Yooralla and Berry Street join forces
Today, 2 December 2024, marks the official completion date for the merger between Yooralla and Berry Street Victoria, as we join forces to deliver greater impact and expanded services to our community.
This is a historic coming together of two of Victoria’s longest-serving, experienced and most respected providers of social services.
What's new?
Yooralla CEO Terry Symonds has officially been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, leading the newly merged organisation.
“We look forward to bringing the expertise in our highly skilled workforces together to develop innovative services for people with disability and those experiencing trauma, violence and abuse,” said Mr Symonds.
“The best ways to support people with disability and those impacted by violence and abuse require new ways of thinking about the future. By merging our organisations, we can better meet the current and emerging needs of our communities and continue doing so for another hundred years.”
We are also pleased to announce the new Board members of the merged organisation. The new Board includes five directors each of the previous Boards of Yooralla and Berry Street, and is chaired by Dr Joanna Flynn AM, previous Chair of Berry Street.
Yooralla and Berry Street Board
- Dr Joanna Flynn AM (Board Chair)
- Felix Walsh
- Mandy McCracken
- Dr Cate Kelly
- Morven Fulton
- John Brown
- Karen McLean
- Lynne Glover
- Joshua Grace-Ware
- Anthony Wood
- Susie Quirk
Read more about our Board members
We’d like to thank and congratulate all members of the Berry Street and Yooralla Boards who have spent so much time over the previous months in the due diligence process as we made this decision and went through the steps to merge.
We’d also like to acknowledge Jennifer Williams AM, outgoing Board Chair of Yooralla, who has led the organisation through significant challenges over her maximum tenure of 9 years on the Board. Her leadership has been vital to ensuring the ongoing success of the organisation and our continued support of people with disability.
We will soon announce the new Executive Leadership Team (ELT) of the merged organisation late next week, who will work with the Board to discuss the key priorities for the new organisation.
You can keep up to date on the latest on the merger with Berry Street on the Yooralla and Berry Street unite web page. This includes in-depth Question and Answers, that are frequently updated to answer any questions we are hearing from our community.
More information
If you have any queries about the merger, clients can contact your manager or send any questions to questions@yooralla.com.au