led organisations are powered by sustainable business models. For his work in making this happen, he has been recognised as one of Chartered Accountant Magazine’s 20 under 35 future leaders in 2020. Meghal has held various leadership and governance roles in the not-for-profit sector over the past seven years with most recent being COO at AOP. Currently based in AOP’s Hanoi office, Meghal is enjoying his immersion in the Vietnamese culture and enjoys travelling throughout Asia with his young family.


Ta Van Tuan

Director, Product Development and Innovation

Tuan is a social innovator and development professional with 25 years of experience in the fields of poverty alleviation, social justice, and community-based tourism. Some of his research has been published in international journals and books. Under Tuan’s leadership as Vietnam Country Director, AOP received the Order of Friendship in 2019 - the President of Vietnam's highest honour for foreign organisations, recognising AOP’s significant contributions to poverty reduction and sustainable development in the country. Now based in Sydney, Tuan brings extensive experience from the field to expand innovative products to act on poverty.


Carrie Cochrane

Head of Partnerships

Carrie is an expert in fundraising and partnerships, specialising in international development and humanitarian aid. Working with UNHCR, Plan, and ChildFund, Carrie has led national fundraising campaigns, established face-to-face and telemarketing programs, and developed fundraising and operations plans that raise millions of dollars per year. Carrie has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and loves true crime shows.

Board

Mukul Agrawal

Director

Merrilyn Clancy

Director

Merrilyn is an experienced director, helping non-profit, private, and public organisations operate in highly regulated environments with funding challenges and complex stakeholder relationships. Her recent work focuses on lessons learned from the banking and aged care Royal Commissions, and how to implement an adaptive and positive culture. Merrilyn is a graduate of University of Sydney (BAppSc) and University of California Santa Barbara (MA, PhD).



Layusa Isa-Odidi

Director

Rebekah Lam

Director

Giles Dickenson-Jones

Director

Giles is an applied economist with over a decade of experience working on public policy and international development issues in government, the private sector, and the not-for-profit sector. He has worked as an economist in Australia’s Federal Government, Senior Economist at the London School of Economics’ International Growth Centre, and Senior Economic Advisor to Myanmar’s union parliament. Giles has a nuanced understanding of the practical challenges faced by communities seeking to encourage economic, social and political development. He holds a Master of Development Studies from the University of Sydney and an Honours degree in Economics from the University of New England. Currently, Giles works as an independent economic consultant based in Sydney.


John Kell

Chair

John joined the AOP Board in 2015 and has been chair since 2016. He is currently a Partner at Hicksons Lawyers, where his expertise includes corporate and commercial law, competition and consumer law, financial services licensing, and compliance. John has worked as a teacher in Papua New Guinea and was previously a Director of Board of Bridge Housing Limited, a not-for-profit community housing provider.


Tim Lovitt

Director

Tim held Head of Digital, Head of Research, and Head of Data and Analytics roles prior to joining PwC as an Associate Director. A short stint as Partner at MacMorgan prefaced his founding of The Iani Group. Since 2017, The Iani Group has worked with founders and investors to ensure aligned strategy, funding, and outcomes, delivering over $100m to early and growth stage businesses. Tim plays an advisory role in a range of start-ups, scale-ups, and NGOs, where he focuses on the intersection of solid strategy, strong governance, and sustainable business models.


Claire Mallinson

Director

Claire has over 30 years of senior leadership experience with environmental, human rights, disability, and cancer research NGOs in Australia and around the world. She was the National Director of Amnesty International Australia (AIA) for 12 years, overseeing significant human rights win in Australia and globally. She also sits on the board of The Sunrise Project, and is a mentor to CEOs, senior executives, and boards. She has a Welsh Terrier called Monty.


Alice Xu

Director

With over 18 years of financial services experience and more than 10 years of leadership experience at senior and executive level, Alice brings strong and seasoned experience across diverse areas to the AOP Board. Working in the strategy, finance and risk consulting space, Alice is innovative, collaborative, and supports strong working relations with key stakeholders in the business to identify, assess and mitigate business risk.