Bernadette Black
Founder, Director and Chief Executive Officer
Motivated by her own experience as a 16-year-old mother, Bernadette founded and led Brave, Australia’s only national organisation to support young parents.
In October 2024, Bernadette was appointed as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SEED Futures to pursue her life’s vocation to unify hearts and minds to address the entrenched disadvantage faced by parents (including those expecting) across first 1000 days.
Bernadette has an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard University’s Harvard Kennedy School, a Graduate Diploma in Perioperative Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing (both from La Trobe University) and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She holds a Diploma in Business from Jenard Training.
Bernadette is a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to young people, communities, and local governments. She has been awarded the Australian Tasmanian of the Year, Telstra Tasmanian Businesswoman of the Year and included in the Top 100 Australian Financial Review’s Women of Influence for her pioneering leadership and impact. She is currently a Winston Churchill Fellowship recipient and is studying internationally how other governments and philanthropy fund long term primary preventative programs to relieve intergenerational disadvantage.
Andrew Tyndale
Director & Chair
Andrew brings 35+ years of investment banking experience to design mechanisms to attract wholesale capital into the social sector in areas such as affordable housing and aged care. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, leadership, corporate planning, change management, governance and finance, risk management, investments, mergers and acquisition, analysis, negotiation and due diligence.
Andrew has held numerous commercial and not-for-profit board roles as well as been extensively involved in international aid organisations. He also advises foundations on impact investing, and governments on working with private sector funding to achieve greater outcomes. In 2014, Andrew was awarded a Fulbright Professional Scholarship in Non-Profit Leadership.
Wendy Field
Director
Wendy is the Head of Strategy, Policy and Programs at The Smith Family, where she leads a team of experts and practitioners who design, implement and evaluate innovative and evidence-based programs and policies that aim to improve the educational outcomes and well-being of participants.
Wendy has a Certificate in Executive Management Development from the Australian Graduate School of Management and uses her skills in popular education and community development to foster partnerships with various stakeholders such as government agencies, schools, community organisations, and donors.
Jack Coghlan
Director
Jack is a Principal in the Consulting team of Social Ventures Australia (SVA), with expertise in financial analysis, economic modelling, scaling strategies and facilitation. He has worked with non-profit, government and corporate clients to help clarify, pursue, and achieve their social impact objectives.
Prior to joining SVA in 2018, Jack worked as a design engineer on complex infrastructure projects, and on research projects at the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago.
Jack holds a Master of Public Policy (Hons) from the University of Chicago, Master of Engineering from the Queensland University of Technology, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Queensland (Hons).