Board of Directors
The Physical Activity Australia Board of Directors meets regularly to discuss strategy, research and policy reform related to physical activity.
Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary
Fiona K Bailey
Chair and Adjunct Professor
Greg Johnson
Board members
Kathryn Arndt
Fiona K Bailey
Nicholas Cox
Professor David Crawford
Gail Morgan
David Roche
Fiona K Bailey
MPH (Syd) MBA (AGSM) JP (NSW) MAICD
Fiona has extensive senior management experience in corporate communications, social campaigns, issues and reputation management, and advocacy. She has worked across many sectors ranging from banking to fast moving consumer goods, tourism, pharmaceutical, government and not-for-profit in Australia and the UK.
Amongst her many achievements Fiona has been responsible for the rebranding of the Heart Foundation and Colonial State Bank, the development of the Boys Do Cry campaign for Breast Cancer, the Snowy Mountain Bushfire recovery program, advising the Royal Flying Doctor service and first evaluation of the original Personal Health Record.
Fiona has served on the Boards of SIDs and Kids and the Australian Graduate School of Management Alumni. She has also been involved in supporting Peru’s Challenge in Peru and in Kenya with an infants and mothers program. She has also served as a mentor for both the AGSM Executive Year students and for the Smith Family’s high school program. Fiona has been the recipient of various industry awards for her initiatives in communications.
Adjunct Professor Greg Johnson
Greg is the CEO of Diabetes Australia – Vic and National Policy Adviser for Diabetes Australia. He is also the current Chair of the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance and an experienced leader in health with over 30 years experience in the sector.
He is a committed and passionate advocate for prevention, early intervention and enhanced community capacity to respond to 21st century public health challenges. Over the past eight years Greg has devoted his efforts to diabetes and population wide approaches for prevention and management. In his roles with Diabetes Australia he has been a strong advocate for preventive health and has helped to create new statewide and national initiatives including the Obesity Policy Coalition, Australia’s first statewide diabetes prevention program (Life! Program in Victoria), workplace based risk assessment and prevention (WorkHealth in Victoria), and social marketing (Executive Sponsor of the National Diabetes Action Program).
In 2008, Greg was appointed Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health at Deakin University. Greg worked as a private hospital and health service chief executive in various national organisations over 13 years. He was a Coordinating Surveyor and Surveyor for the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards for fourteen years.
He served two terms as a director and Board Member of Melbourne Health (including the Royal Melbourne Hospital). He is a member of the Institute of Company Directors. He chairs the Board of Evivar Medical Pty Ltd, a joint venture company to develop hepatitis B viral resistance testing internationally.
Kathryn Arndt
Kathryn brings a wealth of knowledge to the Physical Activity Australia Board. She has a wide variety of experience including Director positions with Inner East Community Health Service, Northwest Dispensaries Friendly Society and Diabetes Australia – Vic, as well as being State Committee Member at National Disability Services Victoria.
Since 2003 Kathryn has held the position of General Manager at VATMI Industries. She holds a Bachelor of Business degree and a Graduate Diploma.
Nicholas Cox
Nick has over 25 years experience working in the Sport, Recreation and Fitness industries, and for the past 17 years has held a number of executive management positions. He has formal qualifications in Physical Education, Facility Management and Business Administration.
Nick is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and is a Director and Treasurer of SkillsHub, the industry training advisory board for the Sport & Recreation Industry. With extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector Nick has held a number of CEO positions for community-based organisations and was previously the Chief Operating Officer of YMCA Australia. His current role is General Manager for leisure at Maroondah City Council.
Professor David Crawford
Alfred Deakin Professor David Crawford is Head of the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, within the Faculty of Health at Deakin University. He is also Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research (C-PAN).
Professor Crawford has extensive experience in population health research, having previously worked with the Epidemiology Group and the CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition, the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, and the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. Over the past decade he has been the recipient of four prestigious fellowships from the NHMRC, the Heart Foundation and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. Along with his colleagues he has received awards from the Victorian Department of Human Services for innovation in public health and the Department for Victorian Communities for applied research in sport and recreation science.
Professor Crawford is nationally and internationally recognised for his research on the behavioural, social and environmental influences on nutrition and physical activity, the epidemiology of overweight and obesity, and the development and evaluation of obesity prevention strategies for children and adults. He has published 200 papers in these areas and has edited a major research text on obesity prevention.
Gail Morgan
Gail Morgan is currently a Director of Hawker Britton, a national government relations and government lobbying firm. Based in Canberra, Gail has more than 14 years experience in ministerial offices, the bureaucracy, peak bodies and the corporate sector.
Gail has worked in the Federal and ACT parliaments as a senior policy and political adviser over many years. She worked on the personal staff of many of Julia Gillard’s Ministers, including Simon Crean and Kim Carr. She has also been a Labor campaign manager in Local and Federal elections.
Along with her ministerial office experience, Gail worked in the Federal and ACT public services in industry and treasury portfolios, building her specialist knowledge in industry, innovation, R&D policy and regulatory affairs. Gail headed the development team for the Commonwealth’s Pharmaceuticals Industry Action Agenda in 2002, and managed the ACT utilities regulation modernisation program in 2001. Most recently, Gail was the government affairs manager for GlaxoSmithKline and worked for the Motor Trades Association of Australia representing the motor trades in Government forums.
David Roche
David operates his own consultancy and he is a Director and owner of Cycling & Sports Clothing. David’s career is expansive, incorporating roles with Dairy Australia, Department of Infrastructure Victoria, Arthur Anderson Consulting, KBA Consulting Group, Heinz/Watties and Boston Consulting Group.
David is an effective director-level strategist with a record of tangible contributions to the bottom line performance of entities engaged in the public and private sectors of agribusiness, fast moving consumer goods, financial services, high technology, utilities, transport, energy and retail.
David’s major areas of expertise include: strategic development, business planning and evaluation, corporate and project governance, partnership development and complex negotiations, project management and implementation, commercial systems analysis, and resolution. David has built, and led diverse teams in complex environments to identify and commit to common objectives and approaches.