National Blood Authority Board

The NBA Board is established under the NBA Act with functions that mainly involve consideration of strategic blood sector issues, and advice to the NBA Chief Executive about the discharge of the NBA’s functions. The Board is not a decision-making body and has no formal or direct role in the governance or day-to-day management of the NBA.

Under the NBA Act, the Commonwealth Minister responsible for the NBA appoints Board members. The Board’s functions are:

  • to consult with the Minister about the appointment of the Chief Executive
  • to advise the Chief Executive about the performance of the NBA’s functions
  • to liaise with governments, suppliers and others about matters relating to the NBA’s functions
  • such other functions (if any) as are specified in a written notice given by the Minister to the Chair.

The Board usually meets quarterly to consider key issues facing the blood sector and the NBA.

Board members also engage with stakeholders to strengthen relationships, promote the role of the NBA and contribute generally to the agency. Some Board members also participate in other NBA committees to contribute on specific issues related to their professional expertise and interests.

Membership

The NBA Act specifies that the Board consists of:

  • a Chair;
  • a person representing the interests of the Commonwealth;
  • 1 or 2 persons representing the interests of the States and Territories;
  • a person representing the community
  • a person with expertise in public health issues relating to human blood; and
  • a person with financial or commercial expertise.

Further information is available from the NBA Board Secretariat by email board@blood.gov.au or by telephone (02 6151 5000).

Board Members

As at, July 2023, the NBA Board membership was as follows:

  • Dr Amanda Rischbieth AM – Chair;
  • Ms Penny Shakespeare – Australian Government Representative;
  • Professor Lyn Beazley AO – State and Territory Representative (Small Jurisdiction);
  • Dr John Rowell – State and Territory Representative (Large Jurisdiction);
  • Mr Geoffrey Bartle – Community Representative;
  • Professor Nicola Spurrier PSM – Public Health Expert; and
  • Mr Paul Bedbrook – Financial Expert.

Board Profiles

Dr Amanda Rischbieth AM FAICD PhD

Dr Rischbieth  was a Visiting Scientist at Harvard Chan School of Public Health from 2017-2022 after being competitively selected as one of 40 global leaders, and the only Australian, as a Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow in 2017.

In 2023 she received a Member of the Order of Australia (an AM) award for her services to public health and governance. She has over twenty-four years of directorship experience and was CEO of a leading health organisation for six years.

Dr Rischbieth is a Non-Executive Director of Duxton Farms (ASX:DBF), an Advisory Board member for Circular Energy Group, a Non-Executive Director of the International Women’s Forum Australia (IWFA), and a member of the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts Technical and Research Committee. She is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Adelaide, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW), and former Telstra Business Women’s Award Finalist.

She undertakes boutique board advisory work focusing on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-strategy, reporting, upskilling; Health; Cyber; and Corporate Governance.

Dr Rischbieth’s previous directorships include the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority, the National Heart Foundation of Australia SA, the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (National President), the South Australian Public Health Council, the Urban Renewal Authority, the Leaders Institute of SA, and the South Australian Motor Sport Board (V8 Supercars Adelaide 500). She received her PhD in 2007 at the University of Adelaide which focused on intensive care decision-support systems. Earlier in her career she established and co-led a private Intensive Care Unit for ten years. In 2018 she joined the Hands-On group going to Sri Lanka, fitting 247 prosthetic hands to landmine victims.

Dr Rischbieth was re-appointed Chair of the NBA Board in June 2023.

Ms Penny Shakespeare

Penny is Deputy Secretary for Health Resourcing, responsible for the Australian Government’s investments in the Medicare Benefits Schedule, Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule, Health Workforce, Digital Health Policy, Private Health Insurance and COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery.

Since joining Health in 2006, Penny has held a number of senior leadership positions. Prior to joining Health, Penny was an industrial relations lawyer in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and worked in regulatory policy roles, including as head of the Australian Capital Territory’s Office of Industrial Relations.

Penny has a Bachelor of Laws, a Master’s degree in International Law and is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor.

Ms Shakespeare was re-appointed to the NBA Board in June 2023.

Professor Lyn Beazley AO FAA FTSE

After graduating from Oxford and Edinburgh universities, Professor Lyn Beazley built an internationally renowned research team in neuroscience that focused on recovery from brain damage, with much of her investigations undertaken as Winthrop Professor at the University of Western Australia. Currently Professor Beazley is Adjunct Professor of Science at Murdoch University.

Professor Beazley was the Chief Scientist of Western Australia from 2006 to 2013, advising the Western Australian Government on science, innovation and technology. Professor Beazley currently chairs the board of the Northwest Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program and the Strategic Economic Advisory Group of the City of Mandurah. She also serves on other boards including the WA Australian Israeli Chamber of Commerce, the Royal Institution of Australia and the Council of the Australian Academy of Science, being responsible for public awareness and education. Professor Beazley was a Trustee of the Western Australian Museum from 1999 to 2006 and is Patron of many educational, environmental, social and health-related organisations. She is Vice Patron of the Royal Society of Western Australia, the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science and Gingin Gravity Discovery Centre.

