Our Executive Team
Plus Community
Maria Woods
Chief Executive Officer
Qualifications
- Master of Child and Adolescent Welfare
- Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education
- Bachelor of Social Science
Maria joined Plus Community as Director of DFV and Community Services in 2024 following a long career in senior leadership and clinical roles within the Western NSW Local Health District, with a focus on women’s health, sexual assault, and child protection.
Most recently she held the position of District Manager for PARVAN (Prevention and Response To Violence, Abuse and Neglect) and Women’s Health Violence Prevention. In this role she managed an extensive team working across complex portfolios, and implemented a number of significant, innovative service initiatives.
Maria has been a state representative on the Serious Incident Review Committee, a NSW Health representative to Deliver Direct Personal Response to adult survivors of institutional abuse, and has provided evidence at the Disability Royal Commission.
Maria is also a statewide trainer for ECAV (Education Centre Against Violence), has lectured at University and TAFE, and is a trained Counsellor specialising in Juvenile Justice and Sexual Assault.
In 2026 Maria was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Jenna Hattersley
Acting Executive Director of Services
Qualifications
- Master of Domestic and Family Violence
- Bachelor of Business Management
- Cert IV in Human Resources
Jenna is a strategic and values-driven leader with more than 20 years’ experience across community services, health and tertiary education. As Acting Director of Services at Plus Community, she provides leadership across domestic and family violence, homelessness and community services across regional and remote NSW.
She brings extensive experience in governance, service reform, workforce leadership and continuous improvement, with a strong focus on client-centred, evidence and best practice-informed practice.
Jenna is also a Board Member of Domestic Violence NSW, Chair of Love Bites Central West, a member of the Orange City Council Domestic Violence Committee, and a volunteer with the White Tie Ball.
Sean Ashby
Qualifications
-
Member of Chartered Accountants Australia
& New Zealand (CA ANZ) -
Bachelor of Accounting & Finance from the
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Sean is a senior finance executive with more than 16 years’ experience in both public practice and the not-for-profit sector. After graduating from University in the UK, Sean settled in Australia where he commenced his career with KPMG Cairns, providing taxation and reporting advice along with client secondments to oversee operational financial management, long range budgets and business feasibility.
Sean spent 8 years within the education arm of a prominent Indigenous organisation in Far North Queensland. Sean presided over a period of sustained growth for its Independent school with revenue and staff more than doubling in that time and was a key contributor to the school’s long term capital development program.
Sean joined the organisation in in 2021 as the Finance Manager and has been involved in a number a successful funding tenders, both operational and capital. As Director of Finance, Sean develops and oversees the company’s annual operating budget of over $30m by fostering meaningful relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
Sean has a logical, common-sense approach to seeking practical solutions and encourages an environment of continuous improvement. He has grown and managed finance teams that successfully partnered with the business to achieve a high level of service and value-add.
Anthea Basha
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Laws
- Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice
- Governance Institute of Australia Affiliate
- Admitted as a Lawyer of the Supreme Court of NSW
- Admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court of Australia
Anthea is a qualified solicitor, with strong experience in generalist legal practices on matters including family, criminal, civil litigation, personal injury, and professional negligence. She joined the organisation in 2020 to apply her skills and experience in working with contractual and compliance matters to a community-focused, for-purpose organisation.
Anthea now oversees and provides assurance of operational compliance against governance and operational policies, regulatory, legislative requirements, and contractual responsibilities.
She also manages all board activities, advises on internal legal matters and co-ordinates, and develops the organisation’s risk management framework.
Peter Lawlor
Chief Information Officer
Qualifications
- Diploma Land & Information Surveying
Peter leads our ICT function, and is responsible for delivering secure, reliable, ad cost-effective technology that enables Housing Plus Group to operate scale, and serve its clients.