ANDREA CREADO
Perth
Summary
In applying for the position, I am excited to bring strong and diverse experience, knowledge and contacts with various relevant stakeholders from the community sector, that would be an immediate asset to the Department of Communities. I have a proven track record in delivering strategic programs resulting in positive community impact, am an experienced leader, a highly sought-after mentor and a strategist in the shaping, planning & delivering of community services. I have experience at all levels of leadership and extensive experience in community work specially in domestic violence, women's interests and working with vulnerable populations. I ensure that I remain at the cutting edge of industry trends with exceptional experience in social impact leadership, program design and implementation.
Talented leader versed in reviewing budgets, program operations and established policies to ferret out inefficiencies and strengthen government structures. Identifies and secures funding for vital improvement projects. Demonstrated success in maintaining strong stakeholder relations.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
ISHAR MULTICULTURAL WOMEN’S HEALTH SERVICES
11.2006 - Current
- Leadership of a highly reputed multicultural organisation delivering health care, youth services, family support, domestic violence , community development, education and settlement programs to refugee & migrant women. Leading a team over 50 multidisciplinary staff, managing millions in organisation annual revenue. The organisation delivers services to over 80 ethnicities each year making over 60,000 service contacts.
- Increasing the number of core services provided by more than 400%.
- Establishing new services including youth services, community empowerment, several community projects in partnership with local governments.
- Establishing a new women’s health services centre in 2023 delivering community health services.
- Establishing Family Domestic Violence Hubs in Mirrabooka and Armadale in 2020 and 2023.
- Increasing the operating budgets by 400% through successful negotiations at the Federal and State Ministerial level and through highly successful funding applications thus quadrupling the financial resources of the organisation.
- Successful implementation of change management strategies to develop a new visual identity for the organisation, restructuring the organisation and developing a new, mission, vision & values statements for the organisation.
- Leading multidisciplinary professionals in an arena of endless development resulting in 95% client satisfaction reports each year for over a decade.
- Leading teams to excellence in service delivery resulting in several organisational and personal awards: Soroptimist International Woman of Achievement (2023);Social impact Leadership Award (2023) Excellence in Health Partnerships (2023), Outstanding Multicultural Organisation Award (2021) and several others.
- Excellent stakeholder management resulting in over 30 partnerships with local governments and not for profit organisations.
- Proven leadership, people and communication skills including relationship building, cooperation, conflict resolution, influencing & facilitating discussions.
- Managed partnerships and strategic business relationships by negotiating contract terms and handling conflicts.
- Built productive relationships with industry partners and competitors to support strategic business objectives.
- Directed research and development efforts in alignment with long-term strategic goals to maintain competitive advantage within the industry sector.
- Addressed employee and managerial concerns and implemented corrective actions to promote compliance.
- Implemented strong financial controls, ensuring accurate reporting and solid decision-making capabilities.
- Implemented comprehensive risk management strategies to mitigate potential threats and safeguard the organisation's assets and interests.
- Engaged positively with staff and leadership colleagues, soliciting and encouraging feedback and collaborative spirit.
- Established key strategic partnerships with industry leaders to enhance business development opportunities.
COUNCILLOR
CITY OF STIRLING
10.2021 - Current
- Providing leadership in representing community priorities to Council. Through notices of motion presented new initiatives and proposals in a variety of contexts for community benefit.
- Initiated a multipronged community safety program in partnership with the WA Police resulting in a 75% decrease in antisocial behaviour and crime in the local area.
- Installation of 14 additional purple benches across the city to raise awareness of Domestic Violence.
- Refurbishment and upgrades to female change rooms to encourage female participation in sport.
- Established a greening program to increase biodiversity and tree canopy in the local area resulting in the planting of over 1000 plants in 2025.
ACTING SENIOR POLICY OFFICER
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WA
08.2015 - 01.2016
- Leading the development and support of policy | Promotion of practices, that builds WA Health organisational cultural competency.
- Undertook an evaluation of the complexities faced by Area Health Services in implementation of the Language Services Policy and proposed pertinent changes to enable appropriate implementation of the state-wide policy.
- Reformed the state-wide Annual Language Services Reporting System to produce meaningful reports in a more efficient manner: Undertook evaluation of training needs on Cultural Competency for the Child Development Unit.
- Reformed the record keeping system for the Cultural Diversity Unit to reflect the record keeping standards as determined by the Department of Health.
- Organised a seminar on the topic of Family and Domestic Violence, Culture and Mental Health, which included a panel of five speakers including one from the LGBTIQ community. This had not been attempted before and was received as a ground-breaking move. The event was attended by 250 delegates comprising of various Departmental staff, academics, community members/service providers.
MANAGER FAMILY & CARER SUPPORT SERVICES
ISHAR MULTICULTURAL WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTRE
07.2005 - 11.2006
- Driving the development and implementation of programs related to family support, education, health, mental health and community development.
