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Board
Meet the QDN board of directors.
A passionate and dedicated group of leaders.
Alison Barber
Chairperson
Nigel Webb
Deputy Chairperson
Jake Bryar
Director, Audit and Compliance Committee Chair
Karen McCarthy
Director, Nominations and Performance Committee Chair
Marie Bledsoe
Director
Kate Dufty
Director
Dr Sharon Boyce
Director
Mark McKeon
Company Secretary
Danielle Brown
Appointed Director
Mark Philippi
Appointed Director
Alison Barber
Chairperson
Alison Barber is a mother of 3 young adult children and lives with her husband of 37 years.
Both of her sons live with multiple medical complexities and disabilities which, between them, has resulted in approximately 30 brain surgeries, living with hydrocephalus, acquired brain injury, both having gastronomies and being tube fed for the majority of their lives, in addition to being on different levels of the autistic spectrum.
Additionally, Alison personally acquired a C2 incomplete spinal cord injury in late 2019 and is now a permanent power wheelchair user. I She believes the combination of a somewhat unique life experience enables her to be able to represent multiple viewpoints with relation to issues like the NDIS. and I pride myself in attempting to be the best advocate I can be, for those with both visible and invisible disabilities.
Alison is a convenor for the Caboolture Peer Support Group, a State Carer Representative for Carer’s Queensland, a member of the Statewide Spinal Chord Injury Delivery Service- Codesign Project, a founding member of University of the Sunshine Coast’s research Project into Technology Enabled Homes for People with Disability and she is actively involved in numerous other disability and NDIS related projects.
Alison originally graduated university with a double degree in both primary and early childhood education. After working in this field for many years, she retired from teaching, when her and her husband established, owned and operated one of the first veterinary hospitals in Queensland.
Her sons’ medical complexities necessitated relocating closer to the children’s hospital in Brisbane, and she spent many years homeschooling and raising her children.
Alison is passionate about advocacy for all people living with disabilities, both visible and invisible.
Nigel Webb
Deputy Chairperson
Nigel is a past Director of QDN – June 2009 – October 2020 and was elected annually as Chair of the Board by its Directors between February 2010 until the AGM of October 2020.
Nigel was appointed to the Queensland Disability Advisory Council (QDAC) in September 2022. He was appointed as a Queensland Delegate of The Australian Disability Strategy Advisory Council (ADSAC) in June 2023/24 by the Minister/s. Nigel is employed by Choice, Passion Life as a Client Liaison Officer supporting 14000 clients throughout Qld & NSW.
Nigel says,” With the final reports for the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS review released with their respective recommendations, the NDIS Amendments Bill working through the respective Parliaments now, is the time that the voices of people with disability must be elevated more than ever and for QDN members and non-members to be actively involved”.
He has also been an active QDeNgage Consultant, a Housing Champion and a Peer Leader co-convening the NDIS Self-Management Peer group in recent years.
Nigel is delighted to see the success of the Emerging Leaders program and the Leadership Bursary that QDN supports each year. The Peer Leaders and each group situated within their communities must be encouraged and must flourish.
Nigel is also humbled to have been awarded Life Membership by QDN Directors’ in October 2022.
Jake Bryar
Director
Audit and Compliance Committee Chair
Jake Bryar developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome as a teenager, an autoimmune condition that attacks the peripheral nerves. He says the experience moved him “from one side of the barrier to the other” and reshaped how he understands leadership, access, and inclusion. Today he uses ankle foot orthoses to get around safely and brings that perspective to QDN’s Board as Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee.
Professionally, Jake is a Compliance Specialist at Super Retail Group, where he leads regulatory strategy across nearly a thousand sites and four national retail brands. His background spans compliance, risk management, supply chain, and government regulation, including previous experience in national leadership roles, and as an Authorised Officer with the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture.
Becoming a parent has given Jake a second perspective on disability, navigating early childhood services alongside his family and deepening his understanding of the experiences QDN’s members and their families live every day.
Jake has been actively involved in QDN as a participant in the Emerging Leaders Program, a QDeNgage consultant, and a contributor to disability access and inclusion planning at both local government and corporate levels. He has also volunteered with young autistic adults through Campus Life and driven a work experience program for young adults with psychosocial disability through a joint initiative between his employer and QUT.
