Darren Smith is a proud palawa man from Lutruwita or Trowunna. His clans are pairre benne, trawul way and plair mairrenner from the North East of his Island. Darren has lived, worked, and played in Naarm on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations for over 30 years.
Darren commenced working at Aboriginal Housing Victoria in 2014 and has been the chief executive officer since 2017. He is the current chair of the Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Forum and co-chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Housing and homelessness Framework Implementation Working Group co-chairing with the chief executive officer of Homes Victoria.
Darren has over 10 years’ public service experience in a range of policy leadership roles for the Victorian Government across diverse portfolios including most recently in building policy, and Aboriginal Affairs. Darren’s governance experience includes serving on the NFP Boards of Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, Council for Homeless Persons and more recently the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association. Darren’s experience is complemented by academic qualifications including an Executive Masters of Public Administration, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Engineering (Civil).
