A strong leader, Independent Director and Vice President of the National Rural Women’s Coalition. Rechelle is a principal sector specialist in governance, contract management, procurement and social policy issues. Rechelle’s passion lies with gender equality, equity and improving policy through advocacy, specifically related to the specialised issues of rural, regional and remote (RRR) women and girls in Australia.
Rechelle provides technical expertise and specialist advice to government, and other institutions on policy, strategy, research and advocacy in key areas of social policy including gender equality, disability services, domestic violence, rural and regional workforce planning and employment, and technological and communications access focussing on the needs of RRR women and girls of Australia through her business RegionalCollab, and as a representative on many Boards and Committees.
She has actively built a profile advocating for rural women and girls nationally and internationally. In 2018 and 2019 Rechelle represented civil society in New York, at the United Nations – Commission for the Status of Women as an Independent Director of the National Rural Women’s Coalition.
Rechelle was appointed in early 2019 as a Director on the Board of the Classification Review Board, the Local Land Services Board Northern Tablelands and also received a Statutory Appointment as a Youth Justice Conference Convener in restorative justice for the Department of Justice NSW (Northern Inland Region). Rechelle was also successfully appointed by the Australian Government in October 2018 as an Employment Facilitator with the Department of Jobs and Small Business for the Northern Inland region of NSW.
In January 2019, Rechelle was nominated for a Pro Bono Australia IMPACT25 Award recognising her work creating a positive impact for women and girls in rural, regional and remote Australia and is an Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence 2019 – Local and Regional category Alumni.
Rechelle’s business RegionalCollab through it’s IT Tech Platform development iDecide has been accepted into the international Spring Board Enterprises (SBE) Accelerator Program in Melbourne, to further develop the platform to empower end of life conversations and decisions. This innovative platform is developed from Rechelle’s lived experience of losing her husband to cancer before he was 40.
Rechelle has published widely on matters related to immigration including working with the BBC London on radio and being published in a number of books and magazines on the issue. She has been awarded two Secretary’s Medals of Excellence from the Department of Finance for her work in Superannuation and Procurement. She has a breadth of interests across all levels of government and has been influential in leading public and private institutions, including previously as an advisor to the Canberra Migrant Resource Centre and a volunteer Committee Member of the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) – Canberra.
Rechelle is a consummate networker and a connector of people who continues to seek to be part of the national and international conversation on these matters.
An Australian Financial Review – 100 Women of Influence 2019 Alumni – Rechelle has speaking experience across a broad range of keynote speaking engagements, forums and in the training environment. She has international speaking experience having spoken at the United Nations, Commission on the Status of Women, New York for a number of years and leads speaking engagements as Vice President of the National Rural Women’s Coalition across policy round tables, directly to government and across a broad range of topics focussed on the needs of rural, regional and remote Australia.