Meet the BOARD
Feliciano Sanchez
Vice President
Feliciano is an executive level engineer with over 25 years experience in capital projects and sustaining capital for the energy and resources industry.
Feliciano has worked at senior levels for mining companies as well as engineering services and technology companies and is currently a Business Group Manager with GHD, a global engineering and technical services company. Feliciano has worked as an engineer across Australia, South America, North and South East Asia.
Feliciano’s involvement with cystic fibrosis spans 16 years where he has also served on the boards of Cystic Fibrosis WA. Feliciano has previously served on the board of the Lung Institute of WA, a research institute working in the area of lung disease. He is a passionate advocate for ensuring that cystic fibrosis is strongly represented at both state and national levels and is committed to working with organisations to improve the life expectancy of people with cystic fibrosis across Australia.
Feliciano has been married to Vanya for 21 years and has two children, Oscar and Marina who has cystic fibrosis.
Gerry Kandelaars
Vice President
In February 2017, Gerry resigned from the Legislative Council of the SA Parliament to care for his wife, Glenys who had been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, aged 61 and was awaiting a Lung Transplant.
Gerry’s wife, Glenys had a Bi-lateral Lung Transplant in May 2017, at The Alfred in Melbourne and is enjoying living life to the fullest.
In 2018 Gerry joined the Board of Cystic Fibrosis South Australia and held the position of Board Secretary and convenor of the Board Governance Committee. He resigned in 2021 after three and a half year on the Board.
Gerry served in the SA Parliament for five and a half years. He was a member of numerous Parliamentary Committees and Chaired a number of those. Prior to that Gerry was employed as a Community Liaison Officer for Robyn Geraghty MP for 6 years where he assisted various constituents and community organisations with the electorate of Torrens.
Gerry worked in Telecommunications industry for over 20 years before moving to the role of State Branch Secretary of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) T&S Branch SA/NT for 10 years. From 2002 until 2011, Gerry was an ACTU nominated Director on the Board of Telstra Super (TSS), Australia’s largest corporate superannuation fund with over $11 billion in funds under management and was a member of its Audit, Risk and Management Committee and its Remuneration Committee for the entire time on the TSS Board.
Gerry has also been a Board member of a number of Community Organisation’s which at various times he also chaired.
Gerry has been a Justice of Peace for South Australian since 2007.
Gerry is retired and lives with his wife of 46 years, Glenys and they have two adult children and four grandchildren.
Carolyn Boyd
Director
Carolyn Boyd has over 40 years’ experience with CF, having been diagnosed with CF in 1971 and undergoing a successful double lung transplant in 1994.
Carolyn works as a Personal Assistant for an Associate Clinical Professor of Endocrinology, and for a Doctor of Immunology. She joined the Board of CFWA in 2010 being elected as Vice President in 2017.
Carolyn is a regular speaker and advocate for people living with CF and a tireless fundraiser. Carolyn was elected as President of CFWA in 2018 and joined CFA in the same year.
Peter Wark
Director
Peter Wark is a senior staff specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle and a conjoint Professor with the University of Newcastle.
In addition Peter is a senior investigator with the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs and the Vaccines Immunology Viruses and Asthma research group at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. He is also a chief investigator in the NHMRC Centre of Excellence in Severe Asthma.
Peter’s research interests are in the area of infection and the impact this has on inflammatory airways disease, with a particular interest in viral respiratory infections and acute exacerbations of chronic airways disease. His group has developed expertise in identifying respiratory viruses in airway secretions and developing an in-vitro cell culture model of the airway epithelium that we use to model the effect of infection and inflammation. His main research focus is on factors that increase susceptibility to virus infection in asthma, COPD, Cystic Fibrosis bronchiectasis and pregnancy.
Peter is the centre director for the John Hunter Adult Cystic Fibrosis clinic that manages over 100 adult patients with CF in the context of a multidisciplinary team. He works in the severe asthma clinic as well as in general respiratory clinics at John Hunter Hospital and runs indigenous outreach clinics at Narrabri and Moree. He is chairperson for the Hunter New England Local Hospital network respiratory stream, responsible for the provision of respiratory services throughout the Hunter New England area, with a catchment population of 840,000.
Peter was a member of the TSANZ executive board and chairman of the clinical care and resources subcommittee from 2011 to 2015.
Peter qualified as a Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Australia in 1991 and qualified as a specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1999. From 2001 to 2005 he was a post doctoral research fellow under an NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Travelling Fellowship at the University of Southampton and University College London, under the supervision of Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and Sebastian Johnston.
From 1998 until 2001 Peter completed a PhD under the supervision of Professors Peter Gibson and Michael Hensley at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
Peter is married to Katrina, and parents to Kirsty, Marden, Jasmine, Sarah, David, Charlotte and Eliza and grandfather to Elijah.
Peter was appointed to the CFA Board in 2013.
Teresa Brierley
Director
Teresa has worked in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle since 2005. In her present role, as Director of Pastoral Ministries, Teresa supports the Bishop as a member of the Diocesan Leadership Group in pastoral matters across the diocese – parishes, chaplaincies, pastoral planning, diocesan councils etc.
Prior to this she served the Catholic Church as a Pastoral Associate, as a secondary school Religious Education Co-ordinator, maths and science teacher. She began her professional career as a Biomedical Scientist working in hospital pathology. She is married to Allen and they have five children and a number of grandchildren.
MTh; BSc (App); Dip. Ed; Dip RE; Dip Ed (Leadership), Grad. Cert. (Mission & Culture)