Our Team
Meet our team of values-driven, creative, and skilled people who are redesigning government for the 21st century
Base Team
Base Team are the folks that dream up, launch, run and measure all of the Code for Australia programs. They exist to open up opportunities for collaboration and bring people together.
Matt Sawkill
Managing Director
Matt has 20 years of experience in design-led digital agencies as a full-stack developer, technology consultant and team leader.
Matt is obsessed with the craft and delivery of easy to use, accessible and performant digital services and products at scale. Open source software, web standards and human-centred design are the foundations of this approach.
In his spare time, you’ll find him geeking out on food, music and movies.
Esther Semo
Head of Community + Communications
Esther is obsessed with humans so you’ll often find her chatting to strangers about their shoe size or what makes them cry. She has previously worked at Gender Equity Victoria running projects aimed at stopping violence against women online.
She’s also done stints at various not-for-profits, unions, and in the music industry all while running her own business, Broad Services, which promotes feminist events and services.
At Code for Australia, Esther is psyched to combine her love of helping people with tech. She’s also excited to share as many dog GIFs as possible with our awesome community.
Cassitie Galliott
Head of Delivery + People
Cass has spent years leading programs and teams for small nonprofits, primarily in the refugee and migrant sector. Getting to know diverse communities, ranging from Melbourne’s Western suburbs to small French Pacific islands has been one of her greatest joys.
In her work, Cass noticed a lack of digital innovation was preventing her clients from receiving better services. Working for Code for Australia, she’s excited to be part of an organisation helping to change this.
In her free time, Cass is usually geeking out over board games, gorging on chocolate, or painting her next commission.
Tim Castle
Product Manager
Tim is “on the ground” in Sydney, helping to drive positive outcomes for our partners and products. He cares about how organisations engage, and thrives on models that are more open and collaborative.
He’s spent the majority of his career engaging with organisations that are purpose driven, conscious of their impact on the world; and focused on alternative value models, not just economic value.
Tim has a wealth of knowledge that he’s always will to share across social impact, social enterprise, human centred design and product innovation. An adventurer at heart (he once bought a horse in Mongolia and rode it to Russia!) chances are he’ll arrive to the meeting on a bicycle after a morning swim.
Founding Team
Our Founding Team continue to coach and advise Base Team and the wider community. Our Founders also serve as our Board of Directors.
Alvaro Maz
Daniel Groch
Jacob Lindsay
Board of Advisors
Our Board of Advisors exist to support and advise Base Team, and include experts from industry and government, our founders and a rotating position for one of our Fellows. To read more about our Board, head here.
Irina Anastasiu
Ex-Fellow, Full-Stack Software Architect & UX Designer
Lizzie O'Shea
Lawyer, Writer, Founder & Chair of Digital Rights Watch
Judy Anderson
CEO at Start Up Victoria
Tien-Ti Mak
Director & Co-CEO at Premonition.io
Jithma Beneragama
Director - Digital Engagement, Dept. of Premier and Cabinet Victoria
Anni Rowland-Campbell
Non Executive Director at Founders and Coders
Mark Woodland
CEO at Xplor, TSG & QK Technologie
Alvaro Maz
Jacob Lindsay
Daniel Groch
Current Fellows
Our current Fellows are the amazing people who are working with us for six months, alongside a government partner, to create change through our Fellowship program.
Michael Lai
Partner: Revenue NSW
Michael is a scientist by training (genetics and bioinformatics) and UX Architect by profession (specializing in data visualization and design systems).
He has also taken his inquisitive and curious mind into the areas of mental health (preventative programs, creative fitness), children’s education (language, arts, science) and sustainable industries (regenerative agriculture, aquaculture).
Since completing his first Fellowship in 2019, Michael has been involved in civic tech and social enterprises through his work with Code for Canada, Brisbane Tool Library and Civic Makers.
In his spare time he can be found moderating UXSE, teaching origami and pondering the impact of decentralization in web 3.0.
Chethana Reddy
Partner: Revenue NSW
Chethana is a developer who also has experience in design. She’s graduated with a Masters in IT from RMIT University.
She has worked internationally and remotely on projects for leading brands, startups and charities, while focusing her energy on UI and Front End Development.
Chethana deeply cares about creating world-class, useful, and beautiful products that help people and make a difference.
She’s both driven and self-motivated, and constantly experimenting with new technologies and techniques.
Ricky Liew
Partner: Revenue NSW
Ricky did Electrical Engineering at uni but decided to work as an IT Infrastructure Engineer after graduation.
