Foundation Leadership

St John of God Foundation Board Members

Our Board directors ensure that the Foundation operates responsibly, maintaining the highest level of ethics, to enable transformational care to our patients and their families to help provide better health outcomes in our communities.

Mr Tony Howarth AO, CitWA, Hon LLD WAust, SF Fin, FAICD
Chair of the Board, St John of God Foundation

Mr Tony Howarth AO joined the St John of God Foundation Board as Chair in October 2019.

Tony is a former Chair of the St John of God Health Care Board (January 2004 to May 2018), during which time the organisation grew from employing 5,700 caregivers with 10 hospitals and pathology and radiology services, to employing more than 13,000 caregivers and running 23 facilities in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.

Tony’s career spans more than 30 years in the international banking and finance industry. He brings a diverse range of executive experience to the Foundation Board, and currently holds non-executive director roles with Alinta Energy, BWP Trust and Viburnum Funds.

Mr Stephen Roberts - Bbus, BHA, MBA
St John of God Geelong Hospital Chief Executive Officer

Stephen has been Chief Executive Officer at St John of God Geelong Hospital since 1991 and prior to that, St John of God Goulburn. He holds a Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Health Administration and an MBA from the University of Melbourne.

He is also currently the Chair and Director of the Board of disability and employment services provider genU.

Mrs Larissa Johnstone

St John of God Health Care Group General Counsel/Company Secretary 

Larissa has over 21 years’ legal and commercial experience as a lawyer, including 7 years as General Counsel and Company Secretary at St John of God Health Care, 5 years as a partner with Sydney's leading boutique commercial law firm, and prior to that experience with top tier law firms in Sydney and London.

Larissa has a keen interest in making a difference in the lives of vulnerable people, and supports the Foundation’s goals through her own fundraising activities.

Mr Bryan Pyne
Group Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Health Care

Bryan joins the Board as St John of God Health Care's Group Chief Executive Officer, with more than 23 years’ experience in senior health care management and finance roles, including his previous role as Group Chief Operating Officer (Hospitals). 

Ms Tina Chinery
CEO, St John of God Subiaco Hospital

Tina is a health executive leader with significant and broad experience in the hospital and health care sector across all service areas.

Tina also has extensive experience in health strategic service planning, capital project management, implementation of new technology, research and education.

Having started her career as a nurse, Tina is strongly committed to delivering high quality person-centred care and is pleased to work within an organisation that is focused on the values of hospitality, compassion, respect, justice and excellence.

St John of God Foundation senior leadership team

Bianca Pietralla - BComm. GAICD. MFIA
St John of God Foundation Chief Executive Officer

Bianca has 20 years’ experience in Marketing, Communications and Fundraising. Prior to joining St John of God Foundation, Bianca was a Director at Curtin University and previously held senior management roles with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Bankwest. She is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Fundraising Institute of Australia. Bianca says the best thing about her job is being able to help make a difference to people’s lives.

Rachel Bruechle
Director of Community Engagement

As the Director of Community Engagement, Rachel drives brand awareness, oversees community fundraising campaigns, appeals, and events, and leads the communications program with the Foundation’s supporters.

Rachel has over 20 years’ marketing experience, most recently as Senior Manager, Marketing for Royal Flying Doctors Service (WA). Her previous senior roles include Head of Marketing and Intelligence for Activ Foundation, Director of Development and Communications at Murdoch University, and Group Marketing Manager at Lotterywest.

Preema Wong
Director of Philanthropy

As the Director of Philanthropy, Preema leads the national strategy for one-to-one relationship fundraising with individual donors, trusts, foundations and philanthropic partners.

Preema has over a decade of fundraising experience in the higher education sector, and most recently led the donor engagement, bequests, and major gift portfolios at Deakin University. Her previous roles include Acting Director, Donor Relations and Senior Manager, Donor Engagement.

Karen Gair - MBA, CFRE
Campaign Director

Brian Soucie
Foundation Services Manager

As Foundation Services Manager, Brian oversees the team responsible for gift processing, information management, systems and reporting.

Brian brings over 15 years of international experience supporting philanthropic and community engagement outcomes. Previously, he has led service-oriented teams to deliver transformational projects at both ANU and UWA, and supported the operational requirements of the largest fundraising achievement in WA history – the $400M Create the Future campaign at UWA.