Story Dogs Board of Directors
Shane Cummings - Director (Chair)
Shane has more than twenty years of experience as a leader in the public service and private sector. He has held executive roles in the media and in several state and federal government agencies, focused on communication, media relations, change management, governance, service delivery, and digital transformation. In these roles, he has delivered communication campaigns of national significance. Shane has also served on a number of advisory and executive boards across Australia and New Zealand.
Shane's passions are animals and literature. Shane has volunteered for animal charities, and he is an award-winning author, editor, and publisher, with a Master of Creative Writing, Bachelor of Arts, and qualifications in journalism and website design.
Petra Westphal - Director and Senior Project Manager
Petra joined Story Dogs in 2015 as a volunteer with her dog 'Holly'. She was a Story Dogs Coordinator for the Sunshine Coast QLD from 2015-2019 and currently Coordinates Toowoomba QLD.
Petra holds a Bachelor of Social Welfare, Cert IV in Training & Assessment and has more than 20 years management experience in the areas of Aged & Disability Care and Volunteer Coordination.
Petra is passionate about making a positive difference in her community and is a strong advocate for vulnerable people, empowerment and animal welfare.
Janine Sigley - Co-founder and Managing Director
Janine holds a BSc and has a science background working for over 20 years in the Environmental Management area, including 10 years managing volunteers in a community water quality monitoring program throughout South East Queensland.
Janine is very passionate about children getting the best start to their education, with both her children being avid readers. She has grown up with dogs and upon seeing a similar program in the USA could see how it was also needed in Australia.
Amanda Milroy - Director
Amanda has a background in administration and has worked in various office and school administration roles.
Amanda is a passionate about the relationships formed between animals and humans.
Amanda and her dogs are volunteers with another charity and attend weekly therapy visits to aged care facilities and a local Covid Vaccination Clinic to offer support to members of the public.
She joined Story Dogs in 2016 as a volunteer with her Golden Retriever, Donny, and has been the Mandurah Story Dogs Coordinator since 2017.
Having a love of reading played a big role in her children’s school and employment success and as such, Amanda is passionate about promoting literacy and being active in young people having equal opportunity and access to resources and assistance.
Story Dogs is a perfect match for her love of dogs and promoting a love of reading in children.
Alex Green - Director
Alex is a CEO, coach and leader who is dedicated to helping people discover their potential; to become their best.
With a day job as CEO of two charities, an evening job as football coach, and voluntary roles including Mentor, Club President and Board Director, Alex brings a depth of experience in governance, innovation, leadership and stakeholder relations, amongst other things.
Alex counts Benson, the cocker spaniel, as a member of his family. Often his favourite. Benson, along with a lifelong love of reading, and a desire to help people and see ambitious impactful organisations thrive, led him to the Story Dogs Board.
These days he is a bit more wrinkly than this photo suggests.
Cherie Vendramini - Director
Cherie is a practising Australian Legal Practitioner and sessional law lecturer. She brings knowledge and experience in both commercial law and risk mitigation.
Cherie values education and is a lover of dogs. She recognises both the therapeutic and educational benefits of involving dogs in children's reading sessions. Having a Doberman named Duke, she is passionate about the importance of children feeling secure and confident when interacting with our furry friends.
Emily Ramaswamy - Director
Emily Ramaswamy is a seasoned finance executive with extensive experience in non-profit and government financial management, governance, and digital transformation. She is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). With a strong background in financial planning, risk management, and strategic decision-making, she has worked across various nonprofit and government sectors to drive sustainable financial outcomes.
Emily’s passion for children's literacy is personal—her own child thrived reading aloud to their Bernese Mountain Dog, Zeus. As a Non-Executive Director and Treasurer of Story Dogs, she brings financial expertise and a strong commitment to supporting young readers.
Vicki Meyer - Director
Vicki has over 20 years' experience in the not-for-profit sector accumulating a diverse skill set across operations, public speaking, leadership, governance, human resources, workplace health and safety, training and development and volunteer programs.
Vicki was the recipient of Volunteering Queensland’s Excellence in Volunteer Management award 2024 and Leadership for Transformation scholarship with the Institute of Community Directors Australia. She is a member with the Institute of Community Directors Australia and certified Professional Leader of Volunteers with Volunteering Queensland.
Vicki holds a Bachelor of Business, Associate Degree in Arts and qualifications across management, training and assessment and volunteer program coordination. She is a lifelong learner and understands the adventures and positive impacts books can bring to children; having previously worked with Volunteering Queensland as part of the Ready Reading Project in partnership with Education Queensland.
Story Dogs 'Support Central' Team
Supporting our volunteers, schools and supporters is what we do. We are not called 'Head Office' we are 'Support Central'
Leah Sheldon - Co-founder
Bev Jurd - Volunteer Registration Manager
Petra Westphal - Senior Project Manager
Petra joined Story Dogs in 2015 as a volunteer with her dog 'Holly'. She was a Story Dogs Coordinator for the Sunshine Coast QLD from 2015-2019 and currently Coordinates Toowoomba QLD.
