Tony kelly, chief executive officer
Tony has nearly four decades experience working with Traditional Owners across the country. He is passionately committed to ensuring Traditional Owners have their rights and interests respected and self-determination recognised.
His ability to collaborate with people to find solutions to complex problems under rapidly shifting circumstances is second to none. Tony brings together a history of managerial and field experience that encompasses environmental science, community development and law. These are skills that combined with his emotional intelligence; empathy and professionalism create a perfect combination in the role as CEO.
RAINER MATTHEWS, PRINCIPAL LEGAL OFFICER
Rainer joined First Nations in November 2019, having worked as a native title lawyer in different parts of Australia since 2006. He has always felt it a great privilege to do this work, and along the way has met and spent time on Country with many extraordinary and inspiring people.
Day to day, Rainer seeks to empower First Nations with high quality advice, to be guided by Traditional Owners on how to best assist them on their long paths to self-determination. He is committed to being a healing and trauma informed lawyer, and believes in creative and reflexive legal practice.
Rohan Thwaites, Deputy Principal Legal Officer
Rohan joined First Nations in 2021 and brings over 10 years’ experience in the community sector as a lawyer, community legal educator, evaluator, facilitator and mediator. He is passionate about working alongside Traditional Owners to determine how the legal system can be used and changed to better support self-determination.
Shenali De Silva, Managing Lawyer
Shenali is an international human rights lawyer who has worked in numerous jurisdictions, including New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In that time, she has worked as counsel in international criminal and human rights litigation, provided advice to victims of human rights abuses in a post-war context, advised on minority rights issues, managed a team which conducted extensive law policy research into criminal justice reforms, and overseen the collection of evidence of mass atrocities. Shenali joined First nations in 2023.
Dilruk Taylor, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Dilruk joined First Nations as an accountant in 2005 and was appointed the Director of Corporate Services in 2016. Dilruk is a qualified accountant, who has been with First Nations for 13 years. Dilruk is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK. She has more than 30 years of experience in finance in not-for-profit and commercial sector organisations in Australia and Sri Lanka.
Ken Kennedy, Corporate Services Manager
Ken has worked at First Nations for 20 years. Over the years Ken has performed a variety of roles across the organisation. Ken joined the management team as Corporate Services Manager, primarily working with the Community Liaison Officers, in January 2019.
Riette Veldsman, Human Resource Manager
Riette is a skilled HR professional with extensive experience in the Not-for-Profit sector. Her approach is people centric, and she is committed to helping organisations build positive and productive workplace cultures. Riette joined First Nations in 2021, and is responsible for all aspects of HR, including recruiting, onboarding, training, performance management, and employee relations.