- Presented a paper on ‘Leadership in the Multicultural Sector’ at an International Conference on leadership in the USA: Established the first Multicultural Parenting Program in WA and developed a Parenting Kit.
Education
MBA - Business Administration And Management
Australian Institute of Management
Australia12-2026
Bachelor of Arts - Honours in Psychology
Edith Cowan University
01.2010
Bachelor of Psychology - undefined
Murdoch University
01.2005
Diploma - Counselling Psychology
Xavier’s Institute of Education
01.1998
Master of Science - Human Development
Nagpur University
India01.1997
Skills
- Effective Strategic thinking
- Stakeholder management with variety of stakeholders
- Strong communication across sectors and to a wide variety of audiences
- Respectful communication with active listening
- Innovative problem solver
- Managing finances
- Change Management
- Risk Management
- Considered decision-making
- Intellectual curiosity
- Emotionally intelligent
- Community engagement
- Critical thinking
- Public relations
Accomplishments
Under my leadership through strategic partnerships with all tiers of governments , other not for profits, philanthropists and private enterprise grew Ishar from a total revenue of $300,000 annually in 2008 to over $4.5 million in 2024-2025. This signifies a 1400% increase which is significantly above the inflation rate.
It was a result of expanding one service stream of women's health to four streams- health, mental health, domestic violence and family support.
Ishar has won over 15 awards for excellence in service delivery in domestic violence, health, community development at both national and state level.
Key leadership role in the establishment of Naala Djookan -the first FDV Hub in metropolitan Perth and establishment of the Armadale FDV Hub, resulting in Ishar being the only organisation in WA to be a part of two consortium for the FDV hubs, signifying excellent stakeholder relationships and strategic partnerships.
I have won the Zonta Woman of achievement award in 2012, Social Impact Leadership Scholarship in 2023 and Soroptimist Woman of Achievement Award in 2023.
Established a new Women's Health Centre in 2023, in Cannington, after 10 years of advocacy and working in partnership with government.
Established a multi-pronged community safety program involving the Department of Communities, WA Police and City of Stirling Community Safety Services to address the antisocial behaviour and safety concerns caused by homeless drug users, disruptive tenants in public housing, truant youth resulting in a 75% decrease in antisocial behaviour and crime in the local area.
Installation of purple benches - 2 per ward resulting in a total of 14 benches across the City of Stirling to increase awareness of domestic violence.
Refurbishment and upgrades to female change rooms to encourage female participation in sport.
Introduced a motion to greening initiatives in the ward to increase tree canopy and biodiversity in the local area.
Certification
- 2023: Dare to Lead Licenced
- 2022: AICD Company Directors Course
- 2018: Fellow Australian Institute of Management
Affiliations
- Member – Australian Institute of Company Directors: 2021 - current.
- Fellow Australian Institute of Management 2018- current.
- Member-Office of Multicultural Interests Mentoring Program: 2020 - current.
Languages
English
Social Impact Leadership 2023
The Social Impact Leadership Australia (SILA) is a ground-breaking national capacity building and leadership program designed specifically for CEOs of Australian for-purpose organisations. In 2023-2024, I was one of 24 CEOs selected from a pool of over 100 applicants to participate in the program which involved undertaking individual leadership coaching, 360 degree assessment, Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey. The organisation also received $35,000 in untied funding for organisational development and I could undertake a 3 month tailored sabbatical to reflect on my leadership style, strengths, weaknesses, areas for improvement and learnings of the SILA program which focused on leading within a complex social ecosystem, and aligning the self, organisation and systems leadership for social change.
Timeline
COUNCILLOR
CITY OF STIRLING
10.2021 - Current
ACTING SENIOR POLICY OFFICER
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WA
08.2015 - 01.2016
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
ISHAR MULTICULTURAL WOMEN’S HEALTH SERVICES
11.2006 - Current
MANAGER FAMILY & CARER SUPPORT SERVICES
ISHAR MULTICULTURAL WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTRE
07.2005 - 11.2006
Bachelor of Psychology - undefined
Murdoch University
Diploma - Counselling Psychology
Xavier’s Institute of Education
MBA - Business Administration And Management
Australian Institute of Management
Bachelor of Arts - Honours in Psychology
Edith Cowan University
Master of Science - Human Development
Nagpur University
Similar Profiles
Diyane DushimeDiyane Dushime
Youth Worker/Program Coordinator at Ishar Multicultural Women's Health ServicesYouth Worker/Program Coordinator at Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Services
MACKENZIE WHISONANTMACKENZIE WHISONANT
Certified Medical Assistant at Women’s Health Services at Stamps Health CenterCertified Medical Assistant at Women’s Health Services at Stamps Health Center
BETSY VERDIBETSY VERDI
George Brown College Practical Nursing Student at Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community ServicesGeorge Brown College Practical Nursing Student at Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services