Board of Directors
Dawson Petie
Chairman
Dawson has over 20 years experience as a company director and chairman of boards. He has served on the boards of some of Queensland’s largest organisations including UnitingCare, QIC, Queensland Rail and Sunsuper. His current director roles include UnitingCare Queensland, Indue Ltd and Ocwen Energy Pty Ltd.
He has held senior executive positions in major business organisations. These include commercial, government and not-for-profit businesses. Prior to his retirement from full-time employment, Dawson was a general manager for QIC, one of Australia’s major institutional investors with over $80 billion in funds under management for its clients.
Dawson also has extensive experience with government boards and committees, many of these in the education and training sector. He was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to the community.
His broad career experience has equipped him with a wide range of knowledge, skills, relationship networks and business experience.
Dawson is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.
Geoffrey Colwill
Director
Geoffrey lives with his young family in Uki in the Tweed Valley and recently returned from the Findhorn ecovillage in Scotland, where he was the Finance Director for many years. He has a wealth of experience working with a wide range of commercial and not for profit organisations in the UK and Australia. He has progressed from commercial real estate, to finance and finally to business and people management in general. Communication and effectiveness are amongst his passions. Geoffrey was attracted to NORTEC by the organisational culture – taking a genuine interest in people’s well being and the commitment to being a force for good on the North Coast of NSW and South East Queensland.
Fiona Evans
Director
Fiona Evans commenced her career with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and qualified as a chartered accountant before gaining post-graduate qualifications in marketing and working as an agent of change across the eastern seaboard of Australia and internationally. As a graduate member of the AICD with over 20 years experience in c-suite roles, she has worked with iconic brands such as GE Capital Finance, Young and Rubicam (London), Members Equity and the Brisbane Lions. With a strong belief in community involvement and a passion for making a difference, Fiona has fulfilled various volunteer roles as well as previously being a director for ACT for Kids and Lifetec QLD. After undergoing a health scare Fiona took some time out from her career, rediscovered her love for writing, and self-published her own book. She now resides at Kingscliff and works as a consultant, non-executive director and freelance tender writer.
David Fayyad
Director
David is currently General Counsel at TransGrid, a large national energy infrastructure company, where he leads the organisation’s legal, compliance and governance functions. Prior to this role, he held senior positions in public relations, policy and risk & audit. He also worked as an electrical engineer for a number of years where he gained experience in infrastructure and the execution of large capital projects across a variety of industries. David brings a broad range of skills and experience in management, strategy, governance and stakeholder management to the Board. David holds two Masters Degrees in Law, a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, a Graduate Diploma of Applie Corporate Governance, a Diploma of Engineering Practice and is a Graduate of the Melbourne Business School – Mt Eliza Executive Education.
Michael Kinnane
Director
Michael is a qualified Director (FAICD) and a collaborative change leader with extensive experience with all three levels of Government in Australia. He has a keen interest in public policy and a passion for and experience with Indigenous advancement. His extensive experience with corporate governance, strategy formulation and change leadership spans over 22 years and reflects a record of outcomes benefiting the community in the fields of Emergency Management, Local Government and Indigenous advancement.
Michael’s career to date has involved the leadership of large, diverse organisations, some with up to 8500 employees and, in the case of the Emergency Management sector, networks of volunteers numbering in the order of 40,000. His responsibility over resources has seen Michael presiding over budgets of $1.2bn per year. His solid record of achievement was recognised by his award in the Australia Day Honours List with an Emergency Services Medal in 2005. Michael’s 11 years of experience as a Chief Executive and Accountable Officer in three prominent State Government Departments and 22 years as a Chair or Member of Public Sector Boards of Management provides an insight to his intimate knowledge of the workings of government, and his strong commitment to public value and practical community outcomes. With an already solid track record in Board membership, Michael is continuing to build his Board portfolio with his recent appointment to the not-for-profit organisations NORTEC Employment and Training and Youth Emergency Services (based in Brisbane).
Linda Spurr
Director
Linda Spurr is an independent non-executive director and an accomplished senior executive. She has more than 20 years’ management experience across a number of industries including aviation, health, financial services and construction. Most recently she held the position of Registered Training Organisation CEO for Airservices Australia, responsible for operational training in Air Traffic Control, Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting, and Technical and Engineering support services. Linda is a Fellow CPA and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds qualifications in training, business, real estate management and financial markets. Linda’s career spans the private and public sectors and not-for-profit organisations. With strong commercial acumen she has led significant reform initiatives and contestability programs in education and training, shared services and health services. Linda’s achievements have been recognised with industry awards – Telstra Business Women’s Awards (Government and Academia) ACT Finalist, NAB Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards – Emerging Leader in the Public Sector and CPA Australia Awards – Qld Public Sector Accountant of the Year.
Sarah Lance
Director
Sarah Lance is an independent Non-Executive Director and Chair with over 25 years experience in senior executive roles in Australia and Overseas. Her executive experience spans entrepreneurial-start up conference companies (New York and New Zealand) to Post Graduate, Vocational Education and Training organisations both commercial and not-for-profit. She has managed cross-functional teams across Australia and New Zealand focussed on strategy, business development, marketing and communications. Her consulting company, LikeMinds Consulting brings the stakeholder voice to the boardroom to facilitate strategy.
Sarah is currently a Non-Executive Director/Chair on three Boards – both commercial and not for profit:
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- Chair, St John Ambulance Australia (NSW) (Australia’s largest provider of First Aid Services)
- Non Executive Director, Cliftons (Asia Pacific’s leading provider of premium training and events facilities)
- Independent Director, NEAS (Stakeholder led Quality Assurance for English Language Schools in Australia and Asia)
Sarah holds a Bachelor of Education from Sydney University, an MBA from the AGSM and is a Graduate of The Company Directors Course (AICD).