Our Team
Meet Invictus Australia Patron, Ambassadors, Board, Research Advisory Committee and Staff

Patron & AMBASSADORS

General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK AC (Mil) CVO MC (Retd)
General Cosgrove was instrumental in bringing the Invictus Games to Australia, being involved from the very outset of the bidding to secure the Games in Sydney right through to the closing ceremony. Sir Peter Cosgrove said upon his appointment as Patron Invictus Australia.
“The Sydney Invictus Games shone a light on plight of our veterans and their families. At the closing ceremony I urged all Australians not to turn off that light.”
“Invictus Australia is about using the power of sport to improve the quality of life of veterans and their families. I’m delighted to be supporting their important work as Patron.”
“The men and women who have served our country need our support, particularly as they return to the civilian community. The Australian public responded wonderfully to the Invictus Games in Sydney. The challenge is to now keep that level of support and understanding going.We must all commit to promoting ways of rehabilitating the servicemen and women who have served our nation and who now need our support. Sport is a powerful vehicle for rehabilitation and reintegration but importantly is also one that can proactively support the general wellbeing of our community.”

Hamish Blake
Hamish was an engaged and passionate ambassador for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, having been influenced by a trip to Afghanistan. He said of the experience, ‘I was profoundly changed by a trip we took to Afghanistan in 2008. It was my first real experience properly interacting with Defence personnel and saw first-hand the incredible work they do.’
Back in 2018, Hamish said about the Invictus Games, ‘I think it’s an awesome movement that not only provides a great experience for Defence personnel and veterans but allows the public to show tangible support for veterans which I think there is a real want to do, we just often don’t know how. It’s an awesome chance to show our appreciation and support to people who, quite frankly, have risked their lives to support our country!’

Gwen Cherne

Matt Formston
Matt, a blind (5% vision) Paralympian, world champion surfer and cyclist, is the epitomy of unconquered, having lost 95% of his vision by the time he was five and told by teachers and doctors that he would never play sport.
Matt has been a professional athlete for over a decade, sponsored by some of the global sporting brands by fostering the right mindset, behaviors and work ethic.
Matt is an athlete, speaker and executive coach, Chair of the Macquarie Business Park Community Partnership and an Executive Board Member of Blind Sports NSW. With an unconquerable mindset, belief in the healing power of sport and passion to help others, Matt is a perfect ambassador for Invictus Australia.

Curtis McGrath OAM
Curtis served in the Australian Army as a combat engineer for six years. In 2012 Curtis stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while on patrol, taking both his legs. 20min after the explosion, Curtis famously said that “you will see me in the Paralympics.”
The Invictus spirit runs through Curtis’ veins. Having captained the Australian team at the inaugural Invictus Games in London, Curtis went on to compete in the 2016 & 2017 Games, and was an ambassador at Invictus Games Sydney 2018.
“The Invictus Games became an important part of my life and my rehabilitation,” he said. “For me, it gave me a purpose. I’d been thrown this huge curve ball, and sport opened up this world of opportunities to me that I never knew was coming, and that became my life. And it is my life now.”

Erin Molan
Erin Molan is the proud daughter of Major General Jim Molan, a former Australian Army officer, and as such has a profound understanding of the issues Defence families face and the vision of Invictus Australia. That is, a world in which all members of the Australian Defence community are active and connected through the power of sport and recreation to enhance their physical and mental wellbeing throughout their lives.
And sport is in Erin’s blood – a Presenter for the Nine Network, Erin is co-host of the hugely popular and Logie-award winning NRL Footy Show and was the first full-time female panellist and co-host in the show’s 22 year history. Trailblazing, fearless and unconquered, we couldn’t think of a better fit for an Invictus Australia ambassador.
Erin is a very proud ambassador for a number of other charities – including Save Our Sons, Defence Cares and Bowel Cancer Australia. Molan also donates her time to support and MC a number of charity events including the online launch of Invictus Australia, the Ronald MacDonald House and Legacy Australia. She also spends time mentoring and engaging with young women.
Molan competed in the gruelling Sydney to Hobart Yacht race in 2015, raising over 5 million dollars so far for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation – a charity that provides much needed equipment for sick children in hospital.
These days Molan, a passionate Raiders fan who hails from Canberra, calls Sydney home, and she will travel just about anywhere to watch and be part of a good sporting contest. She plays a passable game of netball, touch and badminton, which she mastered while growing up in Jakarta.

