Our Team

Louise Giolitto is widely experienced in the community services sector, with more than 26 years serving in executive roles. She has worked in the fields of youth, employment, homelessness, housing, education and training, mentoring, drug education, emergency relief and seniors across small, medium and large organisations. Her time working in the Kimberley and Pilbara has given her valuable insights into the needs of regional WA.

Louise became CEO of WACOSS in 2017, following a long involvement through positions as the former Director Sector Support and Development, board member and social service organisational member. She believes the community services sector needs collective commitment and leadership to improve the quality of life of those experiencing disadvantage in our society. She sees WACOSS as being the ideal platform to support organisations to deliver essential services, work collaboratively to lobby government, raise community awareness, network and share best practice to address inequities, as well as providing a strong voice for those community members in need.

Rachel Siewert holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and started her career working for the WA Department of Agriculture on landcare and salinity.

Following this, she was Coordinator of the Conservation Council of WA for 16 years. In this role, she was part of and led successful environmental campaigns.

Rachel was elected as a Senator for WA in 2004 and served for 16 years. She held a number of portfolios including family and community services, health and mental health, aged care, First Nations, housing, gambling and environment. She chaired the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for over 10 years, initiating and chairing many inquiries.

Alenka Jeram has been a key member of the WACOSS leadership team since 2019, where she oversees a broad corporate services portfolio including human resources, membership, finance, events, contracts and funding agreements, board subcommittees and WACOSS’ social enterprise, DropIN Solutions.

With nearly two decades of experience in the community sector, Alenka has held senior leadership roles across the humanitarian field, with a strong focus on supporting refugees and vulnerable migrant communities. Her work reflects a long‑standing commitment to social justice, organisational strength and sector-wide capability building.

Alenka holds degrees in Political Science and Social Justice and is a graduate of the Leadership WA program.

Chris Twomey is the Leader of Policy and Research for WACOSS and a Senior Industry Fellow with Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. He undertakes research and advocacy focused on the needs of people experiencing disadvantage in WA and the effectiveness of the services that assist them. His recent publications have covered child poverty, youth mental health and wellbeing, disability employment outcomes and family violence. Chris represents a community voice on a number of national and state advisory committees covering issues such as commissioning, data sharing and outcomes, the national child and family hubs network, child safe principles, workforce development and the care sector, digital inclusion, early years and violence against women. He also helps convene the Children’s Policy Advisory Council. Chris has been a senior policy advisor to federal politicians, worked in communications and industry engagement at a number of WA universities, and has won multiple national and state surfing titles