Our Board
Peter Hennessy (Chair)
Peter Hennessy is a lawyer who spent most of his professional life in the area of law reform. He joined the Board of St Francis Social Services in 1984. Peter has held the office of Chair of the Board of St Vincent’s College, Potts Point. He is on the boards of several projects conducted by the Sisters of Charity and has also served on the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council. He was the CEO of St Francis Social Services from 2014-2017 and 2020-2021.
Thuy Huynh
Thuy has over 13 years experience at KPMG, providing audit services in both Australia and the United States, having worked in KPMG’s New York office for two years. Thuy leads the audits of large, listed, global companies specialising in the real estate industry (i.e., development, construction, investment property, hospitality, government infrastructure, property funds management). She has a Bachelor of Accounting and Business Administration – Finance (Macquarie University) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Thuy will be expanding her finance commercial experience and embarking on a financial controller role at a real estate company from 2023.
Laurie Ferguson
Laurie joined the Board of St Francis Social Services in December 2017. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Arts in History from Sydney University. Before entering politics, Laurie worked as a Research Officer at the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union. He served as the NSW MP for Granville (1984 – 1990), then as the Federal Member for Reid (1990 – 2010) and Werriwa (2010 – 2016.) Laurie’s emphasis in Parliament was on International Affairs, advancing Human Rights, Immigration and Multiculturalism.
Fr Anthoni Selveraj OFM
Fr Anthoni is a Franciscan friar who has worked in Asia and Australia. He is currently parish priest of St Francis of Assisi Paddington and St Joseph’s Edgecliff. He is a member of the Provincial Council for the Franciscans in Australia.
Anna Coroneo
Anna joined the Board in March 2016. Anna holds Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of NSW and is a senior associate in the corporate team at Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF). Anna specialises in providing advice to the corporate head offices and general counsels of listed companies on a range of critical corporate governance, Corporations Act and ASX Listing Rule issues. Anna is also an active member of the HSF Pro Bono and Citizenship Committee and co-ordinates the relationship between HSF and St Francis Social Services. Anna has provided governance training and pro bono legal work to a number of charities.
David Hardie
Over a 40-year career, David has been an effective leader in government, not-for-profit and philanthropy organisations, most recently as the Foundation Manager at the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation. In this role he managed a grantmaking team responsible for a diverse $10M annual grants program.
David’s professional background is the government sector, including leadership roles in Communications and Human Resources at Sydney Water.
David holds a Bachelor of Business, Master of Policy Studies and Graduate Certificates in Arts (Environmental Policy) and Business (Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies). He is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. David is also Chair of The Social Outfit and a Director of Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR), Slingsby Holdings and the Slingsby Foundation, and a Patron of GiveOUT.
Chris Sidoti
Chris Sidoti is a lawyer and advocate and an expert on international human rights law. He is a former Australian Human Rights Commissioner and a Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission. He holds a number of academic posts in Australia and does regular consulting work for UN human rights agencies.