Board of Directors
Peter Connie
Chair
Peter’s career has primarily been in the drug and alcohol sector and for the past 30 years he has been involved in the management of treatment services, including policy development. Moving to the mid north coast in 2007, Peter worked as a mental health case manager and as Manager of Macksville and Bellingen Community Health Services.
He has now returned to part time work in mental health services as a case manager. Peter has a long association with the non-Government sector and is strongly committed to NGOs providing direct community services. He has been a CHESS Board Member since 2010.
Megan George
Vice Chair
Megan joined the CHESS Board in 2004. Megan has a Degree and Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Science, Occupational Therapy and has worked in a variety of public and private health care settings. Between 2002 and 2008 Megan established and managed the North Coast offices of Advanced Personnel Management, a national Rehabilitation Company.
At the beginning of 2008, Megan established her own consulting business to work with people who have an injury or disability which impacts on their ability to function and assists them to regain their independence.
Charles La Coste
Director
Charles has a strong interest in the recovery of people with a mental illness. While in Rotary, he organised a very successful Mental Health Forum attended by several hundred people. Charles has worked in the insurance industry for over 32 years in various underwriting and marketing roles.
Charles moved to Coffs Harbour from Sydney in 2001, and has enjoyed the change in pace. He is a fellow of The Australian and New Zealand Insurance Institute and is currently Manager and Director of Westlawn Insurance Brokers (Coffs Harbour) Pty Ltd. Charles has been a CHESS Board Member since 2003.
David Bennetts
Governance Chair
David is a retired Supreme Court Barrister, who relocated to Coffs Harbour from Sydney in 2003. He has been extensively involved in aquatic sports-competitive swimming, teaching, life saving and scuba diving and was a Director of The Royal Life Saving Society-NSW for 18 years.
In business, David eventually became the Sales and Marketing Manager of one of Australia’s largest screen printers in a career of nearly 20 years with the one employer. As further testament to his career diversity David also taught sales, marketing, management, law and ethics at the Northern Institute of TAFE (Hornsby Campus) for 10 years (part-time). David has been a CHESS Board Member since 2012.
Brian Marshall
Audit & Risk Chair
Brian has over 20 years experiencing in the accounting industry with a strong background in taxation, management accounting and commercial enterprises.
Brian is currently Head Teacher of Business, Finance and Accounting Faculty with North Coast TAFE Coffs Harbour, and has a Masters of Government & Commercial Law, Bachelor of Business in Accounting and a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
Being a Coffs Harbour local, Brian has returned to raise his family and has an interest in giving back to the community. He has previously been involved in a not for profit organisation providing rehabilitation via horseriding for the disabled, local sports clubs and organisations. Brian has been a CHESS Board Member since 2013.
Linda Elizabeth Kirkwood
Director
Linda has a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Bachelor of Economics degree, a Master of Organisational Development and Training and a Graduate Certificate in Industrial Relations.
Linda has worked in a variety of leadership roles over the past 35 years and is currently owner and principal consultant at Lennox leadership development. Linda joined the board of CHESS in February 2015
Victoria Winter
Director
Victoria has a Bachelor of Psychology with Honours and Masters of Psychology (Counselling). Victoria is a member of Australian Psychological Society, member of Association of Cognitive Behavior Therapists and a member of Association of Contextual Behavioural Science. Victoria is a Psychologist at North Coast Area Health Service.