Petra holds a Bachelor of Social Welfare, Cert IV in Training & Assessment and has more than 20 years management experience in the areas of Aged & Disability Care and Volunteer Coordination.
Petra is passionate about making a positive difference in her community and is a strong advocate for vulnerable people, empowerment and animal welfare.
Barbara Allen- Grief Support
Barbara Allen helped develop Australia’s first animal chaplaincy program at Lort Smith Animal Hospital. She is passionate about animals and about stewardship of all creation, and is the author of numerous books, including I Was There, Pigeon, Animals in Religion, and Pelican. Barbara serves as an ordained minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, and in a voluntary capacity as the grief support person for Story Dogs.
Karen Knuckey – Dog Sponsorship Administration Manager - NSW/ACT/VIC/TAS
After 25 years in the public service, Karen needed a change and is excited to work for an organisation she is passionate about.
A lifelong reader herself, Karen joined Story Dogs in 2019 after looking for a therapy type role for her dog 'Penny'. Story Dogs fit perfectly with Karen’s own love of reading and desire to help out in local schools. In 2022, 'Penny' was forced to alternate her reading sessions at school with younger dog 'Libby'.
Karen started up the Geelong area in 2019 as the first dog team, which has expanded to over 30 dogs and separated into three areas.
Karen is very involved with her dogs, running a local Cavalier Social group and taking 'Penny' & 'Libby' out regularly to live their best lives.
Michelle Daly – Dog Sponsorship Administration Manager - SA/WA/NT/QLD
Michelle and her much loved and slightly spoilt Cocker Spaniel 'Harry 'volunteer with Story Dogs in Toowoomba. They also volunteer at a local aged care facility where 'Harry' is adored by many of the residents and his visit is a highlight of the week. During her 30 plus years working as a social worker and allied health manager, Michelle saw how poor literacy impacted so many areas of people's lives. An avid reader herself, Michelle is thrilled to have joined an organisation that is working on improving literacy and developing a love of reading in children.
Kim Butler - Working With Children/Vulnerable People Checks (WWCC) / (WWVP)
go-to person and also Vet Check admin manager
Kim joined the Support Central Team as a volunteer in February 2022. She looks after all our Working with Children/Vulnerable People Checks, a big job with all States having vastly different systems and keeping track of all our volunteer records!
Kim also supports our volunteers in making sure the information about their annual vet checks is up-to-date.
She has a background in sports administration and events and held the position of Administration Manager – Tennis for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She enjoys playing competitive tennis, walking and has recently been introduced to golf.
Jan Upton - Book Library Manager and Book Coverer Extraordinaire
Jan has been with Story Dogs since 2014, volunteering with her dog and has been our book coverer for many of those years. Jan covers hundreds of books every year!! Jan has now stepped up into the new volunteer role of Book Library Manager.
Amanda Milroy – Coordinator Trainer
Amanda has a background in administration and has worked in various office and school administration roles.
Amanda is a passionate about the relationships formed between animals and humans.
Amanda and her dogs are volunteers with another charity and attend weekly therapy visits to aged care facilities and a local Covid Vaccination Clinic to offer support to members of the public.
She joined Story Dogs in 2016 as a volunteer with her Golden Retriever, Donny, and has been the Mandurah Story Dogs Coordinator since 2017.
Having a love of reading played a big role in her children’s school and employment success and as such, Amanda is passionate about promoting literacy and being active in young people having equal opportunity and access to resources and assistance.
Story Dogs is a perfect match for her love of dogs and promoting a love of reading in children.
Naomi McKee - Online Enquiries
Naomi is the first responder to all enquiries we receive from the website or other sources. Naomi volunteers for us and works full time for Westpac. She is part of the Westpac Skilled Volunteer Resource.
Gavin and Janine - Warehouse Managers
Gavin and Janine look after the Story Dogs Warehouse which ensures all of our Coordinators have all the necessary equipment to bring on new volunteers and promote the program.
Gavin is also on the end of the info@storydogs.org.au email address. He filters all the spam and passes on all the enquiries etc. A not so small task.
Jenny Lizzio - Finaicial Administration
Jenny is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years of diverse experience across many industries including medical, manufacturing, tourism, and export in both corporate and public practice roles and latterly in the public sector.
Jenny’s passions include volunteering with a strong family influence in making a positive difference to the community. She is a former volunteer with Story Dogs with one of her Labradors, Oprah. Her volunteer roles over the years have included hockey and Little Athletic clubs, Meals on wheels, organisations in support of domestic violence and rescue and rehabilitation of injured and sick koalas.
Remaining fit and active is also vitally important to Jenny and she enjoys swimming, Pilates, bike riding and walking her dogs.
As an avid lifelong reader and owner of dogs, coming to Story Dogs is the perfect fit
Christina Line - Administration Support
Chris is from the northern Western Australian town of Yanchep and has been with Story Dogs since 2018. Chris has held numerous roles with Story Dogs and is currently a Coordinator and volunteering as administration support for Support Central.
