Social Entrepreneurs Network Gets CEO
20 August 2001 at 1:08 pm
The Social Entrepreneurs Network has appointed its first Chief Executive Officer, giving Jane Sloan a brief to develop the network in Australia and New Zealand over the next two years.
Sloan comes from the position of NSW Director of the newly established Australian Pilot Light Foundation, based on the UK model which gives a voice to homeless young people.
Before that she was the General Manager of the Media Centre for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The Network’s Executive Secretary, Vern Hughes, says Sloan has been involved in a number of innovative ventures involving the arts, culture and indigenous enterprises.
Hughes says these are areas the Social Entrepreneurs Network is keen to become involved in and not just be seen to be involved in welfare.
He says they will be a team of two with Sloan based in Sydney and he based in Melbourne.
The Network was set up in Australia in February this year as an innovative alliance specifically created to develop and fund new programs to assist disadvantaged Australians. It is aimed at attracting membership from those people who pursue social goals as vigorously as financial entrepreneurs.
The launch of the Australian Social Entrepreneurs Network follows the establishment of similar organisations in Europe and the US. Last year British Prime Minister, Tony Blair showed his support for the emerging movement by giving the equivalent UK organisation (Community Action Network) a $250 million one-off millennium grant to fund programs around the country.
