Hope 103.2 chief executive officer Phillip Randall leads a talented and dedicated staff from around the country, many of them coming from the commercial and national radio sectors.
In addition to our staff, Hope 103.2 has a loyal team of volunteers helping both on-air and with administration work, and experienced contributors writing for print and online.
About Phillip Randall
Phillip was appointed CEO of Hope 103.2 in 1999 and has overseen major changes to programming, staff and facilities. He has more than 40 years experience in radio broadcasting, in both commercial and community radio.
From 1999 to 2006, Phillip was president of Christian Media & Arts Australia, President of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) from 2015 to 2021 and chair of the Digital Radio Consultative Committee of the CBAA.
Management
Phillip Randall – Chief Executive Officer
Dwayne Jeffries – General Manager
David Barker – Chief Financial Officer
Jodie Williams – People and Culture Manager
Justin Kendall – Community Relations Manager
Ramona Ishac – Group Sponsorship Sales Manager
Stephen Wilkinson – Technical Operations Manager
On-air
Hope Breakfast with Ally & Brendan
Hope Mornings with Ben McEachen
Hope Afternoons with Laura Bennett
Community Relations team
Graham Hasler – Relationships Manager
Linda Lou – Relationships Manager
Volunteers
Volunteer plays a vital role in helping Hope 103.2 achieve its mission:
To impact people with experiences of God’s love so that they may become more like Christ and the world more like the Kingdom.
Find out more about Volunteering
Contributors
- Real Hope devotional contributors
- Real Hope devotional guest contributors
- Hope Media freelancer journalists
Real Hope devotional
Abby Campbell
Abby is Hope 103.2’s development manager. After spending 10 years serving in international development in some of the most impoverished communities in the world, she is a mum of two, a self-professed donut-aholic, an avid musical lover and F1 fanatic who loves exploring faith and God over good food and, of course, good coffee.
Ben McEachen
Ben is Hope 103.2’s Afternoons host. He’s a follower of Jesus, husband to Amy, dad to Elodie and Ingrid, and a lifelong fan of checked shirts. Ben was a full-time movie reviewer for more than a decade, including for Open House and The Big Picture, and now he’s keen to share the things of God, the universe and the everyday issues.
Chris Parfoot
Chris has worked in the education sector for many years, assisting teachers with technology in the classroom. He has masters degrees in both biblical studies and theology and is passionate about God’s Word. Chris is married with three teenage sons, and he and his family love serving in their local church.
David Barker
David is Hope Media’s chief financial officer. He is a chartered accountant with a Bachelor in Business and a Bachelor of Christian Studies – an unusual degree for most accountants. David loves the Old Testament and thinks it is a ‘goldmine’ that most Christians don’t delve into. He is married to Kim and they have two adult children.
David Smethurst
An accountant prior to ministry, David pastored two South African churches, and at schools, unis, military and prisons globally. He and his wife Margurita head up a charity that supports 11,000 orphans in Ukraine and Latvia. He has also been a chaplain to Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games, and Rugby World Cup athletes.
Druvi Perera
Druvi grew up in Colombo, Sri-Lanka, for the first 19 years of his life but Sydney has been home ever since. Married with three boys under the ago of seven, he left his engineering career in order to follow God’s calling. Druvi is passionate about the Word of God, family, leadership, the local Church, fishing, adventure, cricket and the F1.
Dwayne Jeffries
Dwayne is Hope Media’s chief content officer. He has commercial experience leading on-air teams in Australia and Europe but, today, Dwayne works with Christian media professionals and volunteers in sharing the good news of Jesus through their media ministries. Dwayne and wife Bronwyn have two daughters.
Heidi Wysman
Heidi’s desire is for everyone to understand and experience the love of God, that she encountered in 1993. She is the founder of Hope with Heidi, a ministry to help disciple people to have a revelation of Jesus. Heidi is a recognised speaker and lecturer. She has a BA in Ministry and is the author of One – Complete Intimacy with God.
