Fair Agenda

Renee Carr 

Executive Director and Co-Founder

Renee is a campaigner and strategist passionate about growing movements for change. At Fair Agenda she has led campaigns that have: secured millions in additional funding for domestic violence services, stopped almost a billion dollars of cuts to parental leave, and helped decriminalise abortion in Queensland, NSW and South Australia. In 2015 she was named as one of Australia's '100 Women of Influence'.

Before co-founding Fair Agenda, Renee was part of the team that led The End of Polio campaign to secure $118 million in additional funding from countries for global polio eradication efforts. Renee completed a Bachelors of Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Liz Hadjia

Campaign Manager

Liz is campaigner and community organiser. Before joining the Fair Agenda team she worked across human rights and environment movements, with the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, ActionAid, Amnesty International and Oxfam. She has run campaigns to re-power NSW with 100% clean energy, and built an activist network at ActionAid Australia to fight for women’s climate and economic justice.

Liz is passionate about connecting people to a cause and supporting them to create change. She holds a Bachelor of International and Global Studies and a Master of International Development from the University of Sydney.

Dani Villafaña

Campaigner

Dani is community organiser and survivor-advocate. She has organised nationally with Youth Against Sexual Violence Australia, around the legislation of comprehensive sex and consent education and protections for young survivors of gendered violence. She has also served as a Teen Advisor with Girl Up, United Nations Foundation where she advocated for improved legal literacy for girls and women, and advised on the development of a global peer-led gender-based violence curriculum.

Dani has also worked in the environment movement, as a community campaigner with Sweltering Cities campaigning for more equitable, sustainable cities. She began her advocacy as a national organiser with School Strike 4 Climate, where she led Australia’s school climate strikes and campaigned against the sourcing and usage of fossil fuels. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Edna Ryan Award and United Nations Foundation #GirlHero Trailblazer Award in recognition of her advocacy.

Katherine Tu

Board Chair

Kat is the Head of Policy & Campaigns at ActionAid Australia. She formerly served as a campaign director at SumOfUs - a global digital organisation campaigning to curb growing corporate power, with a focus on Australian campaigns and fundraising. Kat has also worked at a fundraising agency for non-profits, as an election organiser, and as a climate grassroots organiser. She is particularly passionate about equity, racial justice, and intersectional feminism. Kat holds a combined Bachelor of Arts and Law from the University of Sydney.

Lindy Stephens

Board Member

Lindy is an independent consultant and leadership coach in the software industry, focusing on helping companies maintain their culture during periods of rapid growth, and assisting businesses in building diverse teams. She is a Co-Founder and Consultant at Sam Newman and Associates.

Previously Lindy spent ten years as a senior leader at global software consultancy ThoughtWorks. She has a background in software delivery, with over ten years as a Project Manager for large and complex software projects, primarily in the finance sector. Lindy is passionate about the ability of great software to change the world, and creating a diverse culture within the IT industry to enable that. Her particular focus is in making technology a career of choice for young women.

Lee Carnie

Board Member

Lee is a human rights lawyer and social justice advocate, with experience in strategic litigation, public advocacy, grassroots campaigning, policy research, political engagement and community legal education. Lee currently works as the Executive Director of Advocacy at the Foundation for Young Australians. 

Prior to joining FYA, Lee was the Strategic Advocacy & Policy Manager at Victoria Legal Aid. They also played an active role in campaigning for LGBTIQ+ rights, including marriage equality, adoption equality, fairer birth certificate laws, anti-discrimination protections and expungement of historical homosexual convictions as the founding Director of Legal Advocacy at Equality Australia. Lee was also part of kickstarting the national campaign for an Australian Charter of Human Rights as a Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre. Lee's career started as a frontline lawyer in community legal centres, and they are deeply passionate about real change that makes a meaningful difference to people's daily lives.

Caterina Giorgi

Board Member

Caterina has extensive experience in leadership roles across the not-for-profit and for-purpose sectors. Throughout her career, Caterina has focused on reducing inequity and improving health and social outcomes through strategic advocacy.

Caterina is currently the CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, a not-for-profit organisation striving for an Australia free from alcohol harm. Caterina also founded and led For Purpose, which works with not-for-profit and purpose-driven organisations to build their strategic, advocacy and communications capacity to create positive social change. She has an Honours Degree in Public Health, was a finalist of the 2015 ACT Young Woman of the Year Awards

Verity Appleby

Board Member

Verity's passion is working for social and climate justice. She works with philanthropists and sector leaders to fund projects and advocacy campaigns that create systemic change; and has over a decade of experience in fundraising.

Right now Verity works as Development Director at 350.org Australia. Previously She has worked for a range of not for profits including Amnesty International, Rape & Domestic Violence Services and the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA) as well as some of the UK’s biggest not-for-profits in her role at On Agency.

Verity is the founder of the Australian Fundraisers Network and mentors fundraisers across the sector to develop their skills.