Our Team


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Nick Xerakias

Chair

Nick is a Partner at Public Affairs firm GRACosway. He has broad ranging political experience, particularly in strategy and policy advice. Earlier in his career, Nick worked at senior levels for the Federal Opposition and Government across a number of portfolios including Employment, Family and Community Services, Health, Resources and Energy portfolios, and has experience in both federal and state political campaign management.

Nick is based in Victoria and is a bereaved father.

Nick was formerly a Board Member of Sands Australia and joined the Red Nose Board in November 2020 when the organisations merged.

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Andrew Kennedy

Treasurer

Andrew is a civil engineer with over 25 years experience and currently works in a senior management position with CPB Contractors, a large Australian construction company and part of the ASX listed CIMIC group. In the past, Andrew has served as a director of SIDS and Kids (Victoria), the National SIDS Council of Australia and the Civil Contractors Federation (Tasmania).

Andrew’s first involvement with SIDS and Kids was through the bereavement support he and his family received following the death of his first daughter, Saoirse during delivery in 2004. Andrew is passionate about the potential for reducing the incidence of perinatal death just as the SIDS campaign brought about a dramatic reduction of SIDS deaths in the 1980s and 90s. Andrew and his family live in Melbourne.

Andrew is the Treasurer and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee.

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Nicole Ireland

Chairperson

Nicole has been involved with Sands since her first child, son Nicholas, was stillborn in 2006. Nicole has held many roles including Chairperson of Sands Queensland. She has attended many events, overseen the running of others, and remains an active and supportive member of the organisation. In her professional life, Nicole provides strategic stakeholder engagement, government relations and communications advice through her company, Nicole Ireland Communications.

Nicole says, “As a long-time member of the Sands family and a passionate advocate for our grass roots activities, I am delighted the Board of Red Nose, including Sands, has endorsed the formation of the Community Advisory Committee. I feel honoured and privileged to chair this Committee as I truly value the collective support of bereaved parents and the community we have created, and will continue to grow, together. To me, this Committee provides a strong link between this community of bereaved parents from both Red Nose and Sands right across the country to the broader organisation and to our external stakeholders. I believe we have a fantastic opportunity to share best practice events, ideas and programs to support our community and ensure everyone remains connected, engaged and included – and to make sure that all bereaved parents, including those who will unfortunately join our community in the future, will be able to access the care and support they deserve.”

Keren Ludski - Red Nose CEO

Keren Ludski

Chief Executive Officer

Keren Ludski commenced as CEO of Red Nose Australia in December 2018.

With business and clinical experience spanning the manufacturing, corporate, and health care sectors, Keren has been responsible for all aspects of corporate governance, corporate stewardship, compliance and financial management.

Keren is an experienced and passionate clinician, providing counselling, clinical supervision and education for other professionals in the field of grief and loss, with a focus on supporting families following the death of a baby or child.

Keren is also a bereaved parent of Ben who tragically died from SIDS in 1998.

Read more about Keren

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Ian Burgess

Board Member

Ian is an experienced director and CEO, with a varied career in both not-for-profit and commercial organisations. Ian is currently CEO of the Medical Technology Association of Australia, the national association representing companies in the medical device industry.

Ian has a strong background in governance, having held senior executive positions with the Governance Institute of Australia, and has been a director on the boards of health businesses, an EFT payments gateway, a transport business and an educational institute in the finance sector.

Ian’s previous CEO roles have included the Australian Dental Association (NSW), the Australian Orthopaedic Association and a private equity backed health business.

Marian Ngo

Marian Ngo

Board Member

Marian is a corporate and commercial law partner at global law firm, K&L Gates. She specialises in complex commercial contracting, corporate advisory and transactional advice across a broad variety of industry sectors, including transport, logistics, sports, entertainment and consumer products and services. Marian is experienced advising not for profit organisations on corporate governance, commercial contracting, regulatory matters and more.

