Our Board
Board of Directors
Lionheart has a skills-based Board of dedicated volunteers, with diverse professional backgrounds and lived experience, that help provide strategic leadership in their areas of professional expertise. It's the collective will of our leadership team to grow Lionheart’s reach, expand our programs and support many more grieving families.
Board Chair
Charlene Yates Bishop joined the Board of Lionheart in May 2020 to manage the portfolio for Marketing & Fundraising until moving into the Chair role in May 2024.
Charlene has a diverse professional background in legal education, events management, executive search, community engagement, sales and marketing; all of which have allowed her to develop a strong business acumen. With over 20 years’ experience in both Australia and Canada, including starting her own consulting practice, Charlene specialises in identifying strategic opportunities, engaging stakeholders and facilitating connections between people, businesses and projects. She understands the value of building relationships, establishing networks and the power of good communication.
Charlene’s academic background is in International Relations having graduated from Keele University (UK) with a Bachelor of Arts in 2002. In 2004, Charlene graduated from the University of London with a Masters of Arts in Understanding & Securing Human Rights.
“Having lost my Father to cancer when I was 5 years old and my Mother (also to cancer) when I was 30 years old, I have experienced grief both as an adult and a child. I started my grief journey at a very young age and know how important it is to be supported and nurtured after the loss of a loved one. I’m passionate about making sure all children have access to bereavement education and are supported after the loss of a loved one.”
Deputy Chair
Jemma Sanderson has been with Lionheart since the very beginning and is our Company Secretary.
Jemma is a Director of Cooper Partners Financial Services, heading up their self-managed super fund (SMSF) specialist services. Jemma provides strategic advice on SMSFs, estate planning and wealth management to clients, as well as technical support and consultancy to accounting, legal and financial planning groups. She has over 19 years’ experience in developing complex strategies for high net worth clients.
Jemma is a regular presenter on superannuation and SMSFs for the Taxation Institute, Institute of Chartered Accountants, CPA and SMSF Association across Australia. She is the author of the Taxation Institute’s popular publication for SMSF Advisers, the SMSF Guide, now in its ninth edition, and the author and convener of the Taxation Institute’s Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law Advanced Superannuation Unit. Jemma was named the SMSF Adviser of the Year at the 2019 National Women in Finance awards for the third year in a row and received the SMSF Association Chairman’s Award in February 2018 for her contribution to the industry.
Jemma has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is a Certified Financial Planner, a Specialist Member of the SMSF Association (SMSFA), Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and Trusts and Estate Practitioner (TEP).
Treasurer
Stephen joined the Board of Lionheart in February 2021 and is our Treasurer. He is a designated Chartered Accountant and has a double major in Accounting and Finance; as well as a Diploma in Financial Services.
Stephen has 14 years of wealth management consulting experience and is currently Director & Principal Wealth Adviser at The Wealth Designers. His tax and accounting knowledge stems from working in both boutique and Big 4 accounting firms, particularly advising large family groups on complex tax and accounting matters. He has a detailed understanding of all superannuation and investment matters in Australia and overseas and specialises in self-managed superannuation funds and family trust structures.
Stephen has also worked with a multinational Australian Listed Company with a turnover in excess of $10 billion per year, where he was the Corporate Financial Controller managing nearly $500 million in turnover/$50 million profit per year. He has also held various other leadership roles in businesses with turnover up to $1 billion.
“I have always been a big believer that life is to be enjoyed and to be closely shared with family and friends. What drives me every day is my wife Sarah and my two beautiful children. I am very fortunate to have such a great family and they give me a purpose in life and my work. At work I consider my clients as my extended family and I feel I am a part of their wider everyday life. Over the years I love hearing what is happening in their lives and how their families have developed and grown over time. Sometimes their toughest family moments bring us even closer together. There are always high and lows and I love providing input into how I can assist in making their overall lives better.”
Board Secretary
Sara Hector joined Lionheart as Board Secretary in December 2025. She is the founder of a strategic communications and marketing consultancy, with experience spanning allied health, tourism, regional development, agriculture and the arts.
Sara brings significant governance experience, having served on multiple boards, and is deeply committed to supporting organisations that make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
Having lived and worked extensively across regional Australia, Sara has led and supported initiatives that strengthen communities — from building museums and cultural precincts, to driving tourism growth, regional development and best-practice sustainability in rural industries.
