Our People

GENERAL THE HONOURABLE DAVID HURLEY AC DSC (Ret’d) AND HIS WIFE MRS LINDA HURLEY
National Patrons

We are truly honoured that our former Patron, General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), and his wife Mrs Linda Hurley are now our National Patrons. The Governor-General and Mrs Hurley serve as Patron of organisations who do amazing things.

The Governor-General says, “I am delighted to serve as National Patron of Royal Far West. Being far from help doesn’t have to mean being far from hope. It’s a powerful message that neatly captures the real and meaningful difference that Royal Far West makes.”

“The volunteers, donors and supporters of Royal Far West are bound by a common vision – they want every child to have the best chance at realising their potential. Keeping country kids connected to the healthcare they need and couldn’t otherwise access is critical to achieving this vision. As National Patron I look forward to working with Royal Far West to bridge the ‘kidometres’ and support all Australians to realise their potential.”

HER EXCELLENCY THE HONOURABLE MARGARET BEAZLEY AC QC
Patron

Our Patron Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC is the 39th Governor of New South Wales, commencing her five-year tenure on 2 May 2019. Prior to her appointment as Governor, Her Excellency enjoyed a long and distinguished law career spanning 43 years, during which time she served as a role model for women in law at both the State and national level.

Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1989, in 1993 she was made a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the first woman to sit exclusively in that Court. In 1996 she achieved the distinction of being the first woman appointed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal and, subsequently, as the first woman to be appointed as its President. She served, on a number of occasions, as Administrator of the Government of the State of New South Wales. She was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 12 June 2006 for service to the judiciary and the law, and awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Australia Day Honours List 26 January 2020.

Her Excellency has three children and is married to Mr Dennis Wilson, a barrister, mediator, accredited international arbitrator and Adjunct Professor of Law, at Notre Dame University, Sydney.

Her Excellency brings her deep commitment to education, youth leadership, human rights and social justice to the role in service of the people of New South Wales.

MRS JOAN H TREWEEKE OAM, OAM, LLB (Melb)
Chairman

Board Member since April 2014. Elected Chairman in October 2017. Joan Treweeke resides in North West NSW and has represented communities in this area in local government, natural resources, the arts, education, and community development. She is currently a Director of Royal Flying Doctors Service South East Section and has been a Board Member since 1996, served three years as President, and spent three years on the National Board. Joan served on the Boards of the Western NSW Local Health District until June 2021 and was the President of Contact Inc. until November 2020. She has a commitment to seeing better services and equity of access to health and education services in rural and remote communities. Joan is a member of the RFW Nominations, Governance & Remunerations Committee, and an ex-officio member of the RFW Investment Committee, and the Finance, Audit, and Risk Management Committee.

MR STEVEN GRUNDY, FAIM, MAICD
Vice Chair 

Board Member from February 2018. Elected Vice-Chairman in October 2019. Steven was previously Treasurer from March to October 2019. Steven began his career in the Royal Australian Navy and amid many other highlights culminated in him becoming Commanding Officer of HMAS Rushcutter.  He left the Navy in 1999 to further develop his interest in the commercial sector – this included senior executive roles in Advantra (national IT outsourcing company) and Telstra.  A move into the Health sector saw Steven appointed as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer, then Managing Director, of Australian Hearing.  Steven has been a retained consultant at Lazard Australia Private Equity and most recently was the Executive General Manager at Airservices Australia as part of the team which successfully restructured the organisation.

Other Board appointments have included Australian Hearing, The Hearing CRC, Hearworks Pty Ltd and The National Acoustics Laboratory research committee. Steven is currently the Owner / Director of several Early Learning Centres across rural NSW. Steven is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Steven chairs the Nomination, Governance & Remuneration Committee and also sits on the Redevelopment Sub-Committee.

MS SHERIDAN H DUDLEY, BA, LLB, DipCrim (Melb), MAdmin (Monash)

Board member from February 2018.  Sheridan has over 20 years’ experience as a chief executive and leader in state and local government and the not-for-profit sector, focusing on delivering strategic redirection, policy reform and high-quality service delivery. She is currently Visiting Fellow in the School of Education at UNSW, Guest Professor in the School of Education at Hangzhou Normal University in China and Company Secretary of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Sheridan has provided advice to Premiers and Ministers in NSW, Victoria and the Northern Territory on education, early childhood, employment and training, health, community services, planning, and local government. She has been District Commissioner – South West on the Greater Sydney Commission, Chief of Staff to the NSW Minister for Education, the Hon Adrian Piccoli, MP, General Manager of Camden Council and Chief Executive Officer of KU Children’s Services and Job Futures Ltd. Sheridan is an independent member of the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committees of Ryde and Cessnock City Councils, Sheridan chairs the Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee and a member of the Nomination, Governance & Remuneration Committee.

PROFESSOR ELIZABETH ELLIOT AM, AM FAHMS FRSN MD MPhil MBBS FRACP FRCPCH FRCP

Board Member since July 2019. Elizabeth Elliott is a Distinguished Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney; Consultant Paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Westmead; and a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Practitioner Fellow. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. Her clinical work, research, advocacy, and policy development has a focus on improving health and well-being for children living in disadvantage, including children in remote Aboriginal Communities, with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, with a range of rare diseases, in immigration detention and in South-East Asia. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder has been a major focus for over 20 years: Elizabeth has led projects in the remote Fitzroy Valley in WA on FASD prevalence and delivery of a Positive Parenting Project; is a member of the National FASD Advisory Group; developed the Australian Guide to FASD Diagnosis and is Head of the NSW FASD Assessment Service. Elizabeth is a member of the Finance, Audit, and Risk Management Committee.

