Shae Wissell, Chair from Victoria, Australia

Shae Wissell is the Founder and Chair of the Dear Dyslexic Foundation. Shae trained as a speech pathologist and then completed a Masters degree in Public Health and one in Health Administration. Shae’s passion for working in public health and empowering people with dyslexia led her to establish the Dear Dyslexic Foundation.

As a dyslexic herself, Shae has experienced and seen first-hand, the challenges those with dyslexia can face and the impact dyslexia has on education, employment and quality of life.

Shae is an Amazon #1 best-selling author of The Hobo, A Year in the Life of a Dyslexic Social Entrepreneur, a Doctoral Candidate with La Trobe University researching the impact of dyslexia in the workplace,  a Podcaster and Key Note Speaker.  

In 2020 Shae was shortlisted for the Aspire Awards. In 2019 Shae won three awards People’s Choice Award for Leadership, the Women’s Business School Accelerate Award and second for the Making a Difference Award (Non-Profit) as well as being shortlisted for Telstra Business Woman of the Year.

 

Zoe Merandaz, Board Treasurer, from Victoria, Australia

 

Dr Judith Hudson, Secretary from Tasmania and Wales 

Dr Judith Hudson is a retired specialist teacher, Chartered Psychologist, Assessor, Author and Researcher of special educational needs, that result in congenital developmental disorders such as dyslexia, ADHD, and disorders on the autism spectrum. She shares her time between Tasmania and Wales, U.K.

She is an Associate Adjunct and visiting academic at the School of Education at the University of Tasmania. She advocates for educating teachers to identify and understand how to teach children with dyslexia and specific learning and literacy difficulties. She has written and taught modules for post-grad study in Australia, ‘Educating students with dyslexia and learning difficulties’. Judith is on the Board of Square Pegs Dyslexia Support Group, Tasmania and a dyslexia Ambassador. She is a PhD supervisor for the University of Tasmania and Flinders University, South Australia.

Her interest, study and passion for all things dyslexia spanning some forty years, she has a dyslexic husband and grandson both of whose constant achievements in life never cease to amaze her.

Dr Norman Chorn Non-executive Director; Strategy Consultant; Part-time Academic. Norman is a non-executive director of the Dear Dyslexic Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works to improve the lives of children and adults with dyslexia and learning difficulties. He works as a strategy and organisation development practitioner in Australia, UK, SE ASIA, China, New Zealand and South Africa. After leaving a leading consulting firm, Norman founded a strategy and research firm with affiliations in the UK and North America. His work integrates the research from neuroscience with economics and strategy.

Norman has particular skills in developing future strategy and aligning organisations with their current and future environments. His integration of neuroscience and strategy principles (neurostrategy) has enabled the development of a range of proprietary techniques and approaches to achieve an enhancement in performance.

Norman has published widely in his field and has contributed to a range of journals and international conferences. His recent book, Strategic Alignment, has received acclaim in the management and business press and the 2nd edition has just been published. His new book, The Future Builders deals with the practices of creating the future and organisational adaptation in uncertain environments. This is due for publication shortly. He holds visiting and associate appointments with a number of leading Graduate Schools of Management, including Macquarie University (Australia), the University of Pretoria – GIBS (South Africa) and until recently, Canterbury Graduate School of Management (NZ).

Prior to his consulting career, Norman held a variety of senior Marketing and General Management positions in the services and manufacturing sectors. He has a BA (Economics and Sociology) from the University of Cape Town, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management, an MBA, and PhD from the University of Witwatersrand. Norman is also an Ambassador for Thought Leaders Global and a member of the AICD.