Meet The Team
Nicole Rogerson - Director and CEO
Nicole is the Managing Director of the Lizard Children’s Centre. She lives in Sydney with her husband and 2 sons. Nicole left a career in Marketing and Public Relations in 1999 when her son was diagnosed with autism. In 2003 she joined with Speech Pathologist and Behavioural Clinician, Elizabeth Watson, to establish the Lizard Children's Centre, which provides evidence-based intensive early intervention programs for children with autism and developmental delays.
Nicole is the founding Director and CEO of Autism Awareness Australia, which she set up in 2007 in order to increase awareness of autism in the wider Australian community. Nicole is a frequent public speaker on ASD and facilitates a number of educational seminars around the country. She sat on the Federal Government's Autism Advisory Board prior to the introduction of the Helping Children with Autism funding package, and continues to work for better access to and government support for evidence-based intensive early intervention programs for children with autism. Nicole and her colleague, Dr James Morton, were the instigators of the 1000hours campaign in 2009 and this year, Nicole hosted the inaugural Australian National Autism Summit.
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Lyndell Droga - Director
Lyndell lives in Sydney with her husband and 3 children, one of which has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For many years Lyndell had a successful career in marketing, working for a number of large multi national organisations including Unilever and Pepsico.
Following her son’s diagnosis she decided to change direction and focus full time on managing her son’s intensive early intervention program.
Lyndell has a keen interest in health, family and community issues and spent a number of years on the board of the Holdsworth Community Centre. She is currently the Special Projects Manager for the Development Division at the Sydney Opera House.
After experiencing first hand the impact autism can have on a child and their family, Lyndell is dedicated to ensuring there is greater understanding and awareness of this complex disorder within our community.
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John Maher - Director
John is the Managing Director of Ruralco Holdings Limited. He lives in Sydney with his wife Lynne and 3 children, and has been closely involved with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for the last 6 years.
John is committed to raising the awareness of Autism in all sectors of society from families that are affected right through to government. He is also passionate about trying to make a difference by ensuring as many families as possible have the opportunity to experience intensive early intervention programs for their affected children.
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Autism Awareness Board - April 2011
From left to right: John Maher, Lyndell Droga, Nicole Rogerson and Elizabeth Sarian (Executive Manager).