Jake is committed to QDN’s principle of nothing about us without us.
Karen McCarthy
Director
Nominations and Performance Committee Chair
Karen McCarthy, a former lawyer, business graduate and keynote speaker on change and resilience, wife, and mother of two teenagers. Karen has lived experience of legal blindness and acquired brain injury, having incurred these disabilities in her mid-30s.
Over her career, Karen has demonstrated her expertise in governance, performance, and compliance; strategic thinking and policy shaping based on collective experience and evidence; and marketing, advertising, grant writing, and fundraising.
She also has experience in risk management and a basic understanding of auditing, accounting, and financial management.
Karen brings strong analytical and critical thinking skills, as well as the commitment to sound governance, integrity and accountability that she has cultivated over a 20-year legal career.
Karen worked for 15 years at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, where her work included assessing briefs of evidence and prosecuting cases in court, she also led a team of lawyers.
After losing her sight, Karen continued her legal career with the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission. Her responsibilities were both outward-facing, in assessing complaints from the public and making recommendations for findings against police and public officers, and inward-facing, in giving advice to internal stakeholders concerning the operations of the Commission itself.
Since starting her speaker business in 2022, Karen has gained practical skills in marketing and advertising, including appreciating the value of a strong brand and the effectiveness of speaking to the clients’ needs, rather than the solution you offer.
Karen is endlessly curious, an excellent listener, a confident speaker, and an eager learner with knowledge of the Art of Hosting and Harvesting Conversations That Matter. Through my own vision loss and ABI, I gained insight into the unique challenges faced by those whose life is affected by disability.
Marie Bledsoe
Director
Marie Bledsoe is a passionate lived-experience advocate, inclusion consultant, counsellor and founder of Humanista, bringing together her love of people, connection and meaningful change.
With over 20 years’ experience across government, corporate and community sectors, Marie brings extensive expertise in strategic leadership, organisational development, workforce strategy, inclusion and governance. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), a Graduate Diploma of Management and a Graduate Diploma of Counselling, and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).
Her advocacy is informed by her lived experiences of disability, neurodivergence, chronic health conditions and mental health, alongside a strong commitment to human rights, equity and meaningful participation.
Marie’s work includes contributions to Queenslanders with Disability Network, Women with Disabilities Australia and major mental health reforms, including the Shifting Minds Strategy and Queensland Trauma Strategy. Drawing on her background in leadership, counselling and lived-experience advocacy, she is particularly passionate about challenging systemic barriers and ensuring that lived experience informs policy, governance and decision-making.
A self-confessed lover of myth-busting, challenging assumptions and turning expectations on their head, Marie believes people with disability deserve more than a seat at the table; they deserve a genuine voice in shaping what happens around it.
As a QDN Director and member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, Marie is committed to strong, transparent governance and ensuring the voices and experiences of people with disability remain central to the organisation’s direction and impact.
Kate Dufty
Director
Kate has been volunteering in the disability advocacy space for close to thirty years. She joined QDN in 2019 and was one of the first Emerging Leaders in 2021. She is currently a Peer Leader, QDeNgage Consultant, member of the Reforms Co-design Team, and Co-convenor of the Gladstone Peer Support Group.
Kate is guided by a strong belief that people with lived experience of disability need to have a voice in every conversation that impacts them. Her other passion is to consider disability through the lens of intersectionality. She is particularly committed to increasing the voice of people with disability living in regional areas.
Outside of QDN, Kate is an active disability advocate in her local community of Gladstone. This was recognised when she was named Community Volunteer at the 2026 Gladstone Region Australia Day Awards. She was part of the working group that founded the Gladstone Disability Community Network in 2022 and continues to serve on its Leadership Team.
Many of you would be familiar with the NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US t-shirt that Kate often wears. To her, this is not just the QDN mantra but a personal commitment
Dr Sharon Boyce
Director
Dr Sharon Boyce is an educator, author, speaker and disability advocate, focused on disability awareness across Queensland. She is passionate and committed to social justice – empowering people with disability and supporting real living independence. In addition to her role as QDN Chairperson, Sharon is the Chair of the Queensland Disability Advisory Council (Queensland Government) and Advisor to the Queensland Minister for Seniors and Disability Services.