Before her legal career, Marian worked in highly regulated and multi-faceted organisations, including Australia Post and Tatts Group Limited. As an Enterprise Risk Manager at Australia Post, she was responsible for group-wide regulatory compliance reporting and developing incident management frameworks for Australia Post and its subsidiaries.

Marian is a bereaved parent to angel babies Emmy and Annie, and rainbow baby Leni. She is a firsthand beneficiary of the bereavement support services offered by Red Nose, and truly appreciates the space Red Nose holds for grieving families.

Margaret Polacska - Director of Prevention, Education and Research

Margaret Polacska

Director of Prevention, Education and Research

Margaret has a background in project management, business development, fundraising, health promotion and peer support, moving from engineering and managed services to the NFP sector after having children. A bereaved parent, Margaret recently developed and delivered Red Nose’s pilot Hospital to Home program with her team providing peer support and navigation to bereaved parents in the acute stages of grief following a stillbirth or neonatal death. She was also a consumer member of Safer Care Victoria’s Safer Baby Collaborative faculty.

As well as championing improvement in care and well-being for parents, Margaret is passionate about social justice and equality being a first generation Australian to parents who arrived in Australia as refugees without English as a language. She provides personal insight as a consumer and carer on a number of diversity and inclusion working groups in healthcare and is a Board Director for Transcend Australia.

Margaret joined Red Nose from Sands Australia in November 2020. She is responsible for ensuring our education and prevention programs continue to deliver on Red Noses’ mission to save little lives and ensure the wider community understands the devastating impact felt by families whose baby or child has died.

Rachel Bailey - Red Nose Director of Fundraising

Rachel Bailey

Director of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising

Rachel Bailey is a certified fundraising and marketing professional with over 22 years’ experience, having worked in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about engaging with supporters and enjoys working across the many different facets of fundraising and communications.

Rachel commenced at Red Nose in January 2022. She is responsible for raising funds and delivering our marketing and communications activities, to support Red Nose’s world-class research, lifesaving education programs, and vital bereavement support services.

Andrea Pearman

Andrea Pearman

Board Member

Currently CEO of Netball Victoria and Melbourne Vixens, Andrea has held executive leadership roles in some of Australia’s leading organisations, including CEO of Inclusive Australia, Australia Post, NAB, Fosters and Telstra, for over 20 years. She has experience in brand and reputation management, stakeholder relations, marketing, corporate social responsibility, and community investment practices, across a broad spectrum of industries and sectors such as the government, corporate and not-for-profit sectors.

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Ari Magalhaes

Member

Ari Magalhaes is a bereaved parent from Tasmania. Ari experienced the 2019 and 2020 stillbirths of daughters Mia and Lily due to a genetic condition.

Originally from Brazil and educated in Europe, Ari is an economist with a Masters’ Degree in International Management. She has been highly engaged with local not for profits in Tasmania.

Ari has been engaged with Red Nose and Sands remotely and is thoughtful about way that we can be more engaged with people in communities like Tasmania where we don’t currently have any paid team members.

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Samantha Jager

Member

​Samantha Jager is a bereaved parent from Queensland. Samantha experienced the stillbirth of her son Gabriel in 2014 and has also experienced early pregnancy loss.

Samantha is a volunteer peer support group facilitator in Brisbane and has been highly engaged with a range of Sands community engagement events. She is a former lawyer who is now a teacher.

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Emma Hain

Member

Emma Hain is a bereaved parent from NSW. Emma experienced the death of her infant son Eli at three months. Eli was born with a rare lung disease, Pulmonary Hyperplasia, a condition which was only diagnosed after he passed away. Emma received precious hand and foot casts from Red Nose and her family have become highly engaged members of the Red Nose community in the Hunter region.

Emma describes our community as important to her whole family, “my children have other children around them who understand, my husband has other men and supportive people around him, we have a tribe where we have a sense of belonging and understanding.”

Emma brings 12 years’ experience as director and manager of a children’s entertainment company.