John North
Hope 103.2’s Time with God podcast presenter and director of Ambassadors for Christ Australia, John was born in India to Australian missionary parents. He grew up in the USA, which is reflected in his accent. He’s passionate about applying the Bible to daily life.
John Scott
John is a relationship manager for 96five in Brisbane. Having trained and worked as an agriculturalist, he swapped vocations to become a church planter and missionary in Australia and Thailand. He is married to Kathryn, a teacher, and they have three children and seven grandchildren all living closely together.
Kath Henry
Kath’s nursing background covers 20-plus years in midwifery, intensive care, education and research. She is a Kairos Outside Ministry chaplain, member of International Network of Christian Women in Leadership (Tirzah), an International Justice Mission (IJM) ambassador, and loves seeing people discover a God who truly loves them.
Katie Smith
Katie is a pastor, speaker, author and mum of two wonderful kids. She loves drinking tea and coffee, dabbling in almost anything creative and, during lockdown in 2021, began a podcast called More Like Him which aims to share everyday moments with God. Katie has completed training in primary teaching and theology.
Laura Bennett
Laura is the host of Afternoons with Laura Bennett. She is a Masters media graduate, author and film reviewer who is just as comfortable interviewing the biggest stars on the red carpet as she is curled up on the couch in comfy pants. Laura self-published her bestselling book Live Your Dream in 2015, and edits her own online magazine.
Leila Armstrong
Leila is an Australia-based blogger who believes that true joy and identity is found in encountering Christ. Passionate about pointing people to Jesus, she shares her faith journey on her Reflections By Leila blog. When she isn’t writing or consulting, she can be found with her family or sitting in a cafe reading a book while drinking coffee.
Lucy Weil
Lucy has worked with Hope Media for four years and considers it a privilege to be part of an organisation that speaks encouragement, hope, unity and the peace of Jesus into a world increasingly divided and uncertain. She loves the outdoors – hiking with friends or water sports – where she remembers to “look up” and think bigger.
Neri Morris
Neri is an accidental entrepreneur and author of Single Me: Learning to Love the Unwanted Path of Singleness is an insightful, funny and challenging look at singleness in the modern-day Christian context. Fortified is Neri’s next book, and her first fiction novel. She is creative director of Thread Harvest and a speaker.
Sam Fagan
Sam has been in full-time pastoral ministry for 12 years. A deep thinker and passionate communicator, he loves helping people connect with God and community. Sam is completing his MA of philosophy and theology and has recently launched Soul-Centred Spiritual Guidance, a space for spiritual help and encouragement. He’s a Manchester United tragic and enjoys the ocean.
Sam Robinson
Sam, host of Hope 103.2’s Breakfast show, is a hubby and a dad to two adorable kids, as well as being a massive Survivor fan. He has a knack for poetry, particularly focused on everyday items, while helping keep you up-to-date on essential topics from what’s trending and the unusual to sports and parenting.
Real Hope devotional guest writers
Andy Park
Worship leader and Vineyard Music songwriter (In the Secret and The River is Here) Andy has authored three books including Living in Humility: Following the Humble King and To Know You More. He has served as a worship pastor in several Vineyard churches over four decades. Originally from Los Angeles, Andy lives with his family in Vancouver, Canada.
Anton Zhang
Australian-born Chinese hailing from the southwest suburbs of Sydney, Anton gained his pilot qualifications from UNSW, and studied theology at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. He currently serves with MAF as a missionary pilot in Arnhem Land, and is based in an Aboriginal community called Ramingining.
Barry Jessen
Barry is one-part farm boy, one-part environmentalist, two-parts adventure seeker, two-parts science geek, and all parts focused on family and Jesus. His current position with Samaritan’s Purse Cambodia has allowed him to combine all parts into one role. Barry’s dream is to live a life that requires the grace of God; impacting both individuals and nations.
