Our Team

Karen is a recently retired business woman who had a Gemmological practice in Sydney CBD for 40 years. 

In conjunction with this she has sat on several Government and NGO Boards, been a business mentor with the Dept. of State and Regional Development, received the Pommery Award for Business Excellence and been both the Lane Cove Business Woman of the Year and the NSW Adult Volunteer of the year. 

For the past 25 years Karen has been involved with victims and survivors of child sexual assault and worked as a volunteer through several agencies where one-on-one support and assistance is required. 

Karen has been on the SAMSN Board since its inception in 2012 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for significant service to social welfare initiatives, and to the jewellery industry. 

James is a seasoned healthcare Director with over 20+ years experience in the global healthcare sector. Currently leading the Kolling Institute, the oldest biomedical research institute in New South Wales, James has a track record of steering complex projects across international teams and strategic alliance partners. He works with key policymakers, opinion leaders, Boards, and C-Suite executives. James possesses a unique ability to make sense of complex issues, set strategic directions and translate them into practical and pragmatic and measurable actions. His extensive experience in building and inspiring multidisciplinary teams has consistently delivered impactful results.

In addition to his leadership role at the Kolling Institute, James is the co-founder of the MuscleMap, an innovative open-source consortium for whole-body quantitative MRI of muscle. He has also been appointed to the Astronaut Spine Working Group by NASA and served as the VP of the Medical Faculty Council for the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. His academic qualifications include a Master of Science in Physical Therapy, a PhD and Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). With a background in professional sports, having worked with the Colorado Rockies at the Major League level and a playing career with the San Diego Padres, James brings a diverse and dynamic perspective to SAMSN.

Margie is an experienced Board & Committee Member and Commercial Director with over a decade of board-level experience in the global healthcare sector. Throughout her career, she has developed a strong depth and breadth of leadership, business acumen, and governance expertise. She leverages this to help organizations set strategy, achieve their aspirations and growth, and ensure effective governance.

Most recently, Margie served as a subsidiary Statutory and Commercial Director for the global healthcare company, Organon. Prior to that, she was at MSD, a top worldwide healthcare company, where she was a longstanding member of the leadership team, holding various leadership roles, including Executive Commercial Director.

Margie holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is proud of the positive impact she has had on people’s lives throughout her career, including the launch of lifesaving medicines and her strong leadership contributions to boards and the teams she has led.

Gail is a registered Psychologist with over 30 years of experience working at the Family Court, Relationships Australia, Domestic Violence Crisis Service, ACT Women’s Health Service and the Australian National University. 

During this time, she has worked with many men and women who have suffered trauma as a result of interpersonal violence including childhood sexual abuse. She has also over the years, provided both clinical supervision and training in trauma related work. 

Having worked extensively offering support and change opportunities to men struggling with the use of violence in their most important relationships, she has a particular interest in services for men, which she sees as often too scarce. 

Gail is a long-time member of the Australian Psychological Society. 

Professor Patrick O’ Leary is the Director of the Violence Research Prevention Program at Griffith University’s Criminology Institute. He has extensive experience in various executive roles in universities and the community sector. 

Professor O’ Leary is an internationally recognised researcher, with significant expertise in domestic violence/gender-based violence and child protection. Prior to entering academic work Professor O’ Leary worked as a social worker in sexual assault, counselling, and domestic violence services. For over twenty years he has conducted research on the effects of child sexual abuse on men. 

Professor O’ Leary has published extensively in high quality journals, and his work has influenced international domestic violence and child protection policy and practice. He has worked extensively in social development contexts in many countries. Professor O’ Leary was an Expert Academic Advisor to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and a Senior Research Fellow with UNICEF’s Office for Research. Since 2013 Professor O’ Leary has worked with SAMSN in an advisory capacity. 

Dr Gary Foster is a social worker, who from 2018 to 2023 was the Practice Manager for the Queensland Government National Redress Scheme Direct Personal Response and Counselling and Psychological Care programs. He was previously a Police Officer in the Metropolitan Police, London, where he co-coordinated a Domestic Violence unit; and investigated and prosecuted sexual assault. Gary’s PhD examines governmental responses to male on male rape. 

Gary was the founder/manager of the Queensland Living Well service providing counselling and group support to men who have been subjected to childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault, as well as to partners, families, and communities between from 2007-2018. He has presented at national and international conferences and workshops on improving therapeutic and service responses in working with men. Gary appeared as an expert witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He is interested in developing responses to enhance the wellbeing of people who have experienced trauma and abuse. 

Tracy has been an active and keen ally of SAMSN since our early days after her husband, Matthew attended one of SAMSN’s Eight-week Support Groups. She has participated in our Supporters Workshops and our podcast and appears in our website video for supporters.

Tracy has a deep interest in how supporters and mates can help in the healing and recovery of survivors of childhood sexual assault and how we can best care for our supporters in this important work.

Tracy and her husband have run a consulting engineering practice for the past 25 years and have two adult children.