In 2009 Professor Beazley was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia. In that year she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and in 2019 she became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2011 Professor Beazley was inducted into the inaugural Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame and was elected a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and a Companion of Engineers Australia. In 2015 she was inducted into the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame, was announced as the 2015 WA Australian of the Year and in 2023 received the President’s Medal of the WA chapter of the Australian Medical Association. Professor Beazley has received honorary doctorates from Edith Cowan University, Monash University, the Australian National University and Murdoch University and has two species named after her.

 Professor Beazley works to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics to the community, especially to young people including those who are neurodiverse, as well as striving to advance gender equity by bringing online knowledge to women, especially those experiencing violence and/or financial abuse.

 Professor Beazley was re-appointed to the Board in November 2020.

Dr John Rowell

Dr Rowell graduated in Medicine at Monash and underwent further training for Haematology at Geelong, Alfred and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.  John was initially appointed Haematologist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in 1984 and later became Director of Hematology at Pathology Queensland and Director of Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

He earned his Masters degree in Business Administration at the University of Queensland and became a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr. Rowell’s major interests are in hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, genetic diagnosis, and transfusion. Dr. Rowell has been a member of the Council of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion, was Chairman of the RCPA Transfusion Quality Assurance Program, and was an examiner in Hematology for the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

He was awarded the Ruth Sanger medal by the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion in 2008

Dr Rowell was appointed to the Board in June 2023.

Mr Geoffrey Bartle

Mr Geoffrey Bartle is a retired management consultant. He has over 15 years’ experience as a consumer representative in several diverse state and national roles where his contribution has been highly regarded as representing the community to ensure that their experiences and expectations are heard and understood. Mr Bartle is passionate about achieving a holistic and integrated consumer-centric approach across the entire healthcare continuum to deliver better health outcomes for the community. He understands the importance of ensuring that there is a consumer-focused approach in the design of resources, systems, processes, and products that are evidence and standards based.

Mr Bartle currently holds several other community representative roles, including as a member of the NBA Haemovigilance Committee, Consumer Advisor for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and a member of the Consumer Health Forum.

Mr Bartle has a proven track record of delivering genuine business benefits for his consulting clients in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. His experience included Strategy, Governance, Business Architecture, Benefits Management, Organisational Transformation, Procurement, Change Management, Business and System Analysis, Strategic Business Cases, Program Design, Business Process Improvement, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, and the design of technology enabled solutions to optimise business outcomes.

Mr Bartle’s industry experience included health, human services, disability services, policing, education, superannuation, government services, insurance, small business, sustainability, mining, taxation, racing and wagering, social welfare, public housing, and smartcards; delivered in government, university, and private sector environments.

Prior to becoming a consultant, he also had over 20 years experience in a diverse range of Senior Executive Service (SES) roles in the public sector in Australia and New Zealand leading national legislative, compliance, business, and client service programs.

Mr Bartle was re-appointed to the NBA Board as the community representative in November 2021.

Professor Nicola Spurrier PSM

Professor Spurrier was appointed the Chief Public Health Officer for the South Australia Department for Health and Wellbeing in 2019. She is responsible for statewide preventative health activities including the identification and management of communicable diseases. Professor Spurrier’s role includes advising the Minister and the Chief Executive of SA Health about proposed legislative or administrative changes in relation to population health. Professor Spurrier specialises in developing and implementing policies and programs across child health, obesity prevention and Aboriginal health. She also has extensive experience in health protection and promotion, public health partnership and health diplomacy activities.

Professor Spurrier is a dual qualified medical specialist, public health physician and paediatrician, with 32 years’ experience within SA Health including 13 years in the Department for Health and Wellbeing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Spurrier has been instrumental in South Australia’s effective virus response and continues to take a personal focus on the health and wellbeing of every South Australian.

Professor Spurrier was appointed to the Board in June 2023.

Mr Paul Bedbrook

Mr Paul Bedbrook has had a connection with blood issues via his personal involvement with haemophilia for three decades. He is the father of two adult sons with haemophilia. For much of this time, Mr Bedbrook has been involved with the Haemophilia Foundation NSW (HFNSW) and the Haemophilia Foundation Australia (HFA). Mr Bedbrook is a past President of HFNSW and past Treasurer of HFA. He brings his personal experiences with blood issues to the Board, as well as feedback from a community of individuals who rely on the blood and plasma products distributed to Australia’s health services under the auspices of the NBA.

Professionally, Mr Bedbrook has had over 30 years of experience in financial services. His roles included Chair of Zurich Financial Services Australia Ltd, Independent Non-Executive Director of Great Southern Bank and Independent Chair of the ASX-listed Elanor Investors Group.

Mr Bedbrook was a senior executive for over 20 years with the Dutch global banking, insurance and investment group ING. His early career was as an Investment Analyst and Investment Portfolio Manager at ING, and between 1987 and 1995 he was the General Manager Investments and Chief Investment Officer for the Mercantile Mutual (ING) Group in Sydney. In the decade to 2010 Mr Bedbrook was, in turn, President and CEO of INGDIRECT Canada, CEO and Director of ING Australia and Regional CEO of ING Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Mr Bedbrook has been a member of the NBA Board since May 2011 and was appointed to his current Board role as financial expert in August 2013. Mr Bedbrook is also a member of the NBA Audit and Risk Committee.

Mr Bedbrook was re-appointed to the Board in November 2020.