Honoured to Be Featured in the 2024 Emerging Leaders in Governance Program Report | Michael Elwan

Some journeys begin not with ambition, but with heartbreak. Mine began in Alexandria, Egypt, in the quiet aftershock of profound loss. I was 14 when my father, an Air Force General, was struck blind by a sudden stroke. In an instant, I became his full-time carer. Two years later, I buried him. Then came a decade of caring for my mother through the turbulence of mental illness - until I lost her too, to suicide. These moments could have broken me; instead, they became the roots from which my purpose grew.

Today, I’m deeply humbled to be featured in the 2024 Emerging Leaders in Governance Program (ELGP) Annual Report - not only as a graduate of the 2023 cohort, but as someone continuing to advocate for transformation within our systems through lived experience, cultural humility, and governance leadership.

The Emerging Leaders in Governance Program has been a powerful chapter in this story. This program is not only about board governance; it’s about honouring the communities we serve, asking courageous questions, and showing up with humanity in rooms where decisions are made. For someone like me - an Egyptian migrant, a carer-turned-advocate, a man shaped by grief and grounded by faith - the ELGP offered something rare: belonging.

In my feature, I reflect on how the program helped me reframe governance as a profoundly human act, rooted not just in policies but in understanding the lived impact of every board decision. ELGP equipped me with new tools, networks, and a deeper sense of agency to influence systemic change from within. It reminded me that our stories don’t need to be hidden in boardrooms; they are the reason we’re at the table.

Since graduating, I’ve remained active on several fronts. I serve as a Board Member at ASeTTS (Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors), contribute to suicide prevention policy as a WA State Committee Member of Suicide Prevention Australia, and provide strategic guidance on the Sustainable Health Review Steering Group with WA Health. Through my consultancy, Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs), I continue helping organisations build trauma-informed and inclusive systems where marginalised voices are not just included but heard.

To be seen, named, and featured among other inspiring changemakers in the ELGP Report is not only an honour. It’s a reminder: we are building a different kind of leadership; one that remembers the people behind the policies, the stories behind the stats.

To Alicia Curtis, Grace Mugabe, and the entire ELGP team: thank you for creating a space where diverse leadership can not only emerge but thrive.

To anyone reading this who feels their pain makes them “too much” for leadership - I say this with conviction: your scars are not liabilities; they are lanterns.

Based in Perth, WA, LEXs provides telehealth counselling across Australia for individuals, couples, and NDIS participants. Services extend to Social Work supervision, Peer Work supervision, training, and keynote speaking on men’s mental health, CaLD community wellbeing, and culturally responsive suicide prevention; helping people and organisations make mental-health care more compassionate, inclusive, and effective. LEXs provides services across Australia, supporting clients in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and beyond. To learn more about our work across Australia, visit LEXs' services page.