DHA Annual Report 2012

Board members

Board members

MR DEREK VOLKER AO Chairman of the DHA Board

Mr Volker was appointed Chairman of the DHA Board on 26 July 2008 and reappointed for a further term on 13 October 2011. He is also Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Chairman of the Property Committee. Mr Volker headed three Commonwealth Departments over the fifteen year period to 1996 – Veterans’ Affairs, Social Security and Employment, Education and Training. From 1996 to 2004 he was Chairman of the Government Relations Group in the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth and he has been a company director and consultant to several major Australian and international companies. For the ACT Government he has held the positions of Chair of the ACT Business Incentives Scheme Panel, Chair of ACT Tourism, Chair of the Education Export Council, Chairman of the ACT Skills Commission and Chairman of the City West Precinct Committee. He is also Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Australian National Institute for Public Policy at the ANU.

MR MICHAEL DEL GIGANTE BCom (Hons), MCom, MBA, FCPA, FICDManaging Director

Mr Del Gigante was appointed Managing Director of DHA in August 2006 and reappointed for a further term on 3 August 2011. Mr Del Gigante joined DHA as Chief Operating Officer in April 2004 and was appointed Managing Director in August 2006. Before joining DHA, he was Chief Executive Officer of TransACT Communications. Prior to this, he was Chief Financial Officer of ActewAGL, a large electricity, water and gas utility company in Canberra. Mr Del Gigante has held senior positions with the World Bank and the Inter-American Investment Corporation in Washington, DC. He has also held executive positions in Verizon (previously GTE), a large US telecommunications company, in both Europe and the United States. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Royal Australian and the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

AVM GARY BECK (Retd) AO GAICD

Mr Beck was appointed to the DHA Board on 23 November 2006 following his nomination by the Chief of the Defence Force, and was reappointed on 23 November 2009 and 24 November 2011. He is the Chairman of the DHA Advisory Committee. Gary Beck is a Senior Consultant with RMC Pty. Ltd. He is a member of the ACT Council of Save the Children Australia, and is patron of Tandem, an organisation providing respite to carers of the handicapped in the ACT. He concluded eight years with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in a statutory appointment as Director of War Graves and earlier concluded a 38-year career in the RAAF, with his final posting as Commandant Australian Defence Force Academy. His two prior senior Defence appointments were Air Commander Australia and Chief of Air Force Personnel.

THE HON. ARCH BEVIS

Mr Bevis was appointed to the DHA Board on 13 October 2011. He is a member of the Property Committee. Before entering Parliament in 1990, Mr Bevis was a senior officer of the Queensland Teachers’ Union. He was a Board Member of the Queensland Teachers’ Union Health Fund and Chairperson of the Union Shopper. In his 20 years in Parliament, Mr Bevis chaired a number of Parliamentary committees. He was leader of Australian delegations to Japan and the NATO Assembly, and an Australian participant in Australian American Leadership Dialogues on Security. He held various portfolio responsibilities serving as Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Shadow Minister for Defence, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, Aviation and Transport Security. Mr Bevis is a Member of the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal.

MS CAROL HOLLEY BA

Ms Holley was appointed to the DHA Board on 23 November 2009 and was appointed to the Property Committee in July 2011. Ms Holley’s current Board appointments include Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Limited and Independent Member of the Audit Committee of Sinclair Knight Merz. In addition, Ms Holley is the Independent Chair of the Risk Management and Audit Committees of NSW Police Force, NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure, Land and Housing Corporation, Northern Sydney Local Health District and the Central Coast Local Heath District. Ms Holley was a Partner of Hill Rogers, Chartered Accountants, for 25 years, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, is a Chartered Accountant, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Registered Company Auditor, and Registered Tax Agent.

THE HON. J.A.L. (SANDY) MACDONALD LLB (Sydney) 

Mr Macdonald was appointed to the DHA Board on 24 July 2008 and reappointed on 13 October 2011. He is a member of the Audit and Property Committees. Mr Macdonald was elected to the Senate in 1993 and retired from the Parliament on 30 June 2008. During his parliamentary career he was Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence. His committee experience was broad, but with particular reference to defence, international affairs and security. He served for eight years as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. In 2011 he was appointed to the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board. He is also a non-executive director f Incremental Oil & Gas Ltd. He lives near Quirindi, New South Wales, where he is a wool and beef producer.

MR GARY POTTS BEc (Hons), MSc 

Mr Potts, the nominee of the Secretary, Department of Finance and Deregulation, was appointed to the DHA Board on 23 November 2006 and reappointed from 23 November 2009. He is Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Mr Potts has more than 30 years’ experience in public policy and government operations. He has served as a Commissioner of the Productivity Commission. He is Chairman of the Australian subsidiary of a (foreign owned) general insurance company. Before leaving the Australian Public Service in 2002, Mr Potts was an Executive Director and Deputy Secretary in the Australian Department of the Treasury.

MR PETER SHARP 

Mr Sharp, the nominee of the Secretary, Department of Defence, was appointed to the DHA Board on 23 November 2006 and reappointed on 23 November 2009 and 27 November 2011. He is a member of the Audit and Property Committees. Mr Sharp has over 45 years experience in the Australian Army and in the Department of Defence. His Army career spanned tours of duty in Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. In the Department of Defence, he held senior positions as Inspector General, Head Defence Corporate Support and First Assistant Secretary Personnel. In 2002, he led the Defence Strategic Workforce Planning Review, the first of its type in the Commonwealth. Mr Sharp is the Defence representative on the Australian Bravery Decorations Council.

MS MARGARET WALKER BCom

Ms Walker was appointed to the DHA Board on 15 July 2009 and reappointed on 12 July 2012. She is a member of the Audit and Nomination and Remuneration Committees. Ms Walker is a Non-Executive Director of Cystic Fibrosis Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is a member of the Australian Society of CPAs and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Women on Boards. Ms Walker has over 25 years of senior executive experience with a variety of organisations, including ten years in strategic roles as Executive Director and Director Operations of a Commonwealth Bank-owned subsidiary, Tactical Global Management (TGM). TGM was then a pre-eminent global macro hedge fund firm with offices in Brisbane and London and US$1.2b funds under management.