Leadership succession sustaining our commitment to education and impact
Wednesday, 12 Nov 2025
Life Ed Australia has a powerful goal: to elevate children’s health literacy. Our unique approach to embedding education has been proven across almost half a century. This is because we continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of young people, stewarded by strong leadership.
After a significant tenure with Life Ed Australia, Russell D’Costa has made the decision to step down as National CEO having guided the organisation through a period of transformation, growth, and impact, positioning it strongly for the future.
As National CEO, Russell spearheaded the development of the 2023–2028 National Strategy, fostering collaboration across the Life Ed Network to create a unified roadmap for growth and impact. Under his leadership, Life Ed Australia, introduced innovative programs such as the “Take a Breath” module to combat vaping, and enhanced accessibility through initiatives like “Harold’s Online World”. Russell also championed strategic partnerships with government and corporate sectors, securing vital funding and aligning Life Ed’s programs with national priorities on health, safety, and wellbeing.
Today, we are proud to announce the appointment of Karen Robertson as the new National CEO of Life Ed Australia.
Previously the Head of Education and Impact at Life Ed Australia, Karen has further refined Life Ed’s role in the national education and health landscape, leading the development of Life Ed’s updated Theory of Change and first national Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework to powerfully position our impact and gather quality data, evidence and insights in order to guide our growth, while keeping children at the heart of what we do and why.
Karen’s appointment is the outcome of a planned succession, designed to further strengthen Life Ed’s education and impact agenda and position Life Ed for sustainable national growth.
The Life Ed Australia Board extends its sincere thanks to Russell for his exceptional leadership, and unwavering commitment to Life Ed Australia and welcomes Karen, to continue to shape Life Ed’s mission to empower young Australians for years to come.
