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Board of Directors

The Board of Directors bring professional expertise in a variety of areas. The Board is responsible for providing strategic oversight, financial management, review of our performance as well as ensuring we are governed by appropriate policies and procedures.

Each board member is passionate about the work undertaken and bring great foresight to guide the NORTH Foundation now and into the future.

Michael Ellies

Director, Chair

Michael graduated as a doctor and worked for several years in Australia and the UK before undertaking a MBA at London Business School, following which he had a varied career across management consulting, start-ups, media and business services. Michael now focuses on mentoring and non-executive director roles with organisations that are involved in life sciences research and public education of health and science. Aside from work, Michael and his partner are avid travellers. Michael joined the NORTH Foundation board because of its alignment with his skills and interests and with the aim of contributing to the growth and impact of the organisation. Michael is also a regular donor to world-class medical research teams at the Kolling Institute.

Anthony Schembri

Director

Anthony Schembri is the Chief Executive of Northern Sydney Local Health District overseeing a $2 billion budget and a workforce of 12,000 for a population of nearly 1 million. His career spans leadership in various healthcare services, board appointments, hospital social work roles and adjunct professorial roles at UNSW Sydney and Australian Catholic University. Previously, he led St Vincent’s Health Network Sydney for nearly a decade and served in diverse community roles. He has received the Premier's Community Service Award in 1998 and being named a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019. Anthony holds multiple qualifications and is a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Managers, with 30 years of social work service.

Jonathan Morris

Director

  • MBChB, Medicine
  • Professor of Obsetrics and Gynaecology, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist
  • Former Director, Kolling Institute
  • Former Professor, University of Sydney

Tim Parker

Director

Tim and his siblings were born at Royal North Shore Hospital and his mother and sister both trained and worked as midwives at the hospital. Tim has raised money for charities since a young age through various fundraising initiatives and he is passionate about philanthropic giving. Tim and his wife co-founded a charity that funds cancer research and one of the main beneficiaries has been the Bill Walsh Lab. Tim is a Chartered Accountant and Director of Bedford CA Advisory, a business advisory accounting practice based in North Sydney.

Penny Williams

Director, Secretary

Penny was born at Royal North Shore Hospital and her siblings, parents and children have all been treated and taken care of within the NSLHD. Her mother passed away from a brain tumour at age 64 but was cared for through her final months by palliative services provided by the NSLHD. Penny studied medical science and went on to manage clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry. Penny joined the then Kolling Foundation board in 2016 and sees this opportunity to give back to her local community with a focus on healthcare, medical research and enhancing patient outcomes.

Tanya Bowes

Director

Tanya has a BA (Hons) in Business Studies, GAICD. She is currently the Director of Corporate Affairs for the CSIRO and was previously the Director of the Australian Science Media Centre and Chair of the Vodafone Foundation. Tanya believes initiatives supported by the NORTH Foundation, particularly the research programs, not only help communities in the northern suburbs of Sydney but can impact people across Australia.

David Singer

Director

David grew up in the local district and his father was a doctor. When he was 12, his mother was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) with a brain tumour and told she had a life expectancy of six months. Thanks to the care and dedication of the doctors and nursing staff, his mother lived for another 26 years. David’s father passed due to dementia related illnesses and also spent time at RNSH. David is now a Fellow of the Securities Institute Australia. He is the former MD and Head of Sales Trading at UBS Securities Australia Ltd and was the Vice President, Equity Sales Trading at Merrill Lynch Australia Ltd. With decades of experience, David believes that joining the NORTH Foundation board has given him the opportunity to ‘give back’ to the health district that cared for his parents and where his three children were born.

Michelle Tea

Director

Michelle has more than 20 years’ experience in the ICT industry and is currently VP of Customer Success at Salesforce. Using technology to solve complex industry and business problems, Michelle and her teams have worked on projects ranging from building systems that calculate carbon tax to the evolution of digital technology in NSW Education. Having worked with Microsoft in various roles, she most recently served as Microsoft's Australian Services Director. During this time, she introduced a digital transformation practice that was subsequently adopted by the global organisation. Michelle has a keen interest in encouraging youth to study science and especially young girls to pursue careers in science and maths.

Sophie Macintosh

Director

Sophie is an experienced legal and governance professional with over 20 years’ experience working across top tier global law firms and global corporates, and is currently the Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer and Company Secretary of Smartgroup Corporation, and is also a Director of the Smartgroup Foundation. Sophie holds a Masters in Law from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Business (Finance) from The University of Technology, Sydney. Sophie lives in the North Shore district and has been lucky to have three of her children born at Royal North Shore Hospital. The Hospital has provided life saving care to her young children on more than one occasion and she is grateful for the opportunity to use her skills to contribute back to the health district that has provided so much to her family.