Board and life members

Professor Petrina Coventry/ Chair

Petrina is an ethicist with more than 20 years’ experience in global leadership roles with The General Electric Company, Coca Cola and Proctor & Gamble. Petrina is a director at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (Centre for Male Health) a Board Member of the Skin Cancer College Australasia, Regional Development Australia, and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Institute of Health and Safety and the Australian Human Resource Institute as well as a World Lacrosse Ethics Commissioner.

Alli Chandler

Alli is a commercial lawyer with over 10 years’ experience spanning private practice, inhouse and Government. She is currently a Principal Lawyer at a Government Department where her work fo

cuses primarily on commercial contracts, procurements and funding.

After being on the transplant waitlist, she gratefully received her kidney transplant from a deceased donor. Thanks to her transplant, she has been able to get married and start a family, study her Masters of Applied Law and compete in swimming at both the Australian and World Transplant Games and even come home with gold medals at both.

She was inspired to become a Transplant Australia Director to be able to use her professional skills to support a cause she is passionate about and has a personal connection to.

Dr Rohit D’Costa / Director

Dr Rohit D’Costa is a Melbourne-based intensivist and the Medical Director of DonateLife Victoria.

Lisa Gavin / Director and Company Secretary

Lisa is a Chartered Accountant who has been in the financial services industry for over 25 years. She is currently Head of Tax and Accounting Services at BT Financial Group.

Lisa joined the Board of Transplant Australia in March 2018 as she has a desire to utilise her skills and experience to make a difference to people’s lives.

Briana Harvey

Briana Harvey is a senior sports executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across elite Australian sport, including roles as General Manager of Women’s National Teams at Football Australia and Executive General Manager at the GWS Giants.

Briana brings to the Transplant Australia Board a deeply personal connection to the transplant community. A liver transplant recipient of three years and the sister of a donor, she understands the gift of life from both sides of the transplant journey. This lived experience sits alongside her professional expertise in governance, stakeholder engagement, and organisational leadership.

Geoff Jessup

Geoff is an executive manager with over 30 years experience leading-large scale change initiatives in the finance and not-for-profit sectors.  Geoff received a Gift of Life liver transplant in 2016.  Recently retired, he is an avid volunteer with Transplant Australia and competitor in the World and Australian Transplant Games.

Geoff’s transplant journey began in 2013 with recurrent sclerosis cholangitis.  He received a life-saving liver transplant in 2016 and following a year-long recovery, returned to his career in 2018. Geoff joined Transplant Australia immediately following his transplant and inspired by its mission, volunteers with Transplant Australia and competes in both the World and Australian Transplant Games. 

Colin Liebmann

Colin Liebmann is an experienced business professional and director. His passion for donation arises from the living gift given by his wife to their son. Colin has also volunteered his time to the Living Kidney Donor Group which is now incorporated under Transplant Australia’s work.

Professor Angela Webster

Angela is a clinical leader and researcher who works at the University of Sydney as Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and as a Transplant Physician at Westmead Hospital in Western Sydney. She is an internationally renowned health services researcher and evidence integration expert. Her research program tackles health literacy, risk tolerance and eliciting and integrating patient preferences, and supporting effective patient self-management, as well as integrating real world data for innovative sustainable health service re-design to better meet the needs of individuals and the nation.

Angela trained in nephrology and transplantation in England, Scotland and Australia, and moved permanently to Australia in 2007. Since then she has held leadership positions with the Australia and New Zealand Society of Nephrology responsible for programming the annual scientific meeting and educational activities and more recently chairing the research committee, the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand as a former board member.

Chris Thomas / CEO

Chris Thomas is the CEO of Transplant Australia, a role he has held for almost 20 years. A former journalist, Chris has held senior management roles with the Australian Medical Association (NSW), the National Heart Foundation and the Advertising Federation of Australia. He is a former member of the Advisory Council to the Organ & Tissue Authority and President of the World Transplant Games Federation. He is currently a Director and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Australian Sporting Alliance for People with a Disability.