Providing healthy and nurturing learning environments

Simon White
Chairperson

Simon brings extensive expertise across human resources, employee relations and organisational leadership, with a strong commitment to supporting purpose-driven organisations. He is an effective communicator who engages confidently at all levels and has worked with a diverse range of stakeholders across community services, child care, health and other industries.

With over two decades of experience, Simon has developed deep capability in workforce strategy, industrial relations and people management, including exposure to the early childhood education and care sector. His background includes working with employer associations and supporting organisations to navigate complex employment environments while maintaining a focus on quality service delivery and positive workplace cultures.

Simon is the Director of Ohura Consulting, where he provides strategic and operational advice to organisations. His work includes enterprise agreement development, employee relations guidance, performance management, organisational reviews, workforce planning, training, recruitment and advocacy before industrial tribunals.

Simon joined the Board in 2013 and contributes a strong understanding of governance, compliance and workforce sustainability in community-focused organisations. He holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management and a Business Degree with a double major in Industrial Relations and Management.

Michelle Owens
Deputy Chairperson

Michelle joined the Gowrie Western Australia Board in June 2019 and currently serves as Deputy Chair.

Michelle is a senior public sector executive with over 20 years of experience in State government administration, currently leading the Legislation, Training and Review Division at RevenueWA as a member of the executive team. Her work spans legislative reform, workforce capability, and the design of systems that deliver fair and transparent outcomes for the Western Australian community.

A Fellow of Leadership Western Australia and graduate of the CEW Leaders Program, Michelle brings to the Gowrie board a deep understanding of governance, organisational change, and capability building, alongside a genuine commitment to the communities that Gowrie serves.

Michelle has a particular passion for early childhood education and care, informed by her experience as a mother to twin girls and a stepparent.

Michelle is proud to contribute to Gowrie’s purpose through her leadership experience and values, and to support the organisation as it delivers quality early childhood education and community services across Perth.

Jodie Holbrook
Board Member

Jodie joined the Gowrie Western Australia Board of Directors in March 2013.

Jodie has worked diligently to support the development of communities for over 20 years, in both government and non-government positions.

Jodie is committed to, and passionate about, the development of accessible and high quality services for children, their families, and the community.

Jodie believes in the need for greater investment and integration of early year’s services across Western Australia, especially in regional, rural and remote areas.

As a mother of two boys who have both experienced the services of Gowrie Western Australia in their younger years, Jodie is well-equipped to support the Gowrie Western Australia organisation with firsthand experience, and a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Jodie’s expertise gained through her work with, and on, several Boards over many years, assists Jodie to bring a very sound level of understanding, efficiency and effectiveness to Gowrie Western Australia’s Board.

Shanaeya Sherdiwala
Board member

Shanaeya joined the Gowrie Western Australia Board of Directors in June 2019.

Shanaeya holds a Masters Degree in Economics and is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA).

Shanaeya has been in the public service for over 15 years, in a number of policy and advisory roles. Shanaeya spent nearly a decade as Chief Financial Officer of a range of State Government departments. Shanaeya currently holds a General Manager role in Program and Policy Management.

Nandini Pereira
Board member

Nandini joined the Gowrie WA Board in March 2023. She is a Lawyer and Corporate Affairs expert with over 15 years’ experience in working in Australia, Nigeria and the Asia-Pacific region. Nandini has held various roles in legal, corporate governance, risk and assurance and government relations, and currently works as a Corporate Affairs Lead for a global energy company.

Nandini holds a combined Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western Australia.

Nandini has a young son and is committed to ensuring that he and other children in the WA the community have access to high quality early childhood education and care services.

Nandini is aligned to Gowrie’s vision, purpose and values and is excited to serve as a member of the Gowrie WA Board.

Rowena Amistad
Board member

Rowena is an experienced people and culture leader with more than 15 years’ experience across the higher education, local government, and not-for-profit sectors. She is currently in a leadership position in higher education, where she leads a multidisciplinary team and contributes to strategic workforce, governance, compliance, and organisational improvement initiatives.

Throughout her career, Rowena has held senior leadership roles responsible for workforce strategy, organisational change, remuneration, governance, policy development, and employee relations. She has sound experience advising executive leaders and boards, leading complex projects, and building high-performing, values-driven workplace cultures.

Rowena holds a Master of Human Resources and Employment Relations from the University of Western Australia and is a Certified HR Practitioner (CPHR) with the Australian Human Resources Institute.

