After 2 years on the Board, including 18 months as Treasurer and 9 months as Chair, Benjie-Etta Norman has stepped down from the Transgender Victoria Board. During her time she brought her business strategy lens to our growing organisation with a steady, clear-eyed care for the communities we support.
"I have sat with this decision for some time. It has not been easy, because I love this organisation and have cared deeply about its impact on our community.
Serving first as Treasurer and part of the Executive, and finally as Chair, has been one of the great privileges of my working life." – Benjie Norman
During Benjie’s time as Treasurer and Chair, TGV:
Benjie remains part of this community, and she leaves with our thanks and our respect.
"Benjie brought new energy to our strategic direction, and a real understanding that chairing TGV is two jobs at once. There is the fiduciary side, risk management and governance, which she oversaw with rigour. And there is the pastoral side, the care for the people doing this work, which she never treated as the lesser of the two. She gave us an enormous amount of her time, every hour of it voluntary. We are deeply grateful." – Son Vivienne, CEO
The Board has appointed Jacob Thomas as Interim Chair. Jacob has served on the TGV Board as Secretary and is an internationally recognised human rights advocate and researcher. You will also know them from their euphoric presence at our Gender Revel Gala, as documented on the cover of our recent Impact Report.
That next step is a national search for TGV's next Chair.
As TGV sets its sights on expanding our collaborations beyond Victoria, we are looking for a Chair who can help foster a national TGD-led peer support and lived experience advocacy network.
We especially encourage expressions of interest from trans and gender diverse people, First Nations people, people of colour, disabled and neurodivergent people, and people living in regional and remote Australia.
If you know someone who would be right for this, please pass it on.
