Dear AIYA members, followers and supporters,

I am writing to inform you of some recent changes to the AIYA National Executive Board, and I am pleased to announce that we have some great new people joining the team.

Rachelle Cole and Timothy Graham have held the positions of Director of Operations and Director of Communications respectively since AIYA’s inception. They have been an absolutely integral part of the AIYA team since day dot, and they will be sorely missed following their resignation on 23 August 2015.

Director of Operations

Rachelle has lead the charge on expanding AIYA’s presence at the chapter level into what is now an organisation consisting of 11 chapters across Australia and Indonesia. She has worked to assist the chapters with everything from funding and committee management to connecting chapters with partners and acting as the key conduit between the chapters and the AIYA National executive. She has made a huge contribution to the policies that underlay our organisation and she has always been there to provide thoughtful and wise advice to the chapters.

Rachelle’s big role will be filled by Katrina Steedman. Katrina has extensive experience at the chapter level, having been the co-founder and Vice-President of AIYA NSW for several years. She is also an alumni of Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) and the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP), with a great passion for pursuing AIYA’s goals and helping to grow and strengthen the AIYA Chapters. She is currently working at LinkedIn in Sydney as Office Manager, and she has great professional experience to bring to the team

Director of Communications

As Director of Communications, Tim has been the go-to man in AIYA for everything from coding the website and establishing our social media presence, to developing AIYA’s marketing strategies and designing graphics and posters. He is truly a jack of all trades, and a master of every single one of them. We will miss his incredible competence and his rapid email responsiveness.

Natasha Burrows has been elected to take on Tim’s role as Director of Communications. Natasha also has experience working with the AIYA National communications team, and has a grand vision for developing AIYA’s communications strategy and growing our audience. She has previously worked as Communications Development Officer for ACICIS in Yogyakarta. Natasha is currently studying a Masters of Communication Management at UTS and a Diploma of Indonesian at the University of Sydney.

With great pleasure, the AIYA National Executive Board and myself welcome Katrina and Natasha as new Directors of AIYA. Thank you again to Rachelle and Tim for all your hard work over the years, and we wish you all the best for your future endeavours.

Salam semangat,

Nicholas Mark