About us

Dr Paul Oliver (Co-Chair)

Paul is a senior executive with 25+ years’ experience in public and private sectors (in Australia and overseas). He founded and managed his own sports publication business, and a sports consultancy that has assisted federal and state governments and NSOs/SSOs and clubs over the past 10 years to address challenging contemporary issues in sport.

Paul has worked across all levels of the sports industry (including with Paralympics Australia as the Director for Government & Stakeholder Engagement) and with social justice organisations (including the Australian Human Rights Commission as Director of Communications & Education). He is passionate about promoting and addressing issues impacting sport such as inclusion, safeguarding, good governance and integrity, and has a deep understanding of these issues and how they affect sport and society.

Paul is currently responsible for Sport Integrity Australia’s sport partnerships, education, safeguarding, integrity complaints and capability sections and engages with sports on the National Integrity Framework.

Lorraine Finlay (Co-Chair)

Lorraine Finlay is the Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, commencing in this position in November 2021.  In this role Lorraine has particular responsibility for protecting and promoting fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, religion, movement and association. She also leads the work of the Commission in areas including business & human rights, modern slavery, asylum seekers and refugees, and technology & human rights.

Prior to joining the Commission, Lorraine has worked as a lawyer and academic specializing in human rights and public law.  Her past roles have included working as the Senior Human Trafficking Specialist with the Australian Mission to ASEAN, an academic at Murdoch University, and a State Prosecutor with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (WA).  Lorraine holds a dual Masters in Law from New York University and the National University of Singapore, where she studied as a Singapura Scholar.  She has also been actively involved in a variety of community organisations, including past Board roles with the Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Service and National Council of Women (WA).

Tom Dixon (National Manager)

Tom Dixon is the National Manager for the Play by the Rules program and is employed by Sport Integrity Australia (a partner of Play by the Rules).

Tom brings diverse expertise to the role as a sport management professional with experience in club development, participation programs, child safeguarding in sport, diversity and inclusion, member protection, policy and innovation.

Prior to joining Play by the Rules, Tom led the implementation of the national safeguarding children and young people framework at Cricket Australia. Prior to that he was the Participation and Innovation manager at Vicsport, responsible for supporting the capability of Vicsport member organisations, LGAs and clubs, across a wide array of areas like strategy, innovation and inclusion. During this time, he was heavily involved in supporting the Victorian sports industry to comply with the Victorian child safe standards legislation. Tom also worked at AusCycling and Tennis Victoria and has volunteered as a club president and strategy officer.

Scott McDougall 

Scott McDougall commenced as Commissioner of the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland (now Queensland Human Rights Commission) on 8 October 2018.  Prior to his appointment he was the Director and Principal Solicitor at Caxton Legal Centre Inc. in Brisbane.

Since admission to legal practice in 1993 he has advocated on behalf of communities and conducted litigation particularly in the areas of discrimination, native title, criminal law, guardianship and coronial inquiries.

Mr McDougall has overseen the design and implementation of numerous legal and social work service programs and was the President of the Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services from 2009 to 2013.  He has undertaken several projects facilitating engagement between governments and communities including working with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council to prepare the Palm Island Future Directions Report (2006) and overseeing the G20 Independent Legal Observers Project (2014).

He holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Queensland University of Technology.

Dana Assenheim

Dana Assenheim is the Director Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Sport Australia. She is an accomplished senior leader with over 20 years’ experience across all levels of the sporting sector from community, state, national and government. She has extensive experience in governance, strategy, business improvement, innovation, workforce and stakeholder management.

Dana is currently working to create inclusive, accessible sporting environments that empower all participants to pursue their dreams in a safe and welcoming environment. She is focusing on a range of initiatives targeting women, people with a disability, First Nations, multicultural communities and people who identify as LGBTIQ+.

Jessica Cook

Jessica is a highly motivated Director with over 12 years' dedicated to the Sport and Recreation industry, currently working in the Department of Tourism and Sport, Queensland Government. Jessica is responsible for driving engagement and collaboration with key stakeholders including the sport industry and government departments to identifying opportunities and partnerships that further contribute to a more active Queensland.

Skilled in stakeholder engagement, strategic planning and policy development, Jessica was instrumental in the successful development of Queensland’s first ever 10-year sport and active recreation strategy “Activate! Queensland 2019 – 2029”.

Continuing to lead and champion the development and delivery of a flagship initiative “ActiveKIT” which funds innovative solutions to increase physical activity opportunities for Queenslanders and contributes to the Sport and Recreation Industry’s capability and resilience.

Andrew Putt

Andrew is the Director of the Sector Support Branch in the NSW Office of Sport.  He leads a number of teams responsible for the women in sport strategy, supporting the sport sector on governance and capacity building, child safety, fair play and integrity, and performance pathways.  Andrew has previous experience in the NSW, Queensland and Commonwealth Governments working primarily on issues related to Commonwealth-State relations and mental health, drug and alcohol and disability policy and programs.

Keddie Davis

As the Director of Participation and Sector Development - Community Sport and Recreation in the Victorian Government’s Sport Department, Keddie leads a team who are responsible for supporting safe and inclusive participation opportunities in sport and active recreation for all Victorians. Keddie’s team develops and maintains strong relationships across the sector and across government, designs and delivers evidence-based programs, and undertakes research and evaluations to inform decision making for the government's investment. Keddie balances the business as usual delivery of the work program and people management with planning and strategic thought leadership to create a collaborative work environment that delivers on outcomes; all within a hybrid workplace that respects and empowers the team.

Paul Clark

Paul Clark is Executive Manager of the Education, Prevention and Inclusion Branch (EPI) at the eSafety Commissioner. Prior to this role, Paul lead eSafety’s Diverse Communities team.

Paul is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of programs designed to help Australians to have safer and more positive experiences online. He leads the Branch in working with key sectors and communities to design and deliver educational materials and programs, build user capability and develop resilience through training programs and awareness raising.

Paul joined eSafety in 2017 with experience working on domestic and international initiatives that create social benefit.  He has worked across the corporate, not-for-profit and government sectors.

Paul is committed to education and prevention programs with a focus on the positive impact technology plays in peoples’ lives.

Alexis Cooper

Alexis Cooper is responsible for leading Sport Integrity Australia’s education program for athletes, coaches, medical practitioners, parents, school students and sporting staff to prevent threats like doping, match-fixing, inside information, illicit drug use, discrimination and abuse.

Alexis has a Bachelor of Media and Communication Studies and a Masters of Bioethics, coupling her passion for communicating complex information in simple and engaging ways with her interest in understanding why and how people make decisions.

She has five years’ experience working in sport integrity, having previously served as the Media Adviser to the CEO of ASADA, and later as the acting Director of Education and Innovation of ASADA.

Marcelyn Nicolaou

Marcelyn Nicolaou is the Executive Director of Sport and Recreation at the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).

Previously holding the role as Director of RevenueWA for the Department of Finance, Marcelyn has built an extensive level of experience in public sector administration at an executive level.

She has more than 25 years’ experience working in all aspects of public service and has worked closely with government on key priority programs, such as being responsible for implementing the COVID-19 housing stimulus program of building grants.

Since joining DLGSC in 2023, Marcelyn has overseen projects that continue to enable the WA community to safely engage in sport and recreation across all levels of participation and development.

These include projects such as the True Sport campaign, the widely successful KidSport program, and the Women in Leadership Targets, which is a nation-first leading effort towards creating gender equality and representation at an executive level across WAs State Sporting Associations.

Through her children, Marcelyn is heavily involved in community sport and is a player, coach and club official.

We thank the Australian & New Zealand Sports Law Association for their support.