OUR PEOPLE
WE ARE INSPIRED BY OUR MISSION
Our Big Picture
Meaning is about making a difference.
Our contribution is not the scope of our reach but the depth of our impact.
Our legacy is not how many footprints we leave - it's how long they last.
Adapted from Adam Grant
So this is how we got started........
Highway Foundation was founded amid the first Melbourne COVID lockdown in April 2020. At that time, Lela McGregor was overwhelmed by the need for her services in helping people adapt to a new way of working and life. People were starting to ask big questions, and they had the time to explore that. Many people had lost their sense of direction in their life and were incredibly restless and frustrated.
Suddenly, she saw her clients were younger and were desperate to make sense of their lives. She found nothing around that could support young people in building self-awareness, self-efficacy, and meaning and purpose. It was not enough to support a few kids, there needed to be a scalable solution. As she shared this with her colleague Dr Tan-Chyuan Chin, an award-winning youth wellbeing and engagement researcher at The University of Melbourne, they both realised there was a great need for an organisation to support young people in their life journey, not just young people in crisis. Evidenced by the overwhelming demand for Lela's services and backed by the research findings of Dr Chin, Highway Foundation was established to meet the needs of young people today.
To that end, Dr Chin left her academic position in the middle of the pandemic and joined Lela to establish Highway Foundation supported by the founding philanthropists John Higgins AO and Dr. Matthew Egan. John Higgins also agreed to be the Chair of the Board. Highway Foundation was formally established on the 4th August 2020 and was given DGR status as a Harm Prevention Charity in March 2021.
One year later, we are a dynamic, thriving youth organisation with an amazing management core team, 23 inspiring accredited Highway Youth Facilitators, wonderful community partnerships across Australia delivering outstanding participant experiences that make a difference to young people.
An organisation is only as good as our people. At Highway we have a highly skilled, incredibly motivated and effective management team that is powered by our mission. Our core team is agile, lean and collaborative. As we work remotely, we have no office overheads allowing all our funding to be spent on creating amazing youth support and experiences.
Chairman of the Board
John Higgins AO
John’s passion is to see young people thrive. This is evidenced by his tireless support for health, education and positive psychology. He has always believed that if you can catch a young person right when they need it, you can change their life and trajectory.
For that reason, he is excited about Highway Foundation. John is respected and recognised for his distinguished service to the community through philanthropic contributions to education, culture, social welfare, child cancer support organisations, and business. John brings over 35 years of impeccable business experience. John is the Chairman of the Higgins Group of Companies. This privately-owned firm invests and runs companies in Australia, Europe and North America with an increased focus on Medical Research in Cancer and Traumatic Brain Injuries.
At the University of Melbourne, John funded the Gerry Higgins Chair of Positive Psychology and is also the Chairman of the Centre of Positive Psychology, now one of the world's leading well-being teaching and research centres. John assisted the establishment of PESA (Positive Education Schools Association), IPEN (International Positive Education Network) and was the underwriter of the most successful 2019 World Congress of Positive Psychology in Melbourne, held for the first time out of North America, boasting over 1,600 delegates.
He is a Life Member of the National Gallery of Victoria and serves on its Foundation Board. He is also a Director of Camp Quality, a national children's cancer charity, for the past 14 years.
Chief Executive Officer and Master Teacher
Lela McGregor
MAPP MMKTG BBUS GAICD Accredited MHFA Instructor
Lela has experienced firsthand the positive transformation of young people when given the space to be genuinely heard. She is excited to lead an organisation that can build meaningful connections that help young people to find their way.
Lela is a consummate all-rounder. She is an international positive psychology coach, wellbeing educator and scientific-based wellbeing program designer. Lela has held numerous senior global corporate roles across various industries, including Healthcare, Arts, Automotive, Hospitality, Property and Not-for-Profit. Her extensive international experience in leadership, finance, marketing, corporate strategy, culture management, community and youth engagement has allowed her to understand what drives performance and makes people thrive. From coaching and mentoring professionals, teaching wellbeing to organisations, creating positive school programs now taught in 300 schools in 11 countries, to delivering diversity and wellbeing programs to over 250,000 students annually – her passion is to drive positive outcomes for young people.