Stephen Moore AM
Stephen Moore AM was pivotal in bringing the Invictus Games to Sydney in 2018. Whilst playing a game of wheelchair rugby at the soldier recovery centre in Darwin at Robinson Barracks, the idea was born to bring the Games to Sydney. Moore played a significant role from the start – from helping to develop the bid, engaging the right people, and securing funds.
“When I was at the solider recovery centre in Darwin, I saw what soldiers were going through and some of the things they were dealing with, some of the depths that people were in, and I thought that the Invictus Games would be a really powerful vehicle to promote a road to recovery. That road to recovery takes many different forms says Stephen, and “it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in life, whether you’re injured, ill or able bodied, you need to have a purpose and I think that the Invictus Games embodied that. The more we can promote the values and the ethos of the Invictus Games, the better, and if one person can be impacted by these Games in terms of their own recovery and rehabilitation then I think it’s been a success.”
Stephen Moore AM is an Australian former rugby union footballer, who played Super Rugby for the Brumbies and Queensland Reds and has 129 caps for Australia internationally, including 24 tests as captain. As a passionate advocate for sport & the health of veterans, we are proud to have Stephen continue his support as an ambassador of Invictus Australia.

James ‘Jimmy’ Spithill
America’s Cup winning skipper James ‘Jimmy’ Spithill was an ambassador for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018. Respect for service personnel was a driving force in Spithill’s desire to be associated with the Invictus Games as it became the first to feature Sailing.
Spithill says he has long held an interest in the military. As a youngster he read books about the ANZACs and would ponder “how people would lie about their age just to go and serve their country and then how it was really tough most of the time when they came home and tried to get on with life. “It just didn’t sit well with me,” he said. “It just didn’t seem right.
“Fast forward to more recent times, through being in the America’s Cup I was fortunate to meet some US guys who have served and became mates with a few of them. It just became a strong feeling in me. Then the opportunity popped up to be an Ambassador and I jumped at it. I wanted to get behind the cause and do anything I could to help.”
Spithill’s brother, Tom, helped coach the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 sailing competitors at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney and continues to support veteran sailing programs.

Meg Ward
Meg was 22 when she joined the Australian Air Force as a Fire Fighter and was posted to Tindal, NT. Meg has recently medically discharged from Defence in 2021, and is beginning a journey towards becoming a Rugby League Coach.
Rugby League is a sport that Meg has an affinity for, having debuted and represented Australia at the 2017 World Cup, Queensland Maroons 2018,19 and also the Brisbane Broncos 2018,19 and 20.
Meg loves the idea of being able to help the next generation of female players and veterans become the best versions of themselves, with sport and camaraderie incredibly important to her overall wellbeing.
invictus australia Board

James Brown

Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin AC (Retd)

