Our team

Melanie Raymond OAM, Chairperson

An experienced independent, non-executive director and Chairperson with multiple other board and committee positions including Chair of Connected Communities Melbourne,  Director of the new Moreland Affordable Housing Association, Victorian Ice Taskforce and Taskforce on Rough Sleeping. Melanie was named one of Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Women in 2012, awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2017, and was awarded Third Sector's 'Board Director of the Year' in 2022. Melanie has a MA (Hons) and studied executive management at the Harvard Business School, bringing her extensive experience across policy, strategy, government, communications and media.

Connect on LinkedIn

The Hon Monica Gould, Deputy Chair

Elected as the first female President of the Legislative Council of Victoria, Monica held a number of positions during the union movement, served on the Board of VicForests and is a Director of the LUCRF Community Partnership Trust. She brings extensive experience as former Minister for Industrial Relations, Youth Affairs and Education Services and experience in aged care, coupled with personal interests in human rights and emergency housing. In 2018, Monica was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Mark van Miltenburg, Director

A Senior Real Estate Investment and Development Executive with extensive experience in creating investor value in commercial real estate. Holding senior roles at leading funds management businesses including Charter Hall, Macquarie Bank, Mirvac and LendLease, Mark’s expertise includes real estate investment strategy, development management, transaction investment, partnerships and financial accountability.

Srinath Sursala, Director

Srinath works in Management Consulting in IT advisory after previously working in a variety of major government projects over the last 6+ years. Srinath is currently undertaking his MBA at Melbourne Business School and also keeps busy looking at all things 'blockchain'. Outside of work you'll find Srinath immersed in all things sport - especially the AFL, NBA and Formula1.

Ben Vasiliou, Chief Executive Officer

As the proud Chief Executive of Youth Projects, Ben has been leading us on our incredible journey for more than 4 years. He is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a genuine passion for breaking the cycle of disadvantage and creating equal access to social and economic participation for all people.

Ben is a social entrepreneur who seeks to add value through strategy, good governance, and modern leadership and recently graduated from the Executive Education in Social Entrepreneurship Program at Stanford University (USA). He was recognised in the Top 5 CEO’s of 2021 by Third Sector, and by Pro Bono Australia as Innovator of the Year and one of the Top 25 most influential and inspiring people in the social economy in 2020.

Connect on LinkedIn

Natascha Tjendana, Executive Manager Corporate Services

BAppFin, MCom, CPA 

Natascha is our most recently appointed executive leader who heads up Corporate Services at Youth Projects. As a CPA qualified executive with a Bachelor of Applied Finance and Master of Commerce, Natascha brings extensive experience and knowledge across financial performance management and modelling, risk management and compliance, continuous systems improvement, cross-function team management, planning and IT.  

She understands the lean environments nonprofits work within, but that we must also be financially progressive and sophisticated across our operations. With over 15 years’ experience in the nonprofit, Disability and Aged Care sectors and commercial industries, Natascha brings a unique set of skills and cross-sector understanding of business operations that she is eager to use at Youth Projects and support us through the next phase of significant growth and modernisation.  

Trent Miller, Executive Manager Employment, Training & Social Enterprise

Trent is an experienced leader with a depth of experience in social impact, leading the way on inclusive leadership, and empowering teams to deliver significant social & economic impact. Prior to joining Youth Projects, Trent was Senior Project Manager at Social Ventures Australia. He has held senior roles with Uniting Vic/Tas and SkillsPlus & BRACE. After being appointed Head of Major Projects & Transformation at Youth Projects earlier in 2022, he has recently been appointed as the Executive Manager leading the organisations growing portfolio of employment, training & social enterprise offerings. Trent is passionate about leading Youth Projects' largest ever scale-up across his portfolio.

Trent was awarded a scholarship for Melbourne Business School's Emerging Leaders Development Program and will complete his MBA with Monash Business School in 2022. Trent will use his Bachelor of Commerce (Business Analytics) to continue to elevate Youth Projects data driven decision making culture.

Richie Goonan, Operations Manager Community Health

With over 22 years experience in the housing and homelessness sector, Richie brings an authentic and adaptive leadership style, leading through positive decisions, driving high performance through motivation and inspirational leadership to achieve our goals and live our mission. In complex policy and operational environments, Richie finds creative and innovative solutions to achieve positive outcomes for our community health services.