About us The Board
The Alcorso Foundation is managed through a committee structure.
Members of the committee represent the Foundation's key areas of interest and the Alcorso family.
Current committee
Kate Warner President/Chair
Mark Wilsdon Vice President
Caroline Alcorso Secretary
Paul Lyons Treasurer/Public Officer
Cassandra Pybus (Chair Social Justice Sub-committee)
Jennifer Dudgeon (Chair Environment Sub-committee)
Tess Dryza (Chair Communications and Fundraising Sub-committee)
Denise Robinson (Executive Officer)
If you are interested in becoming a member of the foundation please download an application form and return to The Executive Officer, Alcorso Foundation, GPO Box 2010, Hobart Tasmania 7001
Kate Warner, President
Kate is a Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania where she teaches Criminal Law, Criminology, Sentencing and Evidence. She has served as Dean of the Faculty of Law (1992-1994) and Head of Department in the Law School. Currently she is Director of the Law Reform Institute. She is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, was a member or the Parole Board for ten years, and is currently a member of the Board of Legal Education, the Council of Law Reporting and the Tasmanian Gaming Commission. She is sentencing editor for the Criminal Law Journal.
Professor Warner's current research areas include sentencing and public opinion, criminal procedure and human rights and sexual offence law reform. Awards include the Bartholomew award for the best article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology in 2003- 2004. In 2009 she was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College Oxford. Kate Warner was a foundation member of the Alcorso Foundation and has been its President and Chair since December 2010. She is currently a member of the Social Justice subcommittee reflecting her interests in social change as a law reformer and human rights advocate.
Mark Wilsdon, Vice President
Mark has over 25 years experience in the tourism and hospitality sector and has operated and headed up serveral successful restaurants as a chef and owner. After qualifying as a chef in Hobart he travelled and worked in leading kitchens in Europe, returning home to start a family and establish a successful restaurant business. Drawn to the excitement of David Walsh's vision Mark started as a consultant to Moorilla in 2002 facilitating the design and opening of the award winning Ether building.Signing on as Hospitality Operations Manager in 2004 he has been responsible for business systems and procedures, recruiting, staffing structures and quality assurance. These operations include restaurant, functions, accommodation, events, cellar door, winery and brewery operations.
After faciliting a restructure of management in 2006 he took on the role of Business Manager and now supports all business operations from a strategic position as a member of the Executive while monitoring commercial operating efficiencies and investigating further opportunities for MONA.
Mark was appointed to the Board of the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania in 2010 and has been a member of the Alcorso Foundation Board since 2008 and was appointed Vice President in 2010.
Dr. Caroline Alcorso, Secretary
Caroline is responsible for workforce development in State Training Services, at the NSW Department of Education and Training. Her unit develops and coordinates industry partnership programs and innovation projects that address industry requirements for skilled workers, social and economic objectives, and individual needs for quality, sustainable employment opportunities. It combines policy development and program management functions and is currently producing the 2011-2015 NSW Strategic Skills Plan.
Programs include the NSW Green Skills and Energy Efficiency Strategy as well as a range of regional initiatives that engage industry in employment and training partnerships. During the last year, Caroline worked for the federal government advisory body, Skills Australia, developing Workforce Futures, the Australian Workforce Development Strategy.
She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tasmania and a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, England. In 2006 she completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Sydney on immigrants and labour management in the information technology and hotel industries.
Caroline has extensive research, policy, advocacy and project management experience. She has worked for state and federal government, community organisation, unions and university-based research centres over the last 25 years and has acknowledged expertise in the areas of workplace relations and employment, equity issues, migration and multicultural affairs and environmental sustainability.
Paul Lyons, Treasurer & Public Officer
Paul is the Business Services Group Manager at Wise Lord & Ferguson. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (University of Tasmania) and Diploma of Financial Services. He is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia, and an Authorised Representative of Count Wealth Accountants.
Paul joined Wise Lord & Ferguson in February 2002 and was appointed Manager in Business Services in July 2007. He has a very strong local knowledge of business in Tasmania as well as looking after many National and Internationally based clients as well as managing some of Tasmania's most high profile clients. Providing him with wide ranging experience in the manufacturing, retail, professional services areas through to cutting edge technology based companies in the R&D and internet sectors.