Glenn Keys AO
Glenn is the founder and Executive Chairman of Canberra-based Aspen Medical, one of the world’s leading providers of outsourced healthcare solutions. Prior to building and leading businesses in the private sector, Glenn had a distinguished career in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Glenn sits on a number of Boards including the National Disability Insurance Agency, the University of Canberra Council and Project Independence. Project Independence is a not-for-profit that Glenn founded in 2012 to provide homeownership for people with an intellectual disability and is the only homeownership programme of its kind in Australia. In 2017, Glenn was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for both his philanthropic leadership in the business sector and his work as an advocate for people with an intellectual disability.
Glenn is a graduate of the University of New South Wales and the International Test Pilots School in the UK. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Project Management, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Brigadier Patrick Kidd OBE OAM (Retd)
Patrick Kidd was appointed as the CEO of the AIMG in Jan 2017 and was on secondment from Deloitte until the Games concluded in October 2018.
Prior to joining Deloitte in 2015, Patrick served in both the British and the Australian Army serving in a variety of key appointments until he retired from the Australian Army in 2014 with the rank of Brigadier.
Patrick has seen operational service in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and received the Order of the British Empire for his services as the Commander of The Royal Tank regiment, in Iraq in 2003 and an Order of Australia Medal for his role conceiving and delivering the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 and service to disability sport.
Previous Board Members
- Peter Leahy (Chairman, April 2016 – June 2020)
- Lynne Anderson (April 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Stewart Cameron (April 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Dave Chalmers (April 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Geoff Jones (April 2016- Dec 2018)
- Cheryl Bart (Sept 2016 – June 2020)
- Angela Diamond (May 2018 – March 2020)
- Phillip Prior (Sept 2016 – Jan 2018)
- Campbell Rose (Sept 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Janine Kirk (Sept 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Brian Thorburn (Sept 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Peter Collins (July 2017 – Dec 2018)
- Gayle Anderson (March 2018 – Dec 2018)
- Renee Wilson (March 2018 – Dec 2018)
OUR Team

Michael Hartung OAM

Adam Pine

Anne Rutlidge

Vanessa Bernardo

Shaun Ebert

Debbie Dimmock

Justine Lugg

Jye Martyn

Vanessa Broughill

Ceridwen Pillai
OUR RESEARCH advisory COMMITTEE
To ensure evidence-led & effective outcomes, Invictus Australia formed a Research Advisory Committee.
Objectives:
- Refine and endorse Invictus Australia’s research strategy and goals
- Collate and review relevant existing and ongoing research
- Shapes Invictus Australia’s approach to collecting data and reporting
- Identifies research opportunities
- Drives quality research outcomes and application of research findings

Dr Catriona Rose

Dr Anne Grunseit

Ellie Lawrence-Wood
Senior Research Specialist, Phoenix Australia
Ellie Lawrence-Wood, PhD, BBSc (psyc hons) is a senior research fellow at Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, and an adjunct fellow in the Discipline of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide. She specialises in the area of military and high-risk occupation mental health and wellbeing, with a current focus on performance optimisation, risk mitigation and early intervention for Veterans and first responders exposed to stress and potentially traumatic events through their occupations.
She has extensive experience in assessment and monitoring of the health impacts of service among military and first responder populations, and has specific expertise in the prospective longitudinal assessment and monitoring of mental, physical and neurobiological impacts of stress exposure. She has been an investigator on several project grants and consultancies, including the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, and was the lead Investigator on the Impact of Combat Study specifically.
Other military projects she has led include the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) Prospective Study (the precursor to the Impact of Combat Study), a large-scale project focusing on the psychological, physical and neurobiological impacts of deployment to the MEAO among ADF personnel; and the Mothers in the MEAO study, a follow-up to the Military Health Outcomes Program (MilHOP) Health Studies, aimed at understanding the specific health and psychosocial wellbeing impacts of deployment, for Australian mothers deployed to the MEAO.
In addition to her research, she is the current Chair of the Clinical Advisory Committee, and a Director on the Board of Management, for the Operation Flinders Foundation, a South Australian based charitable organisation that runs a world leading wilderness adventure program for young people at risk.

Dr Anna Lewis

Karen May
Associate Director, Australian Centre of Excellence for PTS, The Road Home
Karen is the Associate Director, Australian Centre of Excellence for Post-Traumatic Stress, for The Road Home and also currently working on her PhD at Adelaide University focussing on a therapeutic model for children of a parent with service related post-traumatic stress. Karen’s background is psychotherapy, participatory action research and community development.
The Road Home researchers also work closely with a service delivery arm engaging veterans, first responders and their families, addressing their support needs. Karen has worked with many communities who have experienced trauma in Australia and also in developing countries. Karen enjoys her current role in research to impact and improve the health and wellbeing of veteran and emergency service families. Karen and her veteran partner have four kids – Maddy, Ben, Evalyn and Huon –ranging 16 to 8 years old.

