Board of Trustees

Ms Russo is the Founder and Managing Director of the Sarina Russo Group.
The Group includes Sarina Russo Schools Australia, Sarina Russo Job Access, Russo Recruitment, Russo Higher Education and Sarina Investments. She was a recipient of the Centenary Medal in 2003 for distinguished service to education and is co-author of Meet Me at the Top! (a motivational business text) launched in December 2002.

Ms Russo was recognised as one of the forty Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World in 2002 and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management Program. Sarina is a member of several boards including the Queensland Premier’s Business Advisory Board, Tourism Queensland, Council for Multicultural Australia, Queensland Education and Training Export Board, Women’s Leadership Board of the John F Kennedy School of Government and is chairperson of the Jupiters Casino Community Benefit Fund.

Mr Bishop is a chartered accountant and was a Partner of a Brisbane chartered accounting firm from 1964 until 1999.  Trevor is currently Chairman of Trustees of the Camp Hill Carina Welfare Association (Clem Jones Youth Centre), Chairman of Directors of the Clem Jones Home for the Aged and was the Director of Queensland Power Trading Corporation group of companies (Enertrade) until June 2006.  He is also a Director of a number of sporting clubs.

David Ford has been Deputy Under Treasurer since August 2005, following a period as Deputy Director-General in the Department of Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development and over a decade as Executive Director of the Queensland Office of Gaming Regulation within Queensland Treasury.  He is the 2006 Chair of the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR), an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a member of the Institute of Public Administration of Australia.

Founder and former Chairman of Marketshare, John Lyons is now an independent Company Director and businessman, with a special interest in high-growth, seriously innovative companies: Chairman library technology company Softlink International Ltd, Director of O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse and Canungra Valley Vineyard and Advisory Board Director of on-line human resource management technology company Onetest Pty Ltd.  He is also a Trustee and Board member of the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and Queensland Councillor of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Early in his career, John Lyons topped Australia in marketing with a global chemical company, Bayer. He then founded and built national market research and marketing company, Marketshare, selling it after 20 years. He is co-author with Dr Edward de  Bono of the recently released best-selling book and video website Marketing Without Money, which examines the different thinking skills of top entrepreneurial innovators.

Graeme Downie is a Chartered Accountant whose business interests include ownership of the Charlies Restaurant in Surfers Paradise and partnership in Charlies Broadbeach.  He continues to consult with Worrells, Gold Coast, his former practice.  He currently sits on the boards of the Brisbane Bears/Brisbane Lions, Surfers Paradise Central Management Ltd/Surfers Paradise Management Ltd and is a Commissioner (appointed 1999) with AFL Queensland.  Mr Downie brings extensive experience with sporting clubs to the Board of Trustees. 

Mr Xynias dedicates his time to community organisations such as the Australian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and to the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland. He is a member of the Queensland Commemorative Events and Celebrations Committee, Chairman of the Lord Mayor's Multicultural Round Table and is a committee member of a number of community organisations.