Disability Advisory Board

At APM Group, we’re all about creating opportunities and enhancing lives through better employment, skills, health, and wellbeing.  

We work with all levels of government and employers to design services to tackle today’s challenges and improve opportunities and inclusion for everyone.

What Is the Disability Advisory Board? 

First convened in 2024, the Disability Advisory Board was established to provide expertise, advice, and guidance to ensure APM Group builds inclusive and accessible services and programs for all, no matter their abilities and lived experience. 

Board’s Purpose

The Board exists to: 

• Advocate for accessibility: Make sure our facilities and services are accessible to all.
• Promote and build awareness: Raise awareness about the needs and rights of people with disability.
• Make recommendations: Offer advice to improve our policies and practices.
• Champion inclusion: Encourage the inclusion of people with disability in all areas of life.
• Monitor compliance: Ensure we follow relevant laws and advocate for necessary changes.

By working together with stakeholders, the board aims to create a welcoming environment where people with disability can thrive. 

Objectives

The Board will help shape APM Group’s disability strategy by: 

1. Advising on disability policies and standards 
2. Providing input on strategic planning and service development 
3. Offering feedback on engagement strategies with employers and community partners 
4. Consulting with the community to gather diverse perspectives 
5. Connecting with industry leaders and partners
6. Guiding our Access & Inclusion strategy and three-year plan

Each objective drives a tangible deliverable - for example, embedding inclusion checkpoints into new service designs or convening employer roundtables to co-create best practices. 

Who's on the board

Ellie Cole AM, Chair: Paralympian, broadcaster and APM Ambassador 

Ellie is Australia’s most decorated female Paralympic athlete, having won 17 medals across five Games. 

After her right leg was amputated at age three due to sarcoma, she earned a degree in Exercise Science and turned adversity into a 16-year career in the pool and beyond, emerging as a powerful advocate for disability rights and inclusion. 

Appointed as an APM Ambassador in 2022, Ellie leverages her profile to champion diversity, resilience, and the development of environments where people with disability can thrive. 

Since the Disability Advisory Board’s establishment in 2024, she has contributed strategic insight and personal experience to shape APM’s inclusive policies and drive lasting cultural change. 

Darren Fittler, External Member: Partner at Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers

Darren is the founder and lead partner of Gilbert + Tobin’s Charities and Social Sector practice, with deep expertise in corporate and commercial law for mission-driven organisations. 

He provides strategic, innovative legal advice on charity mergers, governance, fundraising, and regulatory compliance to a wide range of not-for-profits and social impact entities. 

Darren’s commitment to social justice earned him the 2014 Human Rights Commission Law Award, and he currently serves as a volunteer director of Vision Australia, as well as having held board roles across the charitable sector. 

He also represented Australia at United Nations meetings on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, bringing a global perspective to the Disability Advisory Board at APM. 

Darren is blind and has lived experience of diversity and inclusion barriers experienced because of disability. 

He is passionate about true belonging across all facets of life, not just because it is the right thing to do (which it is), but because it is essential for the improvement of the human condition and for society (including business) to succeed and thrive.   

APM Group representatives

Karen Rainbow: CEO, Employment & Disability ANZ – APM Group Executive representative

With more than 30 years of leadership in disability employment services, Karen Rainbow brings deep expertise and unwavering commitment to inclusive employment. 

Since joining APM in 2010, Karen has played a pivotal role in shaping APM’s approach to supporting people with disability. 

She was appointed CEO of APM Employment Services in 2015, and in recognition of her impact and vision, her role was recently expanded to CEO, Employment and Disability ANZ. 

Karen continues to champion innovation and inclusion across the sector, driving outcomes that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. 

Dave Hewitt: General Manager, Customer Experience and Insights ANZ

Dave has over 20 years’ experience in human services, focusing on disability employment. 

Since 2010 at APM, he has worked across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. 

He advocates for people with disability, drawing on his lived experience to raise awareness of neurodivergent individuals and those with mental health challenges. 

Jeremy Smith: Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Jeremy applies his lived experience as a disabled, gay man to APM’s DEIB strategy design and implementation. 

He spent almost 25 years championing equity, justice and inclusion across the arts and creative industries, and in 2024 his reflective essay on identity and the politics of labelling was published in the second edition of The Relationship is the Project.