Val joined the Perkins Board in 2020 and has particular expertise in marketing, crisis management and critical incident communications. Val was Vice-President of Corporate Relations and Development at Curtin University before retiring at the end of 2022, capping off a 25-year career at the institution. Before that she was State Manager and Director of the Perth office of an international public relations company, IPR Shandwick, for 12 years.

Prior to migrating to Australia in 1986 Val was a journalist on a major daily newspaper in South Africa. Val has a Diploma in Journalism (S Africa) and a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Western Australia (UWA). She is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and holds memberships of various organisations such as Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and the Australian Institute of Management (AIM). Val has been a board member of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) WA State Advisory Council since 2014 and a member of the John Curtin Gallery Board since 2015. She was appointed a Trustee of the American Australian Chamber of Commerce (WA) in 2019.

In 2017, Val was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Universities Australia for her outstanding contribution to the Australian university sector.