She is committed to fostering inclusive and equitable communities, having led significant organisational initiatives including the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan and workforce programs that support diversity, wellbeing, and organisational capability.

Rowena is passionate about education, lifelong learning, and creating positive outcomes for individuals and communities. She brings strong governance, stakeholder engagement, and strategic leadership capabilities. By joining Gowrie, Rowena is committed to supporting an organisation that enhances the wellbeing and development of children, families, and educators in a not-for-profit setting.

Ivin Lim
Board member

Information coming soon.

Tonia Westmore
Chief Executive Officer

Tonia’s career in the early childhood sector spans well over three decades. The roles she has held have always focused on her passion and dedication to children, families and community. Tonia’s experience includes owning and operating early childhood education and care centres in the mid 1990’s, a combined 35 years of commitment in the early years space, 25 years working in the not for profit sector to better the lives of children, a background in lecturing and training in children’s services, and working in the disability arena with children and young people. Tonia is the author of a children’s book written to support the inclusion of children with disability.

Tonia was born in Perth and spent much of her childhood and teenage years growing up in cities and towns throughout regional and metropolitan Western Australia. Married to Ian and an immensely proud and loving mum and ‘Momo’ (grandmother) to five grandchildren, Tonia enjoys spending time with her family, her pets, and dabbling in projects where she can use her creativity.

Tonia’s strong alignment to Gowrie WA’s purpose and values has enabled her to pilot Gowrie WA through the process of establishing itself as a leader within the early childhood education and care sector.  She strives for high quality care and early education, meaningful community services, and purposeful outcomes for children, families, the community, and her Gowrie team . Tonia works diligently and relentlessly to fulfil the purpose and values of Gowrie Western Australia to ensure children and families have access to services that provide benefit and support, and establish lifelong learnings. Tonia’s dedication to her team is evident in the way she leads them each day and her commitment to Gowrie being an enviable place to work, and an employer of choice.

Sara Hinchley
Executive Lead – People, Places and Partnership

With over 30 years of experience in Early Childhood Education, Sara is a purpose-driven Executive Leader known for delivering high-impact programs and shaping policy both in Australia and Internationally.

Sara’s career is defined by a commitment to excellence, innovation and inclusive child centred practices that uplift communities and improve development outcomes for children and the Early Childhood Education and Care sector more broadly.

A strategic thinker with a growth mindset, Sara brings a combination of business acumen, policy expertise, and people leadership. She has a proven ability to communicate with influence, build strong relationships across all levels and lead organisations through complex change. Her leadership style is authentic and collaborative, inspiring high-performing teams and aligning stakeholders around shared visions.

Sara’s expertise spans governance, strategic planning, operational excellence, and sector-wide advocacy.

Outside of her professional life Sara enjoys gardening and spending quality time socialising with family and friends.

Paula Simpson
Executive Lead – Finance

Paula grew up in a small town in East England and studied accounting at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. After graduating, Paula spent seven years working in commercial finance roles in London before heading to Australia on a working holiday visa in 2002. On this trip, Paula fell in love with Perth and decided to make the move permanent. She has never looked back.

Paula has worked in Finance for a diverse range of Western Australian companies including a Margaret River winery and a salt mining company. Paula commenced at Gowrie in 2019, and each day she is delighted to be working with an organisation and team that shares her values and desire to make learning accessible to all children.

Paula is a proud mother of two primary school aged children. When not at Gowrie, Paula enjoys spending time with her treasured family and friends.

Mish Taylor
Executive Lead – Community Services

Mish’s desire to work with children, families and the community has been with her from a very young age. Mish commenced her career working part-time in Outside School Hours Care while completing her final years of high school. Upon completing high school, Mish commenced her studies in early childhood education and care while working in the sector.

In 2012, Mish commenced at Gowrie working at our Karawara Early Learning Centre and later at Leeming Family and Community Centre that Gowrie operated until the end of 2020. In July 2014 Mish was awarded the role of Community Programs Manager. Mish works mostly from the Karawara Family and Community Centres where her passion for making a difference to the lives of all, is comfortably aligned with Gowrie WA’s purpose to nurture the potential of the formative years for the benefit of children, families and community.  Mish’s passion for working with the community and to care and support others, is further evident through her qualification gained as an Enrolled Nurse.

