Following the BCA Annual General Meeting earlier this month, Fiona Woods has been elected President of BCA.
Fiona says that she wanted to become President because the organisation has made a huge difference to the lives of herself and other Australians who are blind or vision impaired.
“[BCA’s] work has given me and others who are blind or vision impaired audible traffic signals, tactile ground surface indicators, accessible voting and audio description on some of my favourite programs on ABC and SBS”.
“I want to see it thrive and its work continued and expanded”, says Fiona.
Fiona has been a member of the BCA Board, having been first elected as a board member first in the 1990s. Following a break from the board, she was elected again to the board in 2007 and since 2021 she has held the position of Vice President.
Fiona has also held positions with the National Women’s Branch, has chaired the National Policy Council and led the development of BCA’s Expectations of Service Providers, which sets out what we believe people who are blind and vision impaired should expect when they access services designed for them. In addition, Fiona was a graduate of the first Executive Leadership Program.
At the Annual General Meeting Fiona gave her inaugural speech as President outlining her focus areas and priorities for BCA.
In her speech, Fiona referred to six characteristics that she says will underpin her presidency, including that BCA remains inclusive, credible, financially sustainable and displays leadership.
“BCA has been informing, connecting and empowering for 46 years and it does not look like becoming redundant any time soon. BCA does not need to change what it is doing. It’s about together, finding new, relevant and inclusive ways of achieving our mission”, said Fiona.