Bruce Cowley, Chairperson BCom LLB (HONS) FAICD

Bruce Cowley is a partner of Minter Ellison, Australia's largest law firm, Chairman of Partners in the firm's Brisbane office, and an elected member of the Minter Ellison Board. A practising lawyer for more than 30 years, he is adviser to many public and private companies and government corporations.  He has a particular interest in directors' duties and crisis management issues and has spoken and written widely on corporate governance in Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD), member of the Queensland State Council of the AICD and sits on the AICD's Law Committee. Outside the law, Bruce is involved in a number of organisations that work to facilitate and provide educational and vocational opportunities for students and indigenous youth, including as a Director of RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre Ltd and as President of the Queensland Private Enterprise Centre, Inc. He sits on the Council of the University of the Sunshine Coast and is a member of Griffith University's Business School Advisory Board. He is currently Deputy Chair of the Cerebral Palsy League in Queensland.

Helen Darch BA Grad Dip Info Sci MEd MAICD

Helen is a founding partner and Director of Niche Consultants, a consultancy specialising in market research, strategy, and communication. Prior to establishing Niche Consultants, she worked as Group Manager Communication Services at Rowland Communication Group, as a consultant at SMS Management and Technology and in a series of project director roles at the University of Queensland. Helen has extensive strategic planning, corporate communication, market research, and management consulting experience, and has consulted in a wide range of industry sectors including education, health, government, and the resources sector. She is currently Chair of the Cerebral Palsy League in Queensland, and a Director of the CP Australia Board.

Susan Forrester BA LLB (Hons) EMBA FAICD

Originally trained as a banking and finance lawyer, Susan Forrester brings to the Board more than 20 years of commercial experience in the legal, governance and human resource areas, spanning the public and private sectors. This experience was gathered whilst in executive management roles in corporate treasury and professional services firms during which time she completed an Executive MBA with Melbourne Business School, specialising in change management and strategy. Susan serves as a non-executive director on the Boards of Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, G8 Education Ltd, Shine Lawyers Ltd, Gold Coast Parklands and the Brisbane Festival Pty Ltd. In addition to her Board portfolio, Susan leads the strategy practice within Board Matters Pty Ltd, a specialist governance consultancy.

Stephen Gray is Professor of Finance at the University of Queensland Business School and Director of SFG Consulting. He has Honours degrees in Commerce and Law from the University of Queensland and a PhD in financial economics from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. In his university role, he teaches a range of award and executive education courses in financial management, asset valuation, and corporate finance. He has received a number of teaching awards, including a national award for university teaching in the field of business and economics. He has published widely in highly-ranked journals and has received a number of manuscript awards. Stephen is also an active consultant to industry on issues relating to valuation, cost of capital, and corporate financial strategy. He has acted as a consultant to many of Australia’s leading companies, government-owned corporations, and regulatory bodies. Projects include corporate cost of capital reviews, asset valuation, independent valuation of executive stock options, and the development of corporate financial strategies.He has also appeared as an independent expert in several court proceedings relating to the valuation of assets and businesses and the quantification of damages.

Luke McGrath

Luke is the managing director of investment consultancy MyCFA Pty Ltd. In his professional career spanning a period of more than 25 years Luke has held senior positions with some of Australia’s largest investment banks and financial services organisations consulting to numerous listed and unlisted companies and private individuals. Luke is also Chairman of Plantic Technologies Limited and Chairman of the Merchant Charitable Foundation, a Director of The Skin Cancer Network and a Director of a number of private companies.

Bronwyn Morris B.Comm FCA FAICD

Bronwyn Morris is a professional Non-Executive Director whose portfolio spans the publicly-listed, Government and not-for-profit  sectors across a broad range of industries. She is a director of  QIC Limited, Collins Foods Limited, RACQ and Care Australia. Bronwyn is also a Councillor of the Queensland Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and served on the Bid Team for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Along with other board committees, Bronwyn currently serves as Chairman of, or a member of, the Audit and Risk Committees for each of her board roles.
Bronwyn  has also served on the boards of Spotless Group Limited, Colorado Group Limited, Stanwell Corporation Limited, Brisbane Marketing Pty Ltd, Bond University  and Queensland Rail (where she was Chairman from 1999 to 2006). A chartered accountant and former partner of KPMG, Bronwyn worked with that firm and its predecessor firms in audit and corporate services in Brisbane, London and on the Gold Coast.

Shane O’Kane B.Comm/LLB

Shane is a Partner at global investment bank Brookfield Financial. He has over 25 years experience in the finance sector. He has held board or advisory board positions with a number of not for profit organisations associated with charities, sporting organisations and academic institutions. His current board positions include the Pyjama Foundation and Cherish The Children Foundation.

Dr Peter Steer MD BS FRACP FRCPC FAAP

Dr Steer was appointed CEO of Children’s Health Service in January 2009. This follows a long and distinguished career as a neonatologist, senior medical administrator and academic both in Australia and overseas. A graduate of the University of Queensland, Dr Steer was most recently the President of McMaster Children’s Hospital in Canada. During this time Dr Steer was Chief of Paediatrics at the hospital as well as at St Joseph’s Healthcare at Hamilton. He was also a Professor and Chair of the Department of Paediatrics at McMaster University.
Dr Steer has previously held senior leadership roles at the Mater Children’s Hospital, School of Public Health at the University of Queensland and the Centre of Clinical Studies for Women’s and Children’s Health.

Andrew Thomas BBus (Acc) CPA MBA

Andrew is the General Manager Philanthropy responsible for Perpetual’s total Philanthropic Services including the management of over 450 Charitable Trusts, Private Ancillary Funds and The Perpetual Foundation. In Andrew's professional career he has been the Executive Director of a large national not-for-profit organisation which operated in every State and Territory in Australia, providing very hands on view to the matrix of various regulations that non-profit organisations face.

CEO

Lyndall De Marco

Lyndall has been an advocate for children since 1995 when she founded the Youth Career Initiative (YCI) in Thailand. The success of this program led to an invitation to join the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum in London and expand YCI activities which now operate in thirteen countries.

Lyndall established two global initiatives for Prince Charles: The International Tourism Partnership mobilised the Leaders of the International Hotel Industry into a force that lead the change to build and operate more sustainable hotels. The Digital Partnership in South Africa and Ethiopia was a ground breaking public/ private partnership that bought tens of thousands of computers, connectivity and infrastructure to these countries with the support of their governments and funding from the World Bank. 

In 2005 she received the NEWH (US) Woman of the Year Award for her humanitarian work and in 2009 a Leadership Award for leading the change to a more sustainable tourism industry. Formerly the Corporate Director of Education for Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts responsible for the development of 14,000 staff, Lyndall recently designed a global empowerment program for women in partnership with UNWTO and UNFEM. 

She is currently a board member of Australians Helping Abroad, a trustee of the Diamond Jubilee Trust Australia and a member of the UNWTO World Committee for the Protection of Children. An Adjunct Professor for the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise and a regular guest lecturer in Responsible Leadership, Lyndall brings to CHF a unique brand of international business experience, a successful career in the NFP world and a track record in mobilising business as a force for good.