When not at Gowrie, Mish adores spending time with her beautiful young daughter and son, her husband and her family; all of who she holds dear, including her very spoilt English staffy. Each day, Mish looks forward to coming to Gowrie where she loves her role, and the wonderful team we are fortunate to have at our organisation.

Nidup Delkar
Education and Care Lead – Kewdale

After completing her Bachelor of Education, Nidup worked as a school teacher for 12 years in Bhutan. Enthusiastic to explore more about working with the formative age group, Nidup choose to embark on an educational journey and chose Australia to pursue her Diploma in Early Childhood.

During her exciting work placement at Gowrie in October 2019, Nidup joined the Gowrie team as a casual assistant Educator and has worked across all Gowrie centres. Nidup enjoys working with young children, sharing their curiosity about everything in life and strongly believes in fostering relationships with children and families and nurturing young children.

Nidup was offered the role of the Room Leader in 2021, which provided a perfect opportunity to put into practice everything that she had learned over the years.

In April 2023, Nidup was appointed to the role of Centre Operations Leader (now referred to as Education and Care Lead) at our wonderful Kewdale Centre. Nidup’s professionalism, caring nature and calm approach, is an asset to Gowrie, and to our Kewdale team and centre. Nidup enjoys working with the team, guiding them and their practices, and learning from everyone in the process.

Nidup believes she is blessed to have the guidance of a wonderful leadership team, an amazing team of colleagues from diverse backgrounds, and the lovely children and families of Gowrie

Nidup is keen to explore the different parts of Perth on weekends. Nidup also enjoys reading books, drinking tea and going for picnics.

Yaya Tarjono
Assistant Education and Care Lead – Karawara

After completing her nursing degree in Indonesia, Yaya decided to get out of her comfort zone and her home city, Surabaya, where she grew up, and move to Australia to work as a nurse. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go to plan, so Yaya chose to study a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. She made this exciting decision as she loved being around young and developing learners, and she fell in love with beautiful Perth. Whilst completing her placement at Gowrie to finish her Diploma, Yaya joined our fantastic team in October 2016 as a casual team member at our Karawara site. In 2017, she was honoured to be offered the role of Assistant Manager at our wonderful Kewdale site, before moving back to Gowrie Early Learning Karawara to continue her leadership role.

Yaya’s passion for working with young leaners comes from the opportunity it affords her to witness the children under her care develop, learn, grow and flourish. Yaya thoroughly enjoys providing comfort and helping children settle into a new environment and bond with their educators and peers. She also values developing trusting and strong relationships with each child’s family. Yaya says her reward for her work is her days being filled with fun and laughter!

Yaya believes she is fortunate to have such grand and expansive outdoor learning environments, wonderful leadership, multicultural team members and beautiful families at Gowrie WA.

Yaya is a proud mother to three wonderful children. Yaya enjoys spending time with her family and travelling together around the state. She also looks forward to continuing to love her role and support the wonderful team at Gowrie.

Amandeep Singh
Assistant Education and Care Lead

Originally from India, Aman moved to Australia independently with a vision of building a successful future while making a meaningful contribution to the community. His journey has been shaped by determination, resilience, and a passion for supporting children and families.

Aman completed his Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care at Stanley College in 2021 and later achieved a Bachelor of Community Services from Acknowledge Education in 2024. With over five years of experience in the early childhood sector, he is committed to strengthening the foundations of the next generation through high-quality education and care. Aman’s journey with Gowrie began in 2021 as a student on placement. Through hard work, Aman progressed from a casual educator to a part-time educator, then a full-time educator, Room Leader, Responsible Person, and now Assistant Education and Care Lead. He has valued every step of this journey and the opportunities it has provided to learn, lead, and support others.

Aman loves working with children and says that one of the greatest joys of his role is becoming a child at heart alongside them. He finds inspiration in watching children learn, develop confidence, and show kindness and compassion towards one another. He believes every child deserves a safe, inclusive, and nurturing environment where they feel empowered to learn, grow, and teach each other. Aman also enjoys supporting educators in their professional growth while continuously learning from those around him.

Outside of work, Aman enjoys tackling home DIY projects, experimenting in the kitchen, and testing his problem-solving skills through escape rooms. Aman is full of curiosity, loves learning, and has enthusiasm for taking on new challenges. His passion for creativity and continuous improvement makes him a valued member of the Gowrie team and a positive influence within the community.