Individuals' names are linked to their profiles below.

Dianne Embry, Chief Executive Officer

Elouise Holmes, Senior Manager - Operations and Programs

James Wilson, Senior Manager - Peak Services

Marisa Nowak, Community and Partnerships Manager

Jane Burrows, Resources and Publications Manager

Caroline Whiteside, Member Services Officer

Kerry Green, Finance

Dianne Embry | Chief Executive Officer

Dianne Embry has been Volunteering Victoria’s CEO since 2005. Dianne has 25 years of experience working in the not-for-profit sector, particularly in the areas of health, youth and the homeless.

Dianne represents the interests of volunteering within a number of forums and advisory committees at state and national levels. Her focus is to build the capacity and sustainability of communities in Victoria, especially in providing equitable opportunities for the widespread participation of citizens through volunteering. She is passionate about building supportive, caring and resilient communities and the importance of people belonging securely within their local communities.

Dianne’s work includes forging partnerships with government, other not-for-profit and community organisations, most of which involve volunteers, as well as those from business and the corporate sector. She currently serves in the board of a number of not-for-profit organisations.

Her family, travel, literature, yoga and the arts form part of her interests.

Elouise Holmes | Senior Manager – Operations and Programs

Elouise was Communications Manager for Volunteering Victoria from March 2008. In August 2009, she took up the operations and programs portfolio.

It was a two-month stint in 2004 as a volunteer in an adult learning centre in Cairo, Egypt that cultivated Elouise’s interest in volunteering.

Her over a decade-long career includes experience in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, particularly in the areas of senior administration in international education, public relations for the hospitality and travel industry, as well as corporate communications.

Elouise has an MBA from Deakin University and her BA is in Mass Communications. She is an advocate for a nurtured and cultivated staff group and believes that this, coupled with well-designed and managed operational systems and processes contribute to the successful delivery of programs as well as strategies.

Theology, people, nature, literature, culinary arts, current affairs, culture and the arts, academic and professional development AND talking about these are some of the things that Elouise enjoys.

James Wilson | Senior Manager – Peak Services

James Wilson has been Policy and Advocacy Officer since September 2009. In August 2010, his portfolio expanded to oversight of the organisation’s peak services.

James has worked in the community sector for 16 years. A lawyer by training, he practiced community law before moving to management roles in homelessness and housing and in mental health.

For the last few years he has indulged his passion for policy, most recently working in the neighbourhood house sector. James is committed to Volunteering Victoria’s aim of enhancing the voice of the volunteering community in the policy and program formation environment. James’ recognition of the significant role of volunteers in the community is coupled with the importance of articulating their needs clearly and proactively when decisions are made.

James has double honours degrees in policy and law. Reading is his professional and personal passion. He continues to volunteer in a range of areas.

Marisa Nowak | Community & Business Partnerships Manager

Marisa has been Volunteering Victoria’s Community and Business Partnerships Manager since November 2008.

Marisa’s focus in her role within the state peak body for volunteering is to be the crucial link between the business and not-for-profit/community sectors. She works to facilitate the development of relationships between companies and organisations in these two sectors to ensure that the best possible outcomes result from such partnerships.

Marisa has over ten years' experience in the not-for-profit and community sector. She also has extensive experience in managing volunteers, having managed volunteer programs for a number of organisations in Victoria. She has an Associate Diploma in Business Management and holds certificates in the areas of event management, workplace training and assessment and occupational health and safety. 

Marisa continues to be an active volunteer, currently chairing a support group, ‘Mum’s Caring for Adults Children with DisAbilities’, and managing her son’s soccer team. 

She balances her work and volunteer commitments with her interests in travel, reading, yoga, tap dancing and spending time with her family and friends.     

Jane Burrows | Resources and Publications Manager

Jane joined Volunteering Victoria in July 2010 with a background in communications, specialising in publications and website management.  She has previously worked at universities in Melbourne and London and for the non-profit IT company Infoxchange Australia.

Jane’s skill and her professional passion is to produce accessible, informative resources.  At Volunteering Victoria she works within the Peak Services division creating publications, training material and web content to help organisations make the most of the incredible resource volunteers offer their communities.

While she has volunteered herself on several occasions over the last 15 years, Jane can’t begin to repay her gratitude to those volunteers who have worked as companions and carers to her dearly-loved old Nanas, here and in England.  As well as spending time with her family, Jane loves cooking, being outside, belly dancing and hunting down bargains on eBay.  She hopes to soothe her itchy feet again one day.

Caroline Whiteside | Member Services Officer

Caroline came to Volunteering Victoria in November 2009 from a stint in Monash University.

She has a strong background in marketing, having worked in the marketing departments of RMIT, Deakin and Monash universities.

Her work in these educational institutions in the areas of internal marketing, client relationship and alumni chapter coordination, coupled with being membership officer for the Australian Journalists Association (now known as Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance), give her a breadth of skill and experience in managing member and stakeholder programs.

Caroline has a Graduate Diploma of Marketing from RMIT and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University. 

Caroline is no stranger to the not-for-profit sector and volunteering. She has volunteered in the past for Conservation Volunteers and continues to do so at her local primary school, where she runs the second hand uniform shop and also helps children with literacy, as well as helping a friend with a new charity, ‘I Give a Buck’.

An avid reader, she is always toting the latest book being tackled by her book-cum-trivia club!