Paul specialises in tax and tax planning, financial management, business mentoring, due diligence for new businesses and business structuring. With his proactive and approachable style he delivers meaningful results to his diverse client base and brings strong governance skills to the Foundation. As well as sitting on the Foundation Board Paul also provides Board services to the Institute of Chartered Accountants Careers Marketing panel and the Young Professionals group.
Professor Cassandra Pybus, Board Member
Professor Cassandra Pybus received her PhD from University of Sydney in 1977. She then worked in education and community development and was a senior policy advisor to the Minister for Education and Training, before becoming a fulltime writer in 1987.
Since 2001, Cassandra Pybus has held an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowship in History, first at the University of Tasmania and now at the University of Sydney. She was Fulbright Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC in 2002, the Coca Cola International Fellow at the International Center for Jefferson Studies in Virginia in 2003, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Institute of Historical Studies in Texas in 2007 and 2008.
Cassandra is the author of eleven books, and the winner of several major literary awards. Her most recent book, Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and their Global Quest for Liberty was published in the USA, Canada and Britain to critical acclaim and was a runner up for the prestigious Frederick Douglas Award in the USA in 2007. She has recently been appointed to Arts Tasmania's TAAB organisations' funding review panel.
Professor Cassandra Pybus is a founding member of the Alcorso Foundation and is currently the Chair of our Social Justice Committee.
Tess Dryza, Board Member
Tess Dryza is the Director of Ripe Online, an Australian based consultancy specialising in strategic planning, partner negotiation, digital strategy and community engagement.
Tess is concerned with innovations and relationships that support individuals and communities, improve their wellbeing and sustainability and consults on the cultural and economic opportunities offered by new technologies.
She has over sixteen years experience in the interactive industry as a digital strategist, creative director, senior producer, information architect and instructional designer on a broad range of high-end accounts.
Tess has delivered papers, seminars and workshops internationally and regularly facilitates round tables and think tanks for government, business and NGO clients.
She holds an M.A in Design (Digital Media) and a B.A. in Communications (Marketing and Theatre/Media majors).
Jenny Dudgeon is currently an early childhood educator at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School in Hobart and is a member of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting's national sustainability reference group and a member of the National Environmental Educators Network. She was the Tasmanian project officer for the Sustainable Schools Initiative AuSSI-Tas from 2007 to 2011 when it received the Tasmanian government's Environmental Excellence in Education award.
Jenny is the convenor of the Australian Association of Environmental Educators - Tasmania branch; a Board member of the national Australian Association of Environmental Educators (AAEE); committee member of the Early Childhood Educators of Tasmania professional leadership group; as well as representing early childhood educators on the Department of Education's Early Year's Reference Group. In 2006 Jenny was awarded a Hardie Fellowship to study early childhood pedagogical thinking and practice with the Project Zero team at Harvard University and is currently undertaking an Environmental Assessors training course with Resource Smart AuSSI Vic
Since 2009 Jenny has been the convivium leader of Slow Food Hobart, which shares strong links with Italy's slow food movement. Jenny and her family also manage Stonecrest Cherries at Sorrell.
Denise Robinson, Executive Officer
Denise was appointed the Foundation's Executive Officer in February 2010. She has over thirty years experience in business administration working across many business, industry and not-for-profit sectors. She holds an MFA, BFA(Hons) (UTAS), Certificate of Management (UTAS), a Diploma of Business psychology and behavior, Diploma of Sales & Marketing (NSW) and Train the Trainer 1, 2, & advanced.
Since 2000 Denise has managed her own visual art practice as well as providing part time management and administrative services on a consultative basis. In 2008 she relocated to Hobart to undertake her Masters by Research at the Tasmanian School of Art and upon completion took on the Executive Officer role with the Alcorso Foundation to manage and implement its new direction.
Denise has worked on various major community art projects since 2001. She was a member of Arts Tasmania's TAAB advisory panel for both individuals' and organisations' funding between 2002-2007 and was a panel member for Tas Regional Arts funding between 2004 and 2007. The recipient of many State and Federal grants and awards she has successfully exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.
Denise is employed by the Foundation on a part time basis for 3 days per week.