REBECCA WARK

Board Member since March 2020. Rebecca Wark is an experienced leader of major infrastructure projects and has been at NSW Health Infrastructure CEO since 2008 and CEO since 2019, overseeing the development of some of the State’s largest hospitals and public health services. Currently, she is proudly leading the delivery of the largest health capital works portfolio in Australia. Previously Rebecca worked on significant infrastructure projects across the public and private sectors. Her experience is multisector; her first public sector role was planning and delivery venues for the Sydney Olympics and she has since delivered facilities in education, justice, and health. Rebecca has completed studies in landscape architecture and project management, is a strong advocate for women in leadership, and acts as a mentor to young professionals in business and construction. Rebecca sits on the Redevelopment Sub-Committee.

DAVID HEATHCOTE Bec FINSIA MAF

Board Member since March 2020. David Heathcote spent more than two decades working for international and investment banks, both in Australia and the United Kingdom. In early 2009, David returned from the United Kingdom to join KPMG Australia, where he has held a number of senior roles, including, National and Global Head of Debt Advisory, Group Head of Deal Advisory, Head of Corporate Finance and continues to remain active with the dual responsibility of National Managing Partner Deals, Tax and Legal and Global Client Lead Partner. During his time at KPMG, he has held a number of internal Executive and Board roles, was an activation leader for a firm-wide cultural change program and has been involved in a number of philanthropic activities. David is a member of the Investments Committee and also sits on the Redevelopment Sub-Committee.

NICKI ASHTON BA GAICD

Board Member since March 2020. Nicki Ashton is an experienced Executive Director of a unique diversified and truly aligned global fund manager. She is responsible for development and implementation of strategy, business development, investor relations, and product agenda for the Australian business. She has expertise across investment management, sales management, distribution, risk management, business development and investment consulting. Nicki has worked in finance and investment sectors for over 25 years in Australia and the United States. Over this time, she has held senior executive roles with IFM Investments, Russell Investments, Citigroup, Ecofin,Deutsche Bank and the Pendal Group. She has a passionate interest in disability, serving as a Treasurer for the Cerebral Palsy Sport & Recreation Association since 2010, and as a Non-Executive Director of the Vision Australia Trust since 2018. Nicki has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Sydney and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nicki chairs the Investments Committee and is a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee.

ROBIN HARRIS

Board member since April 2021. Robin Harris has extensive experience in the financial services sector including equities and derivatives markets, funds management, banking, and insurance. He has also worked in areas of defence procurement, infrastructure funding and data services for the Australian intelligence community. Formerly a media and policy advisor to the Federal Labour Treasurer, John Dawkins in the Government of Prime Minister Paul Keating, Robin dealt with Federal Budget policy, financial and capital markets, taxation, superannuation, industry competition, trade practices, foreign acquisitions, Commonwealth/State financial relations and international economic conditions. In 2000 he was one of four founding directors of Government Relations Australia (now GRA Cosway) where he remained a director and company secretary until 2017. Robin has represented a range of State-Owned Enterprises in their programs of asset acquisition in Australia, including State Grid Corporation of China. In 2016, he co-founded the Statesman Institute, a coalition of experts drawn from the ranks of former governments, regulators, and bureaucrats, able to offer specialised advice across a range of industry sectors. He continues to represent a range of corporations in discreet representations to government in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Singapore and until recently, Hong Kong. Robin sits on the Redevelopment Sub-Committee.

JACQUELINE EMERY
Chief Executive Officer

Jacqui Emery is an experienced leader in the media, education and not for profit sectors with a broad skillset covering strategy, governance, transformation, operations, relationships, marketing and communications.

Prior to becoming CEO, Jacqui was the Director of Business, People and Culture at Royal Far West, and the executive lead on the development of the Bushfire Recovery Program, supporting the mental health and development of children directly impacted by the bushfire event of 2019/20 summer.

Jacqui has also held leadership roles in some of Australia’s most well-known organisations including The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the Australian Financial Review Group and Readers Digest.

MARK DRIESSEN
Chief Operating Officer

Mark joined Royal Far West in September 2020. His career spans over 32 years where he has held senior positions at Partner level in professional practice in addition to CFO and COO roles.  His experience is predominately in the areas of financial evaluation and management, risk management, assurance, governance and internal control frameworks, business process improvement, probity, leadership, strategy, stakeholder management and engagement.  Mark has spent significant time working in the government, disability, health, justice, and not-for-profit sectors.  He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting), is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand and qualified registered company auditor.

LINDSAY CANE AM
Project Director and Client Representative

Lindsay Cane AM is the Project Director and Client Representative for RFW’s $300 million redevelopment project on the Manly beachfront. She is the recently retired CEO of RFW, after 10 years in that role from 2011 to 2021. Lindsay is an experienced NFP CEO and Company Director with extensive experience in the third sector, and in 2019 was awarded ‘CEO of the Year’ in this space.

Lindsay has a wealth of experience in leading, managing and inspiring organisational development and growth in the service sector. She has a background in clinical and educational physiotherapy, healthcare management, computing and sports leadership, with previous leadership roles that include CEO of the Australian Physiotherapy Association, Executive Director of The Asthma Foundation and CEO of Netball Australia. In addition, she is a Non-Executive Director for WentWest PHN, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists (SHPA) and the Confederation of Australian Sport (CAS).