Angela Skandarajah
Chief Executive Officer
With over 25 years’ experience in the real estate sector, Angela has broad based expertise in property development, urban renewal and infrastructure projects. She previously headed up MinterEllison's National Real Estate, Environment and Planning team and has been a long term contributor to various industry bodies.
Since joining Development Victoria in 2017 she has been part of the leadership of the organisation in various roles and was appointed CEO in February 2019.
Angela is passionate about creating a learning environment at Development Victoria, where people are encouraged to develop and maximise their potential, whilst achieving great outcomes for the community.
Joanne Wandel
Chief Development Officer
Joanne Wandel was appointed Chief Development Officer for Development Victoria in November 2023.
With more than 25 years’ experience leading construction and major projects in the public and private sectors, she has led some of Victoria’s largest public infrastructure, urban renewal and housing projects. This includes the delivery of social and affordable housing at Homes Victoria as part of the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build, the City of Melbourne’s largest capital works program to revitalise the Queen Victoria Market and delivery of the $17 billion Melbourne Docklands project.
Joanne holds a Master of Commercial Law and an MBA and has been recognised as a ‘Top 50 Woman in the Victorian Public Sector’.
Penny Forrest
Group Head, Housing
Penny is an experienced property development professional, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry, including over 12 years with listed residential property developer Peet Ltd, most recently as the State Manager for the ACT and NSW.
A strong advocate for the property industry, Penny has been a member and Chair of the Property Council Australia’s Victorian Residential Developers Committee and a former member of the Surveyors Registration Board Victoria.
Penny is passionate about building and leading high performing and engaged teams and leads with a focus on role modelling and coaching behavioural styles to develop and maximise the career potential of her team members.
André van Baalen
Group Head, Operations
André leads the delivery of finance, technology, human resources and risk services at Development Victoria. With more than 20 years’ experience gained in large corporations across a range of industries, André has extensive experience in operational and financial management.
Prior to joining Development Victoria he held various group finance, decision support, corporate services and business transformation roles at Energy Australia, Commonwealth Bank and Hutchison Telecommunications.
Hannah Clement
Group Head, Civic Infrastructure
Hannah leads our civic infrastructure delivery group, which is responsible for managing major project delivery on behalf of government clients. With more than 20 years experience in planning and delivering major civic and infrastructure projects, she has led some of the state's most significant redevelopments including Margaret Court Arena, Geelong Arts Centre, State Library Victoria as well as the $1B+ Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation.
Prior to joining Development Victoria, Hannah delivered complex and challenging major projects across Australia, the Middle East and South-East Asia. With a background in civil engineering, she spent more than 10 years in the engineering consultancy sector, with a specialisation in the delivery of major sporting, event and social infrastructure.
Hannah also maintains an interest in the fields of international development and is passionate about the role urban built form plays in promoting social equity, cohesion and reducing communities’ vulnerability to natural disasters.
Niall Cunningham
Group Head, Precincts
Niall heads up the Precincts group, responsible for the long-term urban renewal of key Victorian places into thriving precincts of scale, bringing economic and social growth to the state. The team provides advice to support strategic planning, undertakes master planning and provides delivery advice to balance policy and commercial outcomes.
Niall has worked in various property related senior executive roles in the private and public sectors, both nationally and internationally. He has over 25 years of experience in property development projects with particular expertise in precinct scale development. Niall leads a multi-disciplinary team at Development Victoria in the planning and delivery of a number of the State’s priority precincts.
His expertise includes working with stakeholders and communities in the planning and delivery of complex urban regeneration projects that deliver community focussed outcomes in keeping with Government Policy. Niall is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion and has served numerous terms on the Property Council of Australia D&I Committee in addition to actively promoting the D&I agenda across the projects he works on.
Julie Browning
Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and Engagement
Julie leads the Corporate Affairs and Engagement team for Development Victoria. The team provides support to the organisation and its work across a broad range of communications, including branding, community and stakeholder engagement, media, government relations and reputation management.
Julie has extensive executive experience built across the public and private sectors, including Infrastructure Victoria, the City of Melbourne and the Royal Children’s Hospital. She is passionate about community engagement, leading engagement for development of the masterplan for the Queen Victoria Market Precinct renewal, engagement for the state’s first 30-year infrastructure strategy as well as deliberative processes for difficult policy reforms in areas such as density, planning and transport.
As a consultant, she has worked extensively across a broad a range of clients, particularly in the health sector, more recently working with the Victorian Government and stakeholders to develop a 10-year strategy for the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct in Parkville.
Bernard Stute
Group Head, Legal and Advisory
Bernard leads the Legal, Risk, Procurement and Compliance business divisions at Development Victoria.
With more than 20 years of experience in the private and public sectors, Bernard has extensive experience in structuring and delivering complex, large scale, critical infrastructure and transport projects in Victoria and New South Wales.
In his previous roles, Bernard headed up the legal, commercial, finance, procurement, audit and risk functions at various organisations.
Sonja Ruddock
Executive Director, People and Culture
Sonja leads the People and Culture team, who enable Development Victoria to deliver on its purpose by sourcing and developing great talent, building a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, and enabling our people to perform at their best.
Prior to joining Development Victoria, Sonja held senior leadership roles at Greater Western Water, Bupa and the NAB.
An Organisational Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience in organisational development and human resources, Sonja is passionate about the power of great culture and leadership to transform organisations.
Updated on 13 November 2023