Our staff

Samantha’s career spans both Australia, the UK & EU, where she has held leadership roles across franchising, government, retail and corporate sectors. With a proven track record in developing brand and demand strategies on local, national and global scales, Samantha brings a wealth of experience in brand management, campaign planning, consumer insights and event planning. She has a knack for building strategies that deliver real results and is passionate about using behavioural science and customer insights to drive meaningful engagement.

As a key member of The Shepherd Centre’s senior leadership team, Samantha leads the marketing and communications function with a strong focus on collaboration and mentorship. She works closely with teams across the business to raise awareness, drive demand and ensure The Shepherd Centre’s incredible work reaches the families who need it most. For Samantha, effective communication is not just about strategy, it’s about how The Shepherd Centre tells its story and reflects its deep commitment to supporting families. Her role is critical in ensuring the organisation’s positive impact is clear and consistent.

Outside of work, Samantha enjoys cooking, reading, soccer and discovering new places to eat, parks and beaches with her young family and their energetic puppy.

Dr Aleisha Davis was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of The Shepherd Centre in January 2023. The Shepherd Centre is a leading not-for-profit organisation in Australia dedicated to supporting children with hearing loss and their families.

Aleisha joined The Shepherd Centre in 2003 after completing her Masters in Applied Linguistics at Cambridge University in the UK. First joining as a speech pathologist, over the past 12 years she has led the clinical teams to implement individual and group programs across 9 centres, through the interprofessional team of Listening & Spoken Language Specialists, Child & Family Counsellors, Early Educators, Researchers & Assessors and Cochlear Implant program in collaboration with the Sydney Children’s Hospital and ENT specialists. Aleisha led the design and commercial launch of HearHub in 2022, a digital platform to empower hearing healthcare professionals globally. She has worked with hundreds of families and children with hearing loss and has been awarded NSW Business Leader and Not-For-Profit Manager of the Year for her leadership in driving innovation and strategic growth of The Shepherd Centre’s programs and model, and designed and developed The Functional Listening Index – Paediatric, a tool for tracking a child’s listening development, now used by professionals around the world to enable earlier intervention and informed decisions by families.

The Shepherd Centre now supports over 850 children, young people and their families across four states of Australia.

Aleisha also leads a range of collaborative clinical research projects focused on understanding listening, speech, language and literacy development in children with hearing loss, evaluating access to sound through the fitting of hearing aids and other hearing technologies, and outcomes of intervention. She is passionate about driving clinical innovation, sector collaboration, partnerships, and transforming services to strengthen the communication skills of young people with hearing loss in their everyday environments.

Prior to joining The Shepherd Centre, David was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hear For You from April 2013 to August 2021, David Brady has risen to the challenge of building on the organisation’s strong foundations, and in 2021 oversaw the successful integration of Hear For You into The Shepherd Centre, providing an award winning program for teenagers to complete the childhood development framework. Prior to this, he worked in the Sports and Recreation management industry for 15 years, David has ample experience to share – including his insights into living with hearing loss. Profoundly deaf since birth, David grew up in rural Armidale, NSW, where he overcame many challenges to complete the HSC, and gain degrees from both University of NSW and University of Sheffield in the UK. A keen sportsman, David represented Australia at the 2005 Deaflympic Games in Melbourne, played state level Water Polo, Hockey, and Beach Volleyball, and is currently is Chairperson of Deafness Forum of Australia, a member of the Australian Hearing Health Alliance Executive, one of the architects of the Commonwealth Government Roadmap for Hearing Health for Australia, and a member of the Advisory Board for Macquarie University Centre for the Implementation for Hearing Research.

David Stewart is the Senior Key Relationships Manager at The Shepherd Centre and is a leading philanthropy and development senior executive, with over a decade’s experience delivering above budget, sustainable and multi-year funding through major donors, corporate partners and foundations. David is incredibly curious and empathetic, and generous with his time and advice, and has a huge depth of experience.

Lee is responsible for technology and systems that underpin The Shepherd Centre’s operations as Director of IT. He joined in August 2021 after spending 15 years in the consulting industry, leading strategic IT and digital transformation programs in large and small organisations across Australia. Lee’s approach joins people and information to foster growth and opportunities in sustainable ways, having worked with for-purpose, government, private and public groups.

Angelika Dalkeith is the Director of Clinical Management and Principal Child and Family Counsellor at The Shepherd Centre, responsible for regional management at each location and leadership of the Clinical Administration team. 

Alyshia began her career in the not-for-profit sector at Royal Blind Society, where she discovered a passion for using data to inform business decisions – this has guided her career ever since. Joining The Shepherd Centre in April 2011, Alyshia was tasked with the implementation of a fundraising and a clinical database to support the business. She acted as project manager for the clinical database, working closely with expert clinical staff to develop and launch the software in August 2012. Today Alyshia is responsible for information, databases and quality assurances, and is an integral part of the clinical and fundraising teams.

Sandra joined The Shepherd Centre in February 2015 as Director of Operations and Company Secretary. Sandra is responsible for finance, human resources, facilities management, risk management, and the direction of our Preschool Program. Sandra is a Chartered Accountant having completed her undergraduate degree at Macquarie University and commencing her accounting career with Ernst and Young and then Grant Thornton. Sandra’s corporate finance roles have included Gucci (in the UK), Panavision Australia Pty Limited, and more recently Free TV Australia Limited where she was Director of Finance and Company Secretary. Sandra is passionate about The Shepherd Centre’s work having grown up with an uncle who had cerebral palsy and was deaf. 

“My uncle was smart, funny and worked until he was 60 but his speech and ability to communicate with people was such a frustration for him. He died in his 70’s a couple of years ago having led a fabulously full life and was loved by many but I know his life would have been even more fabulous, and more importantly, he would have had the independence that he craved if The Shepherd Centre has been around for him when he was a child,” says Sandra.