The Western Australian Museum Foundation is today pleased to announce it has appointed Ms Jenny Allen as its new Director.

The Foundation is the independent fundraising partner of the Western Australian Museum. Established in 1995, the Foundation’s objective is to provide meaningful and sustainable financial support for the Museum by building private and corporate investment and, where possible, advocating for the interests of the Museum in the private and public sector. The Foundation’s current focus is a major endowment campaign to support the Museum following completion of the new Museum for Western Australia, currently being developed in the Perth Cultural Centre.

Chair of the Western Australian Museum Foundation Board of Governors Justin Mannolini said the Foundation was delighted to have secured Ms Allen as its new Director.

“The WA Museum Foundation has an exciting challenge ahead as we seek to support the Museum’s activity in the decades to come,” Mr Mannolini said. “Jenny’s track record, particularly at Youth Focus Inc, and her knowledge of WA make her the ideal candidate for the job.”

Ms Allen comes to the Foundation from The 500 Club, but will be best known for her very successful work as Chief Executive Officer of Youth Focus Inc – the WA-based charity supporting young people and their families in the area of mental health, providing early intervention services to prevent suicide, self-harm and depression.

During her 16 years with Youth Focus, Ms Allen’s significant contribution to the sector was recognised when she received the Western Australian of the Year Community Award in 2013: she was the only woman finalist for WA in the 2014 Australian of the Year Awards. In 2015, she received the John Da Silva Award for Lifetime Achievement in the mental health sector at the 2015 Mental Health Good Outcomes Awards.

Prior to her time with Youth Focus, Ms Allen was also Local Chamber of Business Person of the Year at the 2009 Commerce and Industry Awards; and the 2008 Ernst & Young Western Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Ms Allen said she was extremely excited at the potential for her new role and to have the opportunity for all West Australians to be involved in putting The Western Australian Museum and the New Museum Project on the world stage.

“Supporting the Western Australian Museum through the Foundation is a tremendous opportunity I am very much looking forward to,” she said. “The WA Museum has firmly established itself at the heart of our State as an institution that helps us all better understand our identity, our culture and our environment. There is so much more to the Museum than what most people ­­see on the surface – just one example being the incredible scientific work going on behind the scenes.

“The New Museum Project is also hugely exciting – there are very few cultural projects of this scale anywhere in the world today and the opportunity to encourage community involvement in such an important endeavour is compelling.”

CEO of the Western Australian Museum Alec Coles today congratulated the Foundation on its appointment of Ms Allen.

“The WA Museum Foundation provides magnificent support which is critical to achieving the Museum’s aspirations,” Mr Coles said. “The Foundation allows us to achieve well beyond our own resources and the endowment it is creating will be vital to the strong, long term performance of the Museum. To achieve this, the Foundation needs a clear vision and a focussed Board – both of which it has. But it also needs a strong and dynamic Director and, in Jenny Allen, I believe it has found one!”

Ms Allen will take up her position as Director of the Western Australian Museum Foundation in February 2017.

          

ENDS

Media contact:
Flora Perrella
Media and Publicity Officer
Western Australian Museum
(08) 6552 7804 flora.perrella@museum.wa.gov.au