About Us

 Bestest Foundation Board Members

 The Hon Bob Hawke, A.C., Founding Co-Chairman, Bestest Foundation  2006-2019

The Hon Bob Hawke was born in South Australia in 1929.  After completing his education at the University of Western Australia, (degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Economics), in 1953 – 1955 he studied at Oxford University under a Rhodes Scholarship, graduation with the degree of Bachelor of Letters.

In 1956 he returned to Australia to take up a research scholarship at the Australian National University and in 1958 became Research Officer and Advocate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).  He was ACTU President from 1970 – 1980.

In 1980 he was elected to the Federal Parliament and in February 1983 became the Leader of the Opposition.  He led the Labor Party to victory in the general election in March 1983 and in winning three successive elections, became Australia’s longest serving Labor Prime Minister.  He ceased to be Prime Minister in December 1991 and resigned from the Parliament in February 1992.  In August 2009, Mr Hawke was given National Life Membership of the Australian Labor Party.

The Hon Bob Hawke, A.C. passed away May 2019. We will miss a remarkable man, an inspirational thinker, a champion for equality of opportunity for all Australians and a man or incomparable passion.

Curt Zuber, Group Treasurer, Westpac Banking Corporation, Co-Chairman Bestest Foundation

Curt joined Westpac Banking Corporation in 1995.  He was appointed to Group Treasurer in October 2004 which is the position he remains in today.

Curt was born in the U.S. in the State of Iowa but after spending a year working in Australia in 1992 with Household International, he decided to make Sydney his permanent home in 1995.

Curt’s passion for helping kids in need is what attracted him to the Bestest Foundation in 2013.  He was a member of the Board and volunteered to be Co-Chairman in 2017.

Curt offers his time to numerous charitable organisations including The Humpty Dumpty Foundation helping sick children, The Indigenous Marathon Foundation which uses the marathon as a vehicle to promote an active lifestyle to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and Gotch4Life who are raising awareness on men’s mental health.

Curt has a Bachelor of Arts from the Central College in Iowa and an MBA from Loyola University.

Nicholas Davie, CEO The Centrifuge and Brand Communities

Nicholas Davie is the Chairman of a quantitatively based hedge fund called Centrifuge Capital, a fund based on long term equity positions derived from machine learnings and proprietary causal algorithms.

Gina Boon

Gina’s 17 years in television spanned the Nine Network Australia and the Seven Network, reporting for and anchoring specialist and prime time local and national news programs.

Gina independently produced a one hour documentary on the powerful women of the White House – a behind the scenes look at the most powerful women influencing the most powerful leader in the world. The documentary, screened nationally in Australia as well as in the US, UK, South Africa, Europe, Asia and New Zealand – in all, 19 countries.

Gina has been MC and facilitator for various organisations and charities.

Gina was on the board of Mission Australia Foundation for 10 years from 1992 – 2002. For the last four years she headed up the Foundation. During that time Nelson Mandela, Greg Norman and Jack Nasser appeared as special guests for the Foundation.  For a number of years Gina was an Ambassador for the Spastic Centre of NSW.  Gina has served on two Advisory Boards for the NSW State Government.

In her role in media, she was associated with a number of charities and fundraising activities.

Dr Noel Purcell

Following an executive career spanning both the private and public sectors, Noel now devotes his time to non-executive director and advisory roles and to consulting in the areas of corporate governance, responsibility and sustainability.

Noel retired from Westpac Banking Corporation in September 2008 after 23 years in senior executive leadership roles including its stakeholder, marketing and corporate communication functions and managing the north Asian businesses.

Noel was elected to the Chair of the Global Governing Board of the Caux Round Table in January 2010.  Noel also currently sits on several boards and is Chair of the A&NZ Sustain Advisory Board, a member of the Tasmanian Government’s Climate Action Council, a Board member of Philanthropy Australia, and a Board member of the Bestest charity.  He is also an ambassador for Al Gore’s Climate Project global initiative and advises a range of organisations on sustainability and climate change.

Noel’s sustainability and corporate governance achievements were recognised when he was included in the Ethical Corporation’s 2007 Best of the Best as one of the top 15 ethical leaders globally.

Noel gained his Ph.D. and MSc from the University of Michigan, having earlier received a BEc from the Australian National University and a BSc (1^st  Class Hons) from the University of New England.  He also completed Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program, AMP (110), in 1992.

