Board

PRESIDENT 

Craig Watson

MBA, B.Ec(Acc), Grad Dip Property Development, FCPA

Craig has over 25 years experience in property, finance and investment.  He was a key driver in transforming a local South Australian business into a diversified national operation that has delivered over $1 billion of property developments and investments.  Craig has extensive experience across all facets of business including corporate governance, finance accounting, legal, operations, marketing and strategic planning.  He is currently a director and company secretary of two public companies and a number of private companies.

Craig has been part of the volleyball community as a player, coach, referee, and administrator for over 30 years.  He joined the VSA board in 2007.

MEMBER

Merrilyn Tinsley

Merrilyn Tinsley is currently the Head of Safety Health Environment BAE Systems Australia. Merrilyn has been in this role for two years, however has been with BAE Systems for almost 7 years where she started with the Aerospace Division in 2010. Merrilyn has a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Occupational Health and Safety and a Graduate Certificate in Industrial Hygiene. Prior to BAE Systems Merrilyn worked for Global Mining Organisations BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in senior Safety Leadership roles across rural and remote parts of Australia. Merrilyn is passionate about ensuring leadership understands the need to get the balance right between reducing risk and delivering other key business performance indicators. Merrilyn’s strengths are in development of strategy, building leadership capability, risk reduction and culture and engagement. Merrilyn’s hobbies are travelling, snow skiing, scuba diving, watching Australian Rules Football and Rugby Union. Merrilyn is an independent member of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sports Risk Committee and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Merrilyn is married with two teenage children and lives in Adelaide, South Australia.

MEMBER 

Ra'ed Alaraj

Ra’ed is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Ferretti International (Australia) and prior to joining Ferretti he was a Director at Equity & Advisory Limited and a Chief Financial Officer for 3 subsidiaries of E&A Limited. Ra’ed has Bachelor Degree in Finance, Master’s Degree in Accounting, Certificate in Project Management and he is a Qualified Accountant (CPA).
Ra’ed has broad industry knowledge in Financial Services, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing, Construction, Mining Services, Defense, Oil Gas and Water he was involved in various major project in South Australia.
Ra’ed has extensive experience in business strategy development & implementation, company consolidation, restructuring/reengineering, turn-key project negotiation and management, capitalizing on capabilities and converting potential into opportunities, technical knowledge in finance & accounting, IT infrastructure managements and human resource management. Ra’ed is Fellow member of the Institute of Company Directors & Fellow member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

His Hobbies includesplaying soccer, basketball and travelling

MEMBER 

Sophie Milic

Sophie is an experienced public relations practitioner with a successful track record managing high-profile media issues. She has worked in state and federal government as well as the private sector, with her most recent role managing internal and external communications for Holden's manufacturing closure. She is a member of Women on Boards and the Public Relations Institute of Australia. 

Sophie has two small children and a horse who rarely gets ridden.