Bob Mendelsohn
Bob leads international missionary agency Jews for Jesus, and runs their Bondi Junction book and gift store along with staff and volunteers, in which Jewish people and others visit with regularity. Bob was born in the USA, but has lived in Sydney for 23 years with his wife Patty. They have three adult children and five grandchildren.
Chris Llewellyn
Northern Irish singer Chris and Rend Collective Experiment band members Gareth Gilkeson, Ali Gilkeson and Stephen Mitchell are best known for songs like Your Name Is Power, Counting Every Blessing and the platinum single My Lighthouse. The Christian experimental, folk rock, worship band is on a mission to chase down joy.
Elyse Murphy
Elyse Murphy is a writer, speaker, and influencer who is committed to using her platform to have authentic conversations and share meaningful moments that inspire people to live up to their God-given calling. She grew up as a pastors kid in Sydney and, after graduating from Hillsong Leadership College, wrote her first book Confessions of a Church Kid.
Jon Owen
Jon has dedicated his life to living and serving among Australia’s most disadvantaged including sharing his home with people seeking asylum, refugees, people in recovery, and ex-prisoners. His stories include being attacked by samurai swords and mistakenly being sent to immigration detention. Jon is also Wayside Chapel CEO.
Melinda Mertz
Melinda has been with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for over 20 years and has pioneered 30 Bible courses in five languages. She has a heart for training Christians in the Word. Melinda is currently pioneering a bilingual Arabic-English course. She’s originally from the USA but serves in the Middle East.
Naomi Reed
Naomi is an acclaimed storyteller, speaker and author of 10 books for adults and children. She previously served with INF in Nepal, and particularly loves to draw people back to the hope we have in Christ. Naomi has qualifications in theology and physiotherapy, and is perpetually intrigued by other people and their stories.
Robbie Parkin
Robbie has been with 96five FM Brisbane for over 17 years and currently loves serving in the area of relationship management. With a background in creative writing, directing and performing in live theatre, film and TV, he has a passion for God and representing Him through written word and the media and arts industry.
Russ Matthews
Russ loves film. He has been working for City Bible Forum in Sydney Australia for 14-plus years and is a film reviewer for various publications, including regularly joining the Hope Breakfast team. Russ moderates events called Reel Dialogue which connect the film industry with the general public.
Scott Lavender
Scott is the music director at St Paul’s Castle Hill, songwriting pastor of CityAlight and frontman and songwriter for Whitefield. He is married to Fiona, and father of Annie, Juliet and Seth.
Tania Harris
Tania (PhD.Cand, MA.Min, B.Ed, Dip.T, Cert IV TAA) is a pastor, speaker, author and founder of God Conversations, a global ministry equipping people to recognise and respond to God’s voice. With her church planting background, Tania ministers across the globe and is a popular voice on radio in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Tim Costello
Rev Tim Costello is one of Australia’s best-known community leaders and sought-after voice on social justice issues and ethics. He is executive director of Micah Australia, with a strong vision to gather, inspire and empower Australian Christians to share God’s heart for justice. From 2003 to 2016, Tim was World Vision Australia’s CEO.
Will Graham
Will is Vice President and Associate Evangelist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Executive Director of the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina. Will and his wife, Kendra, have two daughters, Christine Jane (CJ) and Rachel Austin, and a son, William Franklin Graham V (Quinn).
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Freelancer journalists
Amy Cheng
Amy has over five years’ experience in the media industry across social media, print and digital platforms. Her work has been published in The Canberra Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph and on news.com.au. Amy loves hearing stories about ordinary people who have been transformed by God’s extraordinary work.
Michael Crooks
Michael is a senior journalist and former news editor of Who magazine. His work has appeared in People, Marie Claire, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, news.com.au, Qantas magazine, QantasLink Spirit, Who and The New Daily. When not reporting and writing he is trying to keep up with his two young kids.