Board of Directors

Our volunteer Board of Directors take their roles with Healthy Kids Association very seriously, applying their valuable expertise and experience to ensure good governance and to drive the strategic direction of the organisation.

Fiona Fleming – Chairperson
Fiona is an experienced corporate and regulatory affairs professional with a proven ability to work in a fastpaced, challenging environment. She has 30 years’ experience in the food industry in dairy, seafood, cerealbased foods, smallgoods, tea, simmer sauces and pastes, ingredients and infant formula.  Fiona currently runs a boutique food consultancy business working across a range of areas. 

Joanne SmithVice Chairperson
Jo is a partner at Applied Management Consultants and was the Director of Hatfield House Consulting from 2012. She is a strategic policy and management specialist with over 20 years’ experience providing strategic and operational advice to decision makers, drawing on a wealth of public sector leadership experience. Her areas of interest are in population level strategies that target social disadvantage and deliver change with social impact. Jo is an exceptional communicator and is accustomed to balancing a diverse range of stakeholder interests. She has a BA/LLB (Uni of Sydney) and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).

Dr. Kathy Chapman – Secretary 
Kathy has extensive experience working in the ‘for-purpose’ and charity sector in health promotion, and is currently the CEO of Macular Disease Foundation of Australia, the largest cause of blindness in Australians.  Kathy has held leadership roles in the Heart Foundation, Down Syndrome NSW, Cancer Council NSW, and NSW Council of Social Services.  She has significant experience delivering on strategy for health promotion programs, especially in nutrition. Already armed with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Nutrition and Dietetics, Kathy has a PhD from the University of Sydney. Kathy brings additional expertise to HKA in stakeholder management, government relations and advocacy.

 Kathy Usic  Treasurer
Kathy is an accomplished health professional and commerciallyminded business leader with over 35 years’ experience in education, FMCG and the health promotion / not for profit sectors.  Kathy currently leads the Glycemic Index Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation owned by the University of Sydney and the Diabetes NSW ACT (Australia). 

Katrina Weir 
With more than eighteen years of public relations and communications experience, Katrina is a health and communications expert with extensive expertise in stakeholder engagement and account management. She was a co-founder and director of Reed Weir Communications and during this time was the recipient of several public relations awards. This is Katrina’s third term on the board. 

Marie Malica
As the CEO of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, Marie brings comprehensive knowledge of business and project management, corporate governance, sales and marketing to the HKA Board. She has experience both in corporate and charitable Health industries, having managed Cancer Council NSW’s research programs and clinical trials for seven years in addition to three years’ management experience at Prince of Wales Hospital, overseeing research ethics and governance.

Maree Ferguson
Maree is the Founder and Managing Director of Dietitian Connection, which provides professional development opportunities for dietitians worldwide. With prior experience as the Director, Nutrition and Dietetics Department at Princess Alexandra Hospital and Senior Research Scientist at Abbott Laboratories, Ohio, USA, Maree’s extensive nutrition knowledge, strategic direction and leadership experience is highly valuable as an HKA Board Director.