Mr Rob Murray

Rob Murray served as Chief Executive Officer of Lion Nathan from October 2004 until December 2012.  In April 2013, Rob joined the Lion Board as a Non Executive Director.  Since joining the Company, Rob has worked to position Lion Nathan to become Australasia’s leading alcoholic beverage company with brands in beer, fine wine and spirits.

Rob was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Oceania where he was responsible for a business with revenues in excess of $2 billion, 5,500 employees and 14 factories.  He has extensive knowledge of fast moving consumer goods as well as sales and marketing – having worked for Procter and Gamble and Spillers Pet food.

Tony Bonney, CEO, SpinEffects and Podium Business Events

Tony is the co-owner and CEO of SpinEffects.  SpinEffects is a tactical response agency that takes the insights from Big Data and turns them in to traction building outcomes for its customers.  Tony also owns and operates Podium Business Events.  Podium is a leading event marketing firm that develops and stages strategic relationship building programmes for corporations, arts bodies and Not for Profit organisations.  Amongst Podium and SpinEffects broad client base are organisations such as Virgin Australia, FIFA, The Asian Football Confederation, Cover-More, Scottish Pacific Benchmark and the Australian Rugby Union.

Tim Trumper, Managing Director, Communications for Commerce

Tim Trumper has been working in the media in Australia for over 20 years.  He has held a range of Board positions, CEO roles, and senior management postings in ASX listed companies, large-scale international conglomerates, in  media, Internet and consumer marketing industries.

Tim has had extensive experience in turnarounds, business development and P&L direction in major divisions of PBL and Time Warner.  Tim is a passionate executive in the internet sector having been CEO of a listed Internet company, ICH (Info choice Ltd) and has successfully raised capital from private equity and merged organizations into listed ASX companies.

Hamish Turner, CEO, R.M.Williams

Mr Hamish Turner is Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Australian iconic bush outfitter, R.M.Williams Holdings and Executive Director of R.M.Williams Agricultural Holdings, operating a diversified and strategic portfolio of agricultural assets in Australia.

Since 2006 Hamish has been the Deputy Chairman of Tourism Transport Forum Australia (TTF), the peak industry group for Australian tourism, transport, aviation and investment sectors. Hamish is a past General Manager of Sydney Royal Easter Show working with the RAS from 1990 to 2000.

Guillaume Brahimi, Guillaume at Bennelong

Guillaume Brahimi, a Frenchman who now calls Sydney home, is one of Australia’s most popular and acclaimed chefs.  The three-star Michelin trained French Chef worked with Joel Robouchon in Paris before moving to Australia.   Guillaume at Bennelong is situated in the southern shell of the Sydney Opera House.

In March 2008, Guillaume expanded his culinary contributions by opening his very own Bistro, Bistro Guillaume, at Melbourne’s Crown Casino and in  September 2012 Guillaume opened his 2nd Bistro Guillaume in Crown Perth.

Guillaume is on the board for the Sydney Cancer Centre and the Bestest Foundation and is very active in many fundraising initiatives.

In 2010 Brahimi authored his first book, Guillaume: Food for Friends, published by Penguin’s Lantern.

Maureen Kerridge (Plasvic), Company Director

Maureen spent 14 years (1998-2003) at the Seven Network including Chief Executive of Broadcast Television and prior to that, Director of Sales and Corporate Marketing.

Maureen is a Non-Executive Director at Macquarie Radio Network Limited since April 22, 2005 and a trustee of The National Gallery of Victoria since 2003.

She has served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Pacific Brands Ltd. from May 2004 to October 25, 2011 and a Director of Opera Australia from 1998 to 2003.

Stephen Thatcher, Director, Pages Event Equipment

Stephen Thatcher is a Director of Pages Event Equipment.  Pages was established in 1957 and is considered Australia’s leading supplier to the corporate hospitality and special event industry.  Stephen is a board member of Bestest Foundation and a current council member for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Gold Dinner.

Lynne Ireland, Founder & CEO, Inspired Luxury

Lynne Ireland is recognized as a leading travel communicator and brand strategist globally.  Lynne has been on the executive management and strategic teams of both regional and global companies, creating and implementing multi-award winning brand management strategies.

Anthony Ellis, National Investment Director, Zenith Optimedia Worldwide