Chief Executive Officer

Dr Sonja Hood has been our CEO since 2015.

In that time, she has focused on building a funding coalition of national, state and local governments as well as garnering philanthropy and business to continually grow the network across Australia.

Sonja is passionate about enabling women through building community connection. She leads national partnerships with schools, government, corporates and philanthropy to provide assistance to improve social cohesion and build stronger communities across Australia.

Sonja has over 20 years of social policy and program experience in the US, UK and Australia. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and a Master’s degree from Penn State University.

She was appointed as President of North Melbourne Football Club in February 2022.  

Head of Operations

Bec Kotow is our Head of Operations.

Bec’s focus is to make sure the National Community Hubs Program has the systems and tools that it needs to run well now and into the future. Part of this has been the development of an online community for our network of hub leaders and support agencies so that they can collaborate and share best practice with one another.

Bec has a background in marketing, consulting and corporate responsibility and brings more than 20 years of leadership experience from the likes of NAB, Australia Post, MYOB and Telstra. Bec holds a Bachelor of Business in Marketing and Human Resource Management from the University of Southern Queensland.

Head of Program

Hiranthi Perera is our Head of Program.

Since 2017, Hiranthi has supported hubs to expand the breadth of programs and services offered nationally by creating opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge, skills and experience among the hub network.

Hiranthi has over 10 years of experience in the community development sector. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from RMIT University.

Reporting and Analytics Manager

Maurice Syber is our Reporting and Analytics Manager.

Communications Adviser

Paula Woodward is our Communications Adviser.

Paula joined the CHA team in 2020 and is responsible for crafting the communications that CHA sends to stakeholders and the hub network.

Paula has a background working in marketing and communications across Australia and in the UK. She holds a B.Sc. in European Business and Technology from Coventry University.

Government Relations and Research Officer

Kit van Maanen is our Government Relations and Research Officer.

Kit’s role involves communicating with all levels of government and assisting the CHA team with data and research.

Kit has an academic background and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Policy from Monash University.