Trustee

The Directors of Toyota Community Foundation Australia Pty Ltd (TCFA) act as Trustee of the Toyota Community Trust. TCFA Directors are appointed for three years by Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Ltd.

The current Directors are:

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Mike Rausa

Mike Rausa joined Toyota in 1985 as a Graduate Engineer in the former Engine Manufacturing Plant, after graduating from RMIT University as a Mechanical Engineer. In 1988 he moved to the Purchasing Division, where he spent the next 15 years in various purchasing positions to increase localisation levels of purchased parts and implement supplier development, supplier assessment and Supplier Parts Tracking Teams (SPTT) programs. Mike was then appointed to General Manager of Purchasing in 2001 and General Manager of Product Development in 2003.

In 2011, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Purchasing in an overseas post for Toyota Motor Asia Pacific in Thailand. In this role he was responsible for coordinating purchasing activity for Toyota’s manufacturing plants across multiple countries.

In 2013, he returned to Australia and was appointed to the Toyota Australia Board as Executive Director of Corporate Services where he was responsible for Human Resources, Information Systems, Corporate Affairs and General Affairs Divisions. Mike is currently Senior Advisor to the Toyota Australia Board.

In 2017, Mike was appointed as the inaugural Director of Toyota Community Foundation Australia and was reappointed as a Director in 2022.

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Dr Onisha Patel

Dr Onisha Patel is a Business Development Manager helping scientists take their innovations beyond the lab, driving commercialisation, securing funding, and cultivating industry partnerships. Her experiences include therapeutic development in a biotech startup, academic research, and business development. Onisha trained as a structural biologist and was a key member of the team that discovered Momelotinib, now approved by the FDA for Myelofibrosis and the team that discovered a novel function of a population of immune cells, which led to the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research and development of detection reagents, which are now distributed by the NIH.

In addition to her role, Onisha has contributed to the STEM education ecosystem by mentoring at various schools and University STEM programs, developing an inquiry-based STEAM learning program in local schools in collaboration with the Protein Data Bank Europe and is an alumna of the Superstars of STEM program.

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Dr Flora Hui

Dr Flora Hui (pronounced “Hugh”) is an optometrist and scientist with over 15 years of clinical experience and is a researcher at the University of Melbourne and Centre for Eye Research Australia. Her research is focused on finding new ways to diagnose and treat glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, and uncovering what the eye can tell us about the brain in health and dementia. She currently leads a global collaborative clinical trial investigating a new treatment for glaucoma.

Flora is a passionate science communicator who loves to share the importance of eye health and the value of research to our community. In recognition of this, she was an ABC Top 5 media resident and is a current Superstar of STEM. Flora’s role as Board Director for the Toyota Community Trust directly aligns with her commitment to supporting STEM education and to encourage the next generation of Australians to consider STEM careers.

Flora was appointed as a Director of Toyota Community Foundation Australia Pty Ltd in 2023.

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Stephanie Ooi

Stephanie has a portfolio career that includes Risk Management, Data Science, Analytics, White Label Partnerships and Operations in financial services in Australia and Malaysia. Over more than 20 years, her career has included management roles in global banking institutions such as Citigroup and Standard Chartered specializing in Consumer Lending products such as auto loans, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans.

Stephanie joined Toyota Finance Australia (TFA) in Nov 2014 and is currently the Chief Risk Officer, where she is responsible for Credit Risk, Enterprise Risk, Quantitative Risk and Data Science divisions.

Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Business (Finance and Banking) from the University of Technology Sydney and a MBA from Charles Sturt University.

Stephanie is an advocate for developing and mentoring women who are moving into management roles and was a member of TFA’s inaugural Women In Leadership and a committee member of Gender Balance Committee (which is now known as the Diversity and Inclusion Committee). She believes in developing teams, supporting each other to achieve our fullest potential.

Stephanie was appointed as a Director of Toyota Community Foundation Australia Pty Ltd in 2023.