The Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. (RSA) is an association incorporated in Victoria under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act. It is governed by the RSA Rules, and managed by a Board, elected each year at the AGM.
Until the 2024 AGM, the Board comprises:
President and Secretary
Dr Meredith Doig OAM FAICDMeredith Doig is a professional company director and governance consultant. After a career in manufacturing (Ford Australia), mining (Rio Tinto) and banking (ANZ Group), she has spent the last 20 years or so consulting in organisation effectiveness and on the boards of commercial and not-for-profit organisations, and university councils. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and for five years taught their flagship Company Directors Course. For 10 years she was a Moderator with the Cranlana Programme on Ethics & The Good Society. Her Australian honour was for service to business, higher education and the community. For 50 years she was a passionate motorcyclist and was Australia's first Chief Motorcycling Instructor.
Vice President
Professor Luke BeckLuke is a leading constitutional law scholar in the field of separation of religion and government and religious freedom under the Australian Constitution. The principal focus of his research is on developing a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of section 116 of the Australian Constitution in terms of its history and underlying purposes, its relationship and interaction with broader Australian constitutional culture and how it might be best interpreted and applied.
Treasurer
Arash RashidianArash is a business advisor with 30 years of experience in various facets of business and engineering consulting. He has led or contributed to a portfolio of over 250 engagements in the private and public sector in Australia and internationally. His sector experience spans: utilities, infrastructure, government administration, not for profit, higher education, resources, financial services, telecommunications, defence and the oil and gas sector. Arash has an Honours degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, post Graduate Diploma in Air Pollution Control from DeMontford University and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, all in the UK.
Board member
Stella ThomasApart from being on the RSA board, Stella is a member of SA Humanists and is the SA contact for FIRIS (Fairness in Religion in Schools). Her journey with religion in schools began in 2005 when her own children were exposed to religious proselytising and she has been an indefatigable lobbyist for genuinely secular state schools ever since. She has a background in business management and administration with her family's truck repair business and is now studying environmental sustainability.
Executive Director
Si GladmanSi Gladman is a trained journalist and marketer with a background in higher education administration.
The RSA also has two subcommittees:
- The Finance Advisory Committee monitors income and expenditure, and the performance of investments, and recommends changes thought desirable to maintain a prudent investment strategy.
- The Editorial Subcommittee oversees the development and production of publications.
The funds of the RSA are managed by the Board on the advice of professionally qualified and experienced members of the Finance Advisory Committee. The RSA Finance Advisory Committee Terms of Reference include the investment policy, which is to generate enough income to fund annual operating requirements of the RSA Inc., while maintaining a moderate level of risk.
Members can access the most recent Annual Report here and minutes of the previous AGM here.
Subcommittee support
- Brett Davis, Accountant (responsible to the Treasurer for financial book-keeping). Contact: info@rationalist.com.au
- Melanie Fanor, Bookeeper
For more information on the responsibilities of Committee Members, and how to become one, click here.