Management Team
Deborah Briggs – Chief Executive Officer
Deborah Briggs is the Chief Executive Officer of BPA Children’s Services. Deborah has been in the CEO role since July 2022 but has worked within the early childhood sector for more than 18 years.
Deborah began with BPA back in 2005 as a kindergarten assistant and has worked in various roles across the organisation. Deborah previously worked for local and state government departments in Information Management, but was drawn to early childhood when her second child attended kindergarten.
Deborah is passionate about early childhood and committed to ensuring that BPA’s mission and core values are upheld. Deborah takes great pride in knowing that the organisation strives for inclusiveness, quality, integrity and collaboration, ensuring the right of every child to have access to quality early childhood educational programs.
Deborah is excited about the challenges ahead, and looks forward to leading the organisation into the future.
Esther Ho – Chief Financial Officer
With over 15 years’ strategic financial management experience, Esther was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer at BPA in 2023.
Community minded, yet commercially focused, she has gained broad experience and proficiency in managing financial operations in large and complex environment in Vocational Education, At Home Care, Residential Aged Care and diverse group of disability services (Supported Independent Living, Allied Health, Special Education, Early Childhood Intervention).
Esther sees herself as a “modern-day detective” rather than a stereotypical number cruncher or bean counter. Her experiences mirror those of investigators searching for root causes of problems, apply solutions and making strategic recommendations that affect businesses in a multitude of ways.
Being a strong advocate in child protection and early childhood education, Esther believes all children should have equal access to quality health care and education. She is determined to grow with caused-based organisations like BPA to achieve sustainable results and make a positive difference in people’s life.
Esther received her Bachelor Degree in Social Science (Sociology), Master Degree in Commerce (Accounting) and is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA). As part of her continual professional development, she completed the Executive Education Program (Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organisations) at Harvard University in Boston.
Nina Sutton - Risk and Compliance Manager
After completing a Bachelor of Education and Graduate Diploma in Health Sciences, Nina worked in the Disability Sector for over thirty years including as an allied health professional for vision impaired and blind people, then autistic children. Before joining the BPA Children’s Services Team, Nina worked with an early intervention service provider as Director of Operations. She led the registration of this service with the National Disability Insurance Agency and has had years of experience in applying legislative and other compliance requirements to ensure safe and high-quality service provision.
As Risk and Compliance Manager, Nina will be tasked with ensuring best practice education services are provided in a safe environment with effective governance and the highest health and safety standards deliverable.
Yolanda Sutherland - Human Resources Manager
Holding both under-graduate as well as post-graduate qualifications including a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Yolanda Sutherland (she/her) brings an excellent set of skills, knowledge and capabilities to BPA Children’s Services and its Executive Leadership Team in her role as Human Resources Manager. Yolanda has also held the role of Executive Human Resources/OHS Manager within the independent schools’ sector for several years, as well as held senior roles in People and Culture Management within the community and health sectors.
Yolanda was awarded a Victorian State Award from her then multi-national employer during her work in the corporate sector for service excellence to people, health and safety. Over her career, Yolanda has also been recognized through other exemplary recognitions for her professionalism, service and contributions.
Yolanda is an authentic HR practitioner (Certified AHRI) and dedicated leader. Yolanda strives to make a positive difference through HR best practice excellence in approaches and innovative and creative thinking. With a passion for all things HR including people and performance, advocacy, HR strategy and operations, DEI, learning and development and much more, Yolanda contributes a unique, valuable and skillful depth of capabilities, knowledge and experience.