She is an appointed member of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Independent Advisory Council Board, President of the Physical Disability Australia Board, and advisor to the Toowoomba Regional Council’s Access Committee. She is the Director of the Australian Institute of Inclusive Education and Research, Director of the Disability Training Institute and Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aus Inclusion Pty Ltd. In 2020 she was awarded a Doctor of Letters for her research in education inclusion and dyslexia, and she is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy.
Among the awards she has received are the Queensland Regional Achiever Award in 2012 for her work in awareness, raising and creating inclusive communities across Australia, a Human Rights Award in 2008 for her contribution to creating inclusion across the community, and a Disability Action Week Award in 2003 for her work writing an accessible children’s story book.
Mark Philippi
Appointed Director
Mark is an experienced senior executive and governance professional with more than 20 years’ experience across people and culture, workplace health and safety, organisational development, risk, governance and operational leadership. He currently holds a senior executive role leading People, Culture and Safety, with responsibility spanning workforce strategy, organisational development, employee relations, health, safety and wellbeing, learning and capability, governance and organisational risk.
Throughout Mark’s career, he has worked across diverse and complex organisations, supporting boards and executive teams to strengthen organisational capability, culture, safety and sustainable performance. He has extensive experience leading organisational change, developing contemporary people and safety strategies, and building systems and cultures that enable people to participate, contribute and succeed. He is particularly interested in how good governance and inclusive organisational practices can strengthen the voice, participation and influence of people with disability, where everyone has the opportunity to participate, contribute and be heard.
As an Appointed Director, he welcomes the opportunity to bring his experience in people, safety, governance and organisational strategy to QDN, while listening to and learning from QDN members and their lived experience.
Danielle Brown
Appointed Director
Danielle is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience practising in a diverse range of areas and is currently a Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) member, determining a variety of civil matters, including sitting in the guardianship jurisdiction determining applications for the appointment of guardians and administrators for people with impaired capacity.
Danielle has always had a strong commitment to social justice and specifically chosen roles in which she was protecting the rights of vulnerable people. Danielle has worked in both private practise and in government lawyer roles. In private practise Danielle had a number of clients with disabilities, including a number of matters for people under guardianship orders with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) due to her strong advocacy, rights-based approach and respectful and supportive engagement. In government, Danielle has worked at the OPG representing the voice of vulnerable children in the child protection system and at the Office of the Director of Child Protection Litigation (ODCPL) conducting child protection litigation. In these roles Danielle ensured that issues of natural justice, procedural fairness and the impact on human rights were central in her decision making, together with an understanding and appreciation for difference to ensure that difference or disability was not considered neglect or poor parenting, simply due to being outside of what was traditionally considered to be the “norm”.
Danielle also has extensive management experience from her time as an Assistant Director at ODCPL having managed a chamber of 25+ lawyers, including managing performance, compliance and HR issues, supporting and mentoring staff and shaping the strategic focus and policies of a statewide litigation agency.
Danielle’s partner is a disability support worker and she says, “Involvement, respect and empowering people with disabilities permeates throughout my life”.
She brings to this role a strong passion for this work, a rights-based approach, significant management and legal experience across a diverse range of areas of law including direct experience supporting people with disabilities in legal matters.
Mark McKeon
Company Secretary
Mark was appointed Company Secretary of QDN in early 2023, having previously been QDN’s Finance and Administration Coordinator from early 2017 to July 2020.
Mark is an accountant with early career experience as an audit manager with a large accounting firm in Australia and the UK, industry experience as a financial controller and then company secretary of a listed public company in Queensland, governance experience as secretary of two large government owned corporations in Brisbane and Gladstone, and not-for-profit experience as Finance Manager of a Brisbane-based community legal service.
In addition to his current role at QDN, Mark operates a finance, governance and administration consulting business, Mark McKeon Consulting. Mark welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the work of QDN and to use his experience and expertise to support the Board for the benefit of QDN members.