Queensland Community Foundation Patron and Board of Governors

The Honourable Mike Ahern AO

The Honourable Mike