Our Board

The Domestic Violence Action Centre Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the organisation, ensuring it lives up to its values and achieves its goals.

The Board is comprised of members who share a diverse range of professional skills, are passionate advocates against domestic and family violence, and are invested in creating a safe and secure future for all Queenslanders. The Board’s members contribute their time and expertise on a pro bono basis.

Laura with long dark red hair, blue eyes, in front of a dark purple backdrop

Chairperson

Laura Marschke

Laura has been on the Board of DVAC since 2017 as Treasurer and Chairperson. Laura works as a Senior Financial Adviser and has over 20 years of experience working in the financial services industry in both corporate and private practice.

Currently working in Financial Advice for Guardian Investments. Laura is passionate about supporting the local community to improve financial literacy with a focus on raising awareness of financial abuse. Laura holds a Masters of Financial Planning, Self-Managed Super Fund and Aged Care Specialist Certification and has also completed the FASEA Financial Adviser exam.

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Nick with dark brown hair, blue eyes and clear rimmed glasses.

Treasurer

Nick Thompson

Nick has been on the Board of DVAC since September 2016, was elected Chairperson at the 2017 AGM and Treasurer in 2022. Since starting his career in Alice Springs, working for the Central Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Unit in 2007, Nick has worked in a variety of frontline and management roles supporting families and children experiencing adversity and violence. This has included working as CEO of the Aboriginal Family Legal Service Southern Queensland and as a caseworker with the Ipswich Intensive Family Support Service and as the Program Manager – Domestic and Family Violence with Relationships Australia, Queensland.

Nick is currently employed as the Chief Executive Officer with Mates in Construction Qld-NT working with the construction industry to improve mental health and well-being and reduce rates of suicide in the building construction industry. Nick holds a Bachelor of Social Science, a Graduate Certificate in Facilitating Men’s Behaviour Change, a Master of Social Work, and a Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery Certificate from Harvard.

Nick is passionate about making sure that communities across Ipswich and the Darling Downs Regions have accessible and effective family violence prevention and support services. He is determined that confronting and challenging the cause and effect of gendered violence in the community is a continued strategic priority of the DVAC Board.

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Vice Chairperson

Debbie Render

Debbie joined the board of DVAC in 2019. Her professional background is in the veterinary industry where she has held a variety of roles over the past 30 years. In her capacity as Practice Manager of a group of clinics, she was responsible for human resources, formulating and implementing policies and procedures, and staff training.

Debbie currently works in a training capacity for a national organisation and thrives on helping others to achieve their potential. She also has a developing interest in the links between violence perpetrated on animals and domestic and family violence.

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Secretary

Louise Secomb

Louise is a Principal Solicitor at Family Centred Law. Louise has over 12 years’ experience of legal experience across a wide range of legal practice areas and currently practices across Family Law, Domestic and Family Violence and Civil Law such as debt recovery matters. Louise’s legal experience and expertise spans the provision of advice, case work and court representation. Louise is focused on achieving outcomes for clients without the parties needing to resort to Court processes.

Before joining Family Centred Law, Louise has held legal positions in private practice, a number of in-house roles including in a large public authority and in the community legal sector in Victoria and Queensland most recently in a not-for-profit community legal centre in Toowoomba. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours), a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and a Graduate Certificate in Dispute Resolution.

Louise has a passion for helping to protect women, men and children who are experiencing domestic and family violence and is a Committee Member of the Domestic Violence Action Centre (DVAC – Toowoomba and Ipswich). Louise regularly participates in the Run Against Violence virtual run which aims to raise awareness for Family and Domestic Violence in the community. She is also a member of the Toowoomba and South-West Family Law Pathways Network Steering Committee and also works causally with the Faculty of Law at the University of Southern Queensland.

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Committee Member

Naomi Todd

Joining the DVAC Board in 2020, Naomi (She/Her) is a passionate people person, bringing over 25 years’ experience in leadership, HR, people and culture.

Fiercely earnest, Naomi is unafraid of difficult topics as an advocate and ally for both victim-survivors and more broadly, for equitable and safe communities, pushing in particular for conversations to become action resulting in change. Fascinated by the human condition, Naomi’s career has organically revolved around people, with a common theme in particular of helping people connect with their value.

She has worked within the education, recruitment and startup worlds, and more recently in community and NFP groups. Naomi also co-founded an HR-Tech business, which was acquired in 2020. She now consults on inclusive and psychologically safe workplace design.

Understanding that our community as a whole thrives through the respect, engagement and inclusion of ALL its people, Naomi works concurrently on a number of community initiatives designed to break down barriers and provide for our most vulnerable people.

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Committee Member

Mainaaz Oakley

Mainaaz is a strategic leader with experience advising on public policy, programs and project delivery. She has extensive experience working across governments, both at the state and federal level, providing advice to senior leadership on government priorities and initiatives.

Mainaaz has worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to a former Queensland Treasurer where she provided advice on the financial and service delivery performance of government departments and agencies.

Before her current role as a consulting manager, Mainaaz worked in the transport sector leading the tactical development and delivery of business growth opportunities in Australia and the Middle East.

Mainaaz is admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of Queensland. Her legal background, combined with her experience in government advisory and private bid support, provides her with the analytical ability to develop and implement unique business solutions. She is highly skilled at facilitating internal and external stakeholder communication to achieve tangible outcomes.

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Susie with short dark brown hair, dark rimmed glasses, leaning over an indigenous artwork

Board Cultural Advisor

Susan Klein

Susie Klein is a Jaularoi woman and is passionate about agencies offering culturally appropriate family violence services to First Nations families and communities.

Susie currently works for The Brisbane Broncos based in the Roma State College Senior Campus as a Student Support Officer for the Beyond the Broncos Girls Academy.

Susie has spent many years working with families who have experienced trauma with her own company ‘Aim High Counselling Pty Ltd’ as well as a small business ‘Susie Klein Creative and Self Expressive Art’ specialising in counselling, skills training, education, and mediation.

Susie is a professional artist and has pioneered an Art for Relaxation therapeutic workshop that promotes healing through creative and self-expressive arts.

Susie is regularly across Darling Downs communities and Toowoomba in her work and is excited about the work of DVAC in our communities. A member of our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Party, she is passionate about how we continue our reconciliation journey, build relationships across the region, and promote violence prevention.

Susie holds a Bachelor of Educational Studies and Cert IV in Assessment and Training.

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In an emergency call the Police on 000

Are you worried someone will find out you visited this website?

Our website has a quick exit button near the bottom right-hand corner of the page. This button will close the DVAC website and open ABC News and the Google homepage. The button may be helpful if you are worried that you are being monitored and you are concerned that someone is about to see you looking at the DVAC site.

You may also want to delete your browser history. This means that the history of the websites you have visited will not be able to be seen. For information on deleting your internet history click here.

If someone is monitoring your online activity using spyware or monitoring devices, they may still be able to see that you have visited this website.

To discuss your online safety, speak with your DVAC support worker or call DVConnect 1800 811 811 (24-hour telephone advice line) or 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) (24-hour telephone counselling line).

For more information on your digital safety see:

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