He spent many years supporting the back end services of major organisations before deciding to make a switch to web development. He is now a Full Stack Developer and has worked with non-profit organisations.
Ricky is driven to create better human connections with technology. He is passionate about crafting beautiful code and designs that touch people’s lives
Sindhu Harinath
Partner: Infoxchange
Sindhu is an empathy-driven designer who’s passionate about understanding people and creating incredible things!
While studying psychology and IT at university, she discovered that what she loved most was actually the combination of the two – understanding how people use technology and how to make those experiences better.
After teaching herself the basics, she grew her skills and picked up new things by working as a designer in corporate and start-up environments and as a freelancer.
Outside of work, Sindhu loves to make playlists for very specific emotions, go on hikes with her friends, cook new things and hang out with her adorable kitten!
Mustafa Merchant
Partner: Infoxchange
Mustafa is a full-stack engineer who graduated from UNSW with a Master’s degree in Information Technology (specialising in data science and Artificial Intelligence).
He developed this passion for problem-solving and building meaningful things by leveraging technology while working with multiple start-ups as a software developer. Mustafa believes that Code for Australia is making a huge impact by bringing the government closer to the citizens and he is excited to contribute to this mission.
In his spare time, he loves reading and exploring new places to hike or a new beach to snorkel. You can also find him meditating in quiet surroundings.
Tim Kallady
Partner: Infoxchange
Tim is a full stack developer and entrepreneur. He’s passionate about using technology to solve big societal problems.
He started his career as a civil engineer, but was drawn to the thrill and challenge of entrepreneurship. He loves diving into a problem, coming up with new ideas and bringing them to life through iterative prototyping and human centered design.
In his spare time, he’s a woodworker, golfer, guitarist, bonsai-grower, gamer, and just about any other hobby you can think of!
Kate Currie
Partner: Arts Law
Kate is a Frontend Developer and entrepreneur. She’s passionate about usability and believes web applications should be intuitive to use and easy to understand. They should also look awesome.
Kate loves seeing her work have a positive impact on those who use it. She also loves cooking, attempting latte art and hanging out with her family. In her spare time you’ll find Kate trying to persuade her kids that zucchini muffins are a good idea.
Marya Bautista
Partner: Arts Law
By co-designing with diversity and a systems mindset, she aims is to create experiences that are accessible and empowering for businesses and their customers.
Outside of work, Marya likes hanging out with her aquaponics and composting critters while listening to Britney.
Cédric Quenette
Partner: Arts Law
He is passionate about innovation and believes in finding better ways to do things by leveraging technology and empathy.
His favourite way to start the day is a run along the Yarra River. In his spare time, when he isn’t learning new things, he enjoys reading and writing.
Fellowship Alumni
Since day one we’ve had amazing people involved in our Fellowship program. To view the full list of legendary folks who have been involved head here.
Facilitators & Researchers
Our network of facilitators and researchers are trusted and respected friends from across industry, who are on call to help us deliver programs around Australia.
Rick Giner
Tech Facilitator
Rick organises conferences and meetups, and loves to speak at events about many topics including delivery management, software engineering, digital accessibility and inclusive design.
When not at work you’ll often find him doing something noisy – running around the playground with his daughter, chopping wood, or listening to heavy metal music!
Renee Noble
Tech Facilitator
Renee has a passion for tech, education and creating communities, and seeks out every opportunity she can to better learn how people relate to tech.
Renee has spent the last 6 years working in the tech industry in organisations from CSIRO to the edtech start-up scene. She’s also spent the last 6 years as the National Director of the Girls’ Programming Network a by-women-for-girls group that teaches girls to code for free. She grew this program from a single-site operation to a national program which now operates in 5 states that teaches 1500 girls to code a year.
She recently founded her own tech education business, ConnectEd Code, aiming to spread her project-learning based methodologies to teachers and students around the country.
Lara Stephenson
Lead - Digital Maturity Indicator
Lara works in design and communication, and during her Code for Australia Fellowship, co-founded Social Good Outpost with her sister, to bring good design to purposeful organisations.
Through listening and guiding clients to clarity, and bringing business-oriented creativity to solve problems, she supports businesses with tools for smoother work.
Specialising in helping social enterprises get frameworks around their mission and impact, and creating design to support social change.
Lara uses her expertise to manage our Digital Maturity Indicator program.
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We're based in Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Woiwurrung and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation.
We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging across Australia.
As an organisation we benefit from the rich history of contributions that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people have made to the world.
© 2021 Code for Aus Pty Ltd