Steve Milanese
Director of Research, Invictus Pathway Program, University South Australia.
Associate Professor Steve Milanese is the Director of research of the Invictus Pathways Program at University of South Australia. Steve is also Program Director of the Masters of Advanced Clinical Physiotherapy and a researcher in the International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, a self-funded research group at UniSA.
He is a physiotherapist with postgraduate qualifications in sports physiotherapy, manual therapy and ergonomics and holds adjunct positions in universities in India, Philippines, Malaysia and Japan. He has over 90 peer reviewed publications and has supervised a number of DSTG funded PhD projects. Steve has broad research experience, having undertaken funded research and supervised PhD students using a range of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods methodologies.

Julie Pert
Director NSW/ACT, Open Arms
Julie Pert is the NSW/ACT State Director of Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counseling. Julie is also a reservist with over 20 years in the Army and a clinically trained psychologist. She has also worked with embassy staff overseas and emergency services more recently as the Occupational Psychologist for FRNSW. As a result of working with staff on the frontline, her areas of interest and specialty include: trauma management, training, counselling, assessment and selection.
Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling (formerly VVCS) is Australia’s leading provider of high-quality mental health assessment and clinical counselling services for Australian veterans and their families. Open Arms is focused on meeting client needs through a combination of proven clinical practices and new and emerging evidence-based approaches.

Dr Lindsey Reece
Senior Research Fellow, Prevention Research Collaboration, USYD
Dr Lindsey Reece has extensive experience in applied research and evaluation, specialising in Physical Activity, Sport and Public Health. Her primary interest is in reducing physical inactivity – a global problem leading to long term chronic disease, and support more people to become physically active to achieve positive health, wellbeing and economic outcomes.
Within her current role as Research Fellow at the University of Sydney’s Prevention Research Collaboration, she is the Academic lead of the SPRINTER (Sport and Active Recreation Intervention & Epidemiology Research) group – an innovative research partnership with the Office of Sport, NSW government. Previously, Lindsey managed a broad range of research and evaluation initiatives with Public Health England and Sport England to implement their national physical activity and sport strategies.
Her portfolio included evaluation work for: city-wide physical activity pathway for people affected by cancer; Child and Adolescent Obesity regional public health program; whole systems approach to obesity control; physical activity programme aimed at integrating physical activity within clinical care pathways. Lindsey also sits on the global research board for parkrun and is the Academic lead for parkrun Au.

Dr Simon Rosenbaum
Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychiatry and Director, Exercise Sports Science Australia, UNSW
Associate Professor Dr Simon Rosenbaum is a Scientia Fellow in the School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney and the Black Dog Institute. Simon has published over 170 peer-reviewed publications, including a textbook on the role of exercise in the treatment of mental illness. Simon serves as an elected national director of Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA), is the Vice-President of the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress (ASTSS) and has worked with a variety of groups including emergency service workers, contemporary veterans and refugees.

Dr Miranda Van Hooff
Director of Research, Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies, Adelaide University
Miranda Van Hooff is the Director of Research at The University of Adelaide’s Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. Over the course of her career, Dr Van Hooff has conducted several large-scale longitudinal studies of childhood survivors of the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, children hospitalised for a significant burn injury, children exposed to the neurotoxic effects of lead in childhood and adults exposed to the 2006 Black Tuesday Bushfires.
Since 2009, her research has focused on the mental health of current and ex-serving Australian military and emergency service personnel, as the lead researcher on the 2015 Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, the 2010 Military Health Outcomes Programme and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Health and Wellbeing Study. These studies were the first in Australia to ascertain the prevalence of ICD-10 Mental Disorder in current and ex-serving ADF members and South Australian Firefighters and have been strong drivers of change in relation to policy and service provision.
Hooff’s excellent history of NHMRC, Cat 2 and contract research funding has involved widespread and long-standing collaboration with numerous external stakeholders including DVA, the Department of Defence, the SA Metropolitan Fire Service, The Road Home, the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, The Royal Society for the Blind and Assistance Dogs Australia. Hooff has authored 43 peer-reviewed journal articles, 1 book chapter and 31 commissioned reports for the Departments of Defence and Veterans Affairs. Dr Van Hooff has received research grant funding of over $9.1M since 2013.