Dr Jonny Taitz, Chair

Jonny Taitz has a distinguished career in paediatrics and provides the SMILE Board with valuable hands-on experience dealing with children with rare conditions. He is currently the Director of Medical Services, Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW.
Jonny is registered as a Specialist Paediatrician in Australia, South Africa and the UK.

His interests range from rural paediatric health issues to his involvement with children’s charities such as the Humpty Dumpty Foundation and the Violet Foundation Supporting Meningococcal disease.

"As a practising paediatrician I am confronted by patients affected by rare childhood disease on a regular basis. While we have made great strides in research and treatment in this area, I find it difficult
to tell parents of children with rare diseases that we don't have a cure yet. SMILE is working to change
that."

Helen Hamilton-James, Financial Director

Helen Hamilton-James joined SMILE as Financial Director in November 2007. She has extensive auditing and advisory experience in the finance industry as a Partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Her background includes an Honours Law degree from Aberdeen University, Scotland and a Graduate Diploma in management from the Australian Graduate School of Management. Helen is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales. Her key responsibilities include leading the Deloitte NSW Assurance and Advisory social responsibility project, focusing on health services.

Professor Elizabeth Elliott

Elizabeth Elliott AM MBBS MD FRACP FRCPCH FRCP was made a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for “service to paediatrics and child health as an academic, researcher and educator and through the establishment of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit.” She is Professor in the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney and Consultant Paediatrician at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney. She is Founder and Director of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, a national research resource with a focus on rare diseases of childhood.

Elizabeth is involved in medical education and heads a clinical education program in Maternal and Child Health for health professionals in Dien Bien Province, Vietnam.  She has co-authored 6 books on scientific writing and evidence-based paediatrics and has been published widely. She is a member of many committees including the Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs Working Party on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; National Health and Medical Research Council Committee to Review Australian Alcohol Guidelines and the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce.

Elizabeth Elliott

Jon Penn

Jon Penn B. Com serves as CEO, Asia Pacific, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the commercial and brand extension arm of FremantleMedia (FM), one of the world's largest international creators, producers and distributors of leading prime time drama, serial drama, entertainment and factual entertainment programming.

In this role, Jon oversees multi-platform television distribution, home entertainment and licensing, the latter of which comprises consumer products, interactive (online and mobile), digital content, sponsorship and live events and he is a member of the FremantleMedia Enterprises board as well as the operating board of Spring, FMs branded entertainment production label. Prior to joining FME in 2001 Jon was Business Development Manager with Fairfax Digital. In his earlier career he held a variety of marketing and business development positions with the Australian Securities Exchange, KPMG and Compaq (now HP).

Jon’s expertise in media, marketing and business development provides a valuable commercial contribution to the SMILE Board.

Yvette Cachia

Yvette Cachia, B. Ed, MA (Distinction), LLB (Hons 1) is a Barrister and a member of the New South Wales Bar Association, specialising in both family law, bankruptcy and corporate governance. She is a Chartered Secretary and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is also Group Company Secretary and General Manager of People and Governance at Primary Health Care Limited and is an enthusiastic advocate for accessible, affordable health care for all Australians. Yvette has had a long-standing interest in social policy and the issues affecting children and their families, having previously worked as an educator, ministerial advisor and senior officer in the Student Welfare Directorate in NSW.

Denis Tracey

Denis Tracey is the author of Giving it Away: in Praise of Philanthropy (Scribe 2003) and numerous other articles and papers on philanthropy. He was the first CEO of the Melbourne Community Foundation and has held senior posts at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne) and the University of Sydney.

“I was attracted to SMILE because of its innovative and imaginative approach to an important social problem and because of the dedication of its founders and the other Board Members. I feel honoured to be able to participate in such a worth cause.”

Benita Kam

Benita Kam has been associated with the SMILE Foundation since its launch at the Sydney Opera House in July, 2007. As Managing Director of an established and successful event company, BNT Management, Benita has always been instrumental in organizing functions for SMILE. In October 2008, Benita decided to increase her commitment and became a Director of SMILE.

"My passion for helping children stems from my previous occupation as a speech therapist and I am honoured to be a Board Member of the SMILE Foundation.”

Robert Williams

Robert Williams is a Principal at specialist law firm Ryan Lawyers, where he advises clients in the hotel and tourism sector. A regular speaker at industry conferences in Australia and Asia, Robert works on acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and management arrangements. Robert became involved with SMILE in 2009, whilst at former firm Baker & McKenzie, as the partner heading up the team providing pro bono legal support to us. Through working closely with SMILE’s executive team on events such as the Cycle for SMILE, Robert has been inspired by the charity’s success in raising awareness of rare childhood diseases and in putting donations to work through its financial assistance program for affected families and research funding programs. Invited onto the SMILE board in June 2012, Robert is delighted to continue his association with the charity and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to SMILE’s invaluable work.