The Board

(L-R) Mick Turnbull – Director (Chairman), Andrew Jones – Executive Director (Founder),
Bruce Dobson – Director (Secretary) , Tim Palmer – Director (Marketing)

Executive Director – Andrew Jones
(B.A. B.Th.)

Andrew is a social entrepreneur who founded Leadership Journey as a truly impacting leadership program to empower western leaders while simultaneously empowering communities of the world’s poor.

Andrew spent his childhood among the Boko tribe in Benin, West Africa. There are a range of common greetings that Boko people use every day, but there is only one response – “Aafia”. Andrew has called the company ‘Aafia’, of which Leadership Journey is the flagship product, because of the wealth of meaning it carries.

Andrew has a unique personal and professional background which affords him the insight, cultural awareness and the interpersonal confidence to facilitate a Leadership Journey program.

For the last 10 years Andrew has been working in the Leadership Development field. He worked initially for a not-for-profit training organisation facilitating programs across Australia, New Zealand, India and China. Since 2003 Andrew has worked in the corporate sector consulting and facilitating leadership development.

Andrew’s most recent role has been as a Principal Consultant for ResolutionsRTK facilitating leadership development initiatives and providing strategic consulting services across public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Director-Mick Turnbull
(Cert. Bus (RMIT), Grad Dip Mgmt (USQ), MAICD, FAIM, FCBCA)

Mick is the Group Managing Director / CEO of the Australasian arm of a publically listed global logistics provider. He currently sits as part of the company’s Asia Pacific management board as well as being the director (Chairman) of 2 related JV companies. Mick is also a Director of a number of other commercial and not-for-profit boards.

Mick has over 30 years of extensive business and management experience operating in the global business environment including difficult operational areas and in developing world countries. As the Chairman and Non Executive Director of Aafia, Mick is responsible for the oversight of the board’s direction of Aafia’s activities to ensure strong governance and best practice.

Director – Bruce Dobson
(B.Com. CA.)

Bruce is a senior finance professional and general manager who brings experience to Aafia from both the private and public sectors.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Bruce commenced his working career with Price Waterhouse and spent 10 years advising and consulting to businesses in Australia and the United Kingdom. During this time Bruce also spent two years working in training and development, writing and presenting in-house courses on a range of technical and broader professional topics. Bruce has worked with a range of international clients. For example, he spent several months in a number of southern African countries managing a major international capital-raising process for a South African based company.

Since 2001 Bruce has been working in Local Government, initially as a Chief Financial Officer and more recently as General Manager Corporate Services of a major metropolitan Council. As a Director and Company Secretary for Aafia, Bruce is responsible for ensuring regulatory, compliance and finance obligations are met and providing strategic advice and support to the Board.

Tim Palmer - Director
(B.A. B.T. Dip.NRM)

Tim provides a range of marketing services and experience in his hands-on role as a Director at Aafia Pty Ltd. Following his tertiary studies in Psychology and Teaching, Tim followed his passions into the marketing world where he cut his teeth as a Public Relations consultant at a boutique integrated marketing firm in South Melbourne for 3 ½ years. Serving 18 clients across the marine, construction, health, government, and retail industries, Tim was responsible for the ongoing development of public relations materials, print and web communications plus a number of business development projects.

Being a ‘Jack of All Trades’ eventually led Tim into the world of a freelance marketing consultant where he currently offers business solutions to a small number of clients in the legal, marine, forestry, IT and health industries.

Tim had the unique experience of traveling with Aafia’s Executive Director, Andrew Jones, to Africa in early 2009 to purposefully visit each Leadership Journey project team and community. This overseas experience and insight, coupled with his creative energies, places Tim in a strong position to help forge a solid reputation for Leadership Journey in the marketplace.