Katie is Executive General Manager External Affairs for Centennial Coal. She has 30 years’ experience in the private sector including all three tiers of government and demonstrated specialist skills in stakeholder engagement and consultation, economic development, public and government relations. Katie is also a Director of the Newcastle Knights and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and former Director of Hunter Business Chamber and the Lake Macquarie Foundation.

Joss is a well-known member of the Hunter business community and has successfully built a number of manufacturing and engineering enterprises in the Hunter region. Joss currently holds the position of Director of Custom Fluidpower Ltd Pty, Comrie & Weir Pty Ltd, Dynamic Hydraulics Pty Ltd, Australian Automation Centre, Gamde Pty Ltd, Fluidtech International Pty Ltd, Newcastle Port Consortium Pty Ltd and WESF Pty Ltd. De Iuliis Wines is a stakeholder in the Hunter region’s wine industry, and Joss is an ambassador for the Hunter’s wine and tourism industries.

Greg is the Chairman of The Lake Macquarie Foundation and a Director of the Newcastle Golf Club. Greg has extensive business experience, both within the Hunter region and in hospitality and tourism sector. Greg was inducted into the NSW Restaurant and Catering Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2012 Greg was the inaugural Lake Macquarie “Business Person of the Year”. Greg was the President of the Warners Bay Chamber of Commerce for 19 years, a former Chairman of the Lake Macquarie Tourist Association and a former Director of Hunter Tourism.

Kay was a Director with the NSW Department of Education from 2007 to January 2016, having leadership and management responsibilities for NSW public schools and their Principals in Lake Macquarie East. For over a decade she was a member of the Department’s Hunter/Central Coast Regional, later Tamworth Network, Executive, and led a range of education portfolios including Equity, Student Wellbeing, Vocational Education and Professional Leadership. Previously she was principal of Lisarow High School on the Central Coast for over six years. She has also held executive positions in four other NSW high schools, has been the NSW Board of Studies Liaison Officer for the Hunter region and a previous NSW Education Regional Manager for equity and vocational education initiatives.

Christine has worked as an Executive at TAFE NSW since the Hunter TAFE Institute’s establishment in 1992. At this time Christine was appointed to the Hunter Institute of Technology Board as the Principal of Wyong College and the Faculty Director Electrical Engineering. As Chair of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet’s Hunter Regional Managers Network, and as a member of the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Leadership Groups, Christine is an active contributor to the economic and strategic direction of the Hunter and Central Coast Regions.

Gary is the former CEO and Director of Newcastle Port Corporation (2004 – 2013), a Director of the Hunter Valley Research Foundation and Board Member of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and in 2008 was named as Newcastle City Council’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year.