PwC's Liz Cameron-Smith appointed CEO of The Foyer Foundation
Tasked with stewarding its growth across Australia, youth homelessness not-for-profit The Foyer Foundation has appointed PwC director Liz Cameron-Smith as its next chief executive.
Liz Cameron-Smith will join the foundation after thirteen years at PwC, including most recently as the co-founder and director of The Impact Assembly, a social venture within the firm which seeks to drive systemic change in response to societal challenges.
An arts graduate in government and international relations from the University of Sydney, Cameron-Smith first joined PwC in 2009 after a two-and-a-half-year stint as a policy officer with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, during which time she also served as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development in China with the Global Fund and its aim to eradicate HIV, TB and malaria worldwide.
At the Big Four firm, Cameron-Smith initially served as a senior consultant before taking on a senior manager role with The Difference, an innovative business unit which draws from disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, and design thinking to help transform organisational culture and among other areas embed new ways of working. From that, sprung the Impact Assembly, which focuses on complex societal challenges.
The Impact Assembly works with not-for-profits, philanthropists, communities, and other organisations across sectors to co-design innovative solutions to issues such as obesity, mental health, education inequity, and homelessness – the latter a focus area of PwC’s social impact work.
In addition, Cameron-Smith helped to establish The Constellation Project, a coalition which aims to end homelessness.
“Liz’s experience in co-creating, shaping and growing complex strategies through The Constellation Project and Learning Creates Australia gave the Board great confidence in her ability to become a proponent of the Foyer movement in Australia – with her excellent understanding of the relationship between homelessness and a young person’s path towards independence,” said Foyer Foundation chair Keith Bryant.
Founded in 2008, The Foyer Foundation serves to support the growth and quality of Youth Foyers, which are integrated learning and accommodation settings for people typically aged between 16 and 24 years of age who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The idea is that by providing stable accommodation, residents are then better equipped to attain educational qualifications and employment, reducing systemic homelessness.
“I am very excited to be able to work with the Foyer Foundation’s networks, with the board, with young people and with some of the most experienced leaders in the country,” Cameron-Smith commented. “By harnessing this diverse network’s talents, capabilities, vision and pragmatism we will continue to advance the Foyer approach as an effective, integrated solution that enables more young people to thrive.”
