Our Company Members

Jennifer Stratton has held senior leadership positions in Catholic education, Catholic health and aged care, and Catholic aid and development for the past 24 years. She was Group Director of Mission at St John of God Health Care (SJGHC) for 15 years where she worked closely with the Board and Trustees, assisting them in their leadership of the Mission. In addition to her responsibility for developing the culture, she led a broad range of learning and development initiatives for managers and their teams. She had executive responsibility for social justice initiatives including ground-breaking work in creating employment opportunities within SJGHC for people with a disability. She also led the construction and implementation of SJGHC’s first Reconciliation Action Plan.

Anne-Marie Pitos has made significant contributions to Catholic education in WA for more than 40 years, having served as Principal of Santa Maria College and Iona Presentation College over two decades. She has also held executive roles on numerous professional bodies and has served on a range of committees, advisory groups and boards. She was a member of the Catholic Education Commission of WA, a board member of Catholic Institute of WA and is currently a Trustee of the University of Notre Dame, Australia. Anne holds a Master of Educational Leadership (UNDA), a Bachelor of Applied Science and Graduate Diploma of Education (Curtin University).

Mary McComish was the Associate Professor of Law at The University of Notre Dame for 10 years, as well as the Dean of Law at The University of Notre Dame from 2005 until her retirement in 2007. She has been a Barrister in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and was recently Director of Daydawn Advocacy Centre from 2013 – 2016, an initiative of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Perth with Indigenous people. Mary is also a Trustee of St John of God Australia. 

In January 2023, Mary was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for significant service to tertiary education, and to the community. 

Steve Halley-Wright has held senior leadership positions in major corporations and in Catholic education for over 25 years. Since 2009, Steve has been Director Finance & Administration at Newman College, a Pre-K to 12 coeducational Catholic College with around 1900 students. At Newman College, Steve is responsible for all non-teaching aspects of the College including Accounting, Finance, ICT, Facilities, Registrations, Capital Development and Procurement. Prior to that, Steve was General Manager Group Accounting & Corporate IT, and General Manager Group Audit at Wesfarmers where he worked closely with the Board and senior management in developing and enhancing the risk and control environments of this major, diverse business.

Des Hardiman has over 40 years commercial experience primarily in the not-for-profit sector. As a qualified accountant, Des has worked in Catholic education for over 30 years, having held the leadership position of Bursar/Business Manager at Trinity College, Newman College and John XXIII College in that time. Responsibilities included all financial management, risk, board governance, non-teaching staff, and capital developments. Des has been a member of school boards and held numerous committee positions on related associations. Retiring in 2015, Des has a small consulting business and is active in the community as a Justice of the Peace and on the Board of the Swan Districts Football Club. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants and a Member of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Tom Stephens was a long-term regional member of the State Parliament (1982-2013) and maintains an active involvement with the WA Aboriginal community, serving as an Independent Director with MG Corporation and Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation. Tom currently serves on a number of boards and committees in both the non-for-profit and government sector.