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Addis joins Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ leadership team reflecting desire to help Yarnangu stay strong on country.

May 1, 2024

As Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ Council continues to lay strong operational foundations for Yarnangu (Aboriginal Peoples of the Western Desert) to remain strong on country, it has made the vital appointment of Ralph Addis as Executive Director of Operations.


Ralph joins the Council with a legacy of experience in the government sector and with traditional owners across Western Australia.

Ralph spent twenty years in the East Kimberley, including as founding CEO of Wunan Foundation, an Aboriginal development organisation in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. The diverse dimensions of the Foundation included education reform, housing reform, employment, and economic development. 


He was driven by a desire to give Aboriginal Peoples in the region increasing economic independence and sustainability through a community-led approach.


After 12 years with the Foundation, Addis spent two years as the community CEO of Warmun | Turkey Creek, working with the government and NGOs to rebuild the community after it was devastated by floods in 2011.


Over the last two decades, Addis was Chair of the Kimberley Development Commission, Director General of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA, and CEO of Lotterywest and Healthway.


Ralph’s breadth of oversight and governance experience, combined with a desire to realise Yarnangu's aspirations to stay strong on the lands makes him a strategic fit for the Council’s leadership team.


‘The calibre of the people I worked with in the Kimberleys was outstanding, including my wife, who I met while in Kununurra—in many ways, it’s still home to me,’ Addis said.


After a string of rewarding roles in government, Addis’s commitment to indigenous development remained strong. Ultimately, it would draw him back into contexts where he could effect change. 


‘I believe the broader commitment and priority of the state to Indigenous development remains underdone,’


‘The lack of priority given by policy-makers was a trigger for understanding that I could be of more value as a catalyst for change from outside of the political system rather than within it,’ 


‘The opportunity to work with Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ Council emerged after some consulting work with the Council,’ Addis said. 


‘I can see the trajectory of change and the imperative for change in the Council, and it excites me to be part of helping Yarnangu stay strong on country,’ he added.


Appointments like Ralph Addis are significant to assembling a management team that can implement genuine, long-term change for those who desire to lead flourishing lives on Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ lands.


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