Ms McInnes will take over from Noemi Cummings, who is resigning after 10 years to pursue studies and have a well-earned rest with her family. 

Ms McInnes has been the education and community services manager at LCMS since 2014 and has 12 years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector working predominately with refugee and culturally diverse communities.

She has five years’ experience in management roles in humanitarian settlement and runs her own research and program development consultancy business

Ms McInnes said she was ‘honoured and excited to have been selected to lead this important organisation’.

“It is an exciting time for LCMS, as we are seeing an increase in migrant and refugee populations in central Victoria and so our role in supporting multicultural communities and celebrating diversity is more important than ever,” Ms McInnes said.

She said currently LCMS offered a range of services for new arrivals, but there were still gaps and work to be done.

“I want to ensure that all new arrivals, whether skilled migrants, refugees or others, feel welcome in our region, want to stay and can contribute,” she said.

“I want our region to become a world-class destination for new arrivals, so we can grow both economically and culturally, and as executive officer I will lead LCMS in contributing to this change."

LCMS chairman Abhishek Awasthi said Ms McInnes was an exceptional leader who had an outstanding level of expertise in the multicultural field.

“She is known both internally and in the community for her collaborative leadership style, exceptional understanding of the needs of multicultural communities and her ability to build and lead teams to meet those needs.”

Ms Cummings said Ms McInnes was a brilliant colleague and a great friend.

“I am personally delighted to be handing over the reins to someone who has such a strong commitment to our organisation and to multicultural communities,” she said.