MPavilion Opening November 2020

Jenny Samms

Jenny Samms is a Director to the Council to Homeless Persons and the Foyer Foundation and undertakes consultancy work mainly in the not for profit sector. She was previously the CEO of Aboriginal Housing Victoria. During her time as CEO she led the organisation to achieve Housing Association status, the only Aboriginal organisation in Australia to achieve this level of accreditation and successfully negotiated the historic transfer of ownership of the nearly 1500 DHHS properties that AHV was managing. Jenny’s professional career has spanned nearly 40 years in the Commonwealth and Victorian public services spanning Departments of Education, Labour, Aboriginal Affairs, Premier and Cabinet and Planning and Community Development. She has held a number of senior executive positions at Deputy Secretary and Executive Director level, focussing on developing and implementing improved educational and employment opportunities for all Victorians. She holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Affairs and Administration.

Wominjeka (Welcome). We acknowledge the Yaluk-ut Weelam as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet. Yaluk-ut Weelam means ‘people of the river camp’ and is connected with the coastal land at the head of Port Phillip Bay, extending from the Werribee River to Mordialloc. The Yaluk-ut Weelam are part of the Boon Wurrung, one of the five major language groups of the greater Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to the land, their ancestors and their elders—past, present and to the future.