Director of Science and Research
Dr. Tan-Chyuan Chin, PhD
PhD (PSYCHOLOGY), PGDip (PSY), GDip (PSY), BSc Accredited MHFA Instructor
Dr. Chin’s research has led her to follow her heart. She is passionate about applying her research in the real world. She believes Highway Foundation’s innovative model will provide relevant services to fill a gap in the market that her research has uncovered. She is excited to work with learning communities, local councils, governments and organisations to create real-world impact for young people today.
Dr. Chin is a multi-award-winning researcher who has done extensive work across the interdisciplinary fields of education, psychology and wellbeing science. TC is an Honorary Senior Fellow with The University of Melbourne, where she held an academic position for nine years. TC has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, as well as 18 commissioned reports for Industry, Local and State Government departments in Australia. She has worked with over 300 learning communities to assess wellbeing using mixed methods such as online surveys, focus groups and interviews. TC's work with schools and youth organisations has reached over 90,000 young people across six countries in the last four years. She has also worked with high-performance organisations such as Tennis Australia, AFL Academy and ArtsReady.
TC has developed five novel measurement tools across the interdisciplinary fields of music psychology and wellbeing. Collectively, her work highlights the use of innovative yet considered approaches to measuring and understanding complex concepts such as music engagement and wellbeing. At The University of Melbourne, TC developed and led the implementation of The Wellbeing Profiler; a wellbeing needs analytical tool, which was recognised as a Finalist of the VicHealth Awards in 2017 for Research in Action and won the 2019 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for Community Engagement.
Onboarding Manager
Malu Faatele
Malu ensures all Highway participants have a memorable experience with the organisation. She is passionate about working with young people and strives to help them have a safe space where they can be heard and understood. So if you're wondering who you're talking to when signing up, it's her!
Social Media Manager + Projects
Talisa McGregor
Talisa is our social media manager, running our Facebook, Instagram and TikTok – hoping to inspire and connect young people to our Highway Community. She also provides operational and administrative support for Onboarding, Highway Youth Facilitator Programs and Special Projects.
Community Projects
Abdi Hassen
Abdi is not only a Youth Facilitator here at Highway, but he also works to assist in Highway’s passion of engaging the community. He focuses on working with our partners to inspire prospective participants to find their way through our transformational programs. Abdi particularly specialises in engaging the African community, in particular young people, to participate in Highway Programs and help them uncover their true selves.
Communications Designer
Mark Sidoti
Mark has worked on numerous design projects and clients in the health promotion space. Mark loves the idea of how an image can mean so many things to so many different people but at the same time can also communicate a message that can unite and inspire. Mark hopes his contribution will inspire young people to engage with Highway to find their way.
Chief Snack Officer
Roy
Roy plays the very important role of making sure everyone is eating enough snacks and getting sufficient cuddles. Vibes are high when Roy is wagging his tail - which is always. Instead of a traditional handshake, Roy goes for a 360 back flip. He lives for casual Friday and doesn't mind eating everyone's leftovers after lunch.
TRAFFIC
Alaina Dean
COMMUNICATIONS
Nathan Hugh Roberts
GRAPHICS
Mark Sidoti
MEDIA
Melita Sata
TRAFFIC
Alaina Dean
COMMUNICATIONS
Nathan Hugh Roberts
GRAPHICS
Mark Sidoti
MEDIA
Melita Sata
Would you like to get inspired about your life?
Join a Highway session today.
If you would like to explore what’s going on for you today, then just jump on! You will be welcomed to a safe, warm, non-judgemental space where you can be yourself and uncover what is important to you.
Donate and inspire
young people to a
positive pathway in life.
Giving all young people the gift of being
heard, connected and feeling empowered to
follow their path to becoming the best
versions of themselves.