Sara holds a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) and is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program.
Research & Program Development
Professor Lauren Breen joined the Board of Lionheart in February 2020 and has the Board portfolio of Research & Program Development.
Lauren is a registered psychologist and an Professor in the School of Psychology at Curtin University in Australia. Her award-winning, applied research centres on end-of-life care and grief and loss issues. She is passionate about understanding and supporting grieving children and families, communicating the diagnosis of a serious/terminal illness, preparations for bereavement, the impact of caregiving on bereavement, psychotherapies for prolonged grief disorder/complicated grief, building the community’s capacity to support grieving people, social and cultural norms of grief, and the interface between evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence.
Most notably, Lauren was successful in the inaugural round of the prestigious Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Awards for her project exploring family caregiving and bereavement. She has been a chief investigator on $2 million of grants and has authored over 110 book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.
She is a member of the Australian Center for Grief and Bereavement; Association for Death Education and Counselling (USA); the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement; Managing Editor of Death Studies; and a Fellow in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement.
Andre van Helvoort brings over 23 years of leadership experience from the automotive industry, with a career spanning sales, management, and corporate operations across leading global brands including Toyota, BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen. Through this journey, Andre developed a deep understanding of how strong brands are built, not just through customer-facing marketing, but through consistent messaging, values, and behaviours at every touchpoint within an organisation.
Following his time in the automotive sector, Andre established a Family Office focused on long-term investing alongside a range of philanthropic initiatives. This work has strengthened his experience in strategic decision-making, capital allocation, and supporting purpose-driven organisations to achieve sustainable impact.
Andre hopes to apply his expertise in brand building, investment, and philanthropy to help amplify the voice and impact of Lionheart Camp for Kids, contributing to its growth, visibility, and long-term success.
On a personal level, Andre is married and a proud father of two children aged 8 and 5. He values continuous learning and believes his greatest teachers are his children, who ensure his “syllabus” is always full.
LinkedIn: Andre van Helvoort – Wirrimbirra Investment Group | LinkedIn
Simone Eley brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to the not-for-profit sector to her new role as a Board Member of Lionheart.
Her professional journey began in accounting and her career has spanned commercial banking, institutional property financing, financial analysis, and business management within the insurance sector.
After the birth of her two children, she transitioned into the not-for-profit sector, driven by a desire to make a meaningful impact. Simone served as the Western Australian Manager for Australian Philanthropic Services, supporting the establishment and administration of Private Ancillary Funds. As a founding committee member and current Chair of Impact100 WA, Simone has played a pivotal role in supporting philanthropic initiatives across Western Australia.
Simone has a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Western Australia (B Com), is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (FCA) and a member of the Institute of Community Directors Australia. She was a winner of the Pro Bono Australia’s 2022 National Impact Award.
I lost my husband to MND when my kids were 13 & 15. I have seen the personal impact that grief can have on a family and how it is so much more than just being sad. The support that Lionheart is able to offer is so important to enable families to honour their loved one and still move forward with their life on a growth pathway.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-eley-fca-5b77933a/
Steve is married to Gillian and a father of two adult children. He brings a high level of passion, skill and understanding in the area of pastoral care, education, chaplaincy and wellbeing, developed over 30 years, across a number of related fields: youth work, rehabilitation (community & aged care), education, and public-school chaplaincy.
His roles have seen him both as practitioner and manager, in program development and service delivery, and at different times called upon to show effective leadership, supervision and pastoral care, mediation and conflict resolution, team and critical incident management.
Undergraduate (BSc Human Movement, UWA), and further studies in education, pastoral care, counselling, leadership, and professional supervision, have provided the foundation upon which to build in that time.
His current role with YouthCARE, as Pastoral Care Manager and a member of the Pastoral Critical Incident Response (PCIR) Coordination team, allows him to contribute to the growth and delivery of compassionate and effective pastoral care and wellbeing support within our school and wider communities. In the past Steve has also served on the Fusion Student Housing Service Advisory Group and as an Executive Committee member of the Australian Association for Pastoral Care in Education.
Send contact Board Chair, Charlie Yates Bishop, via email if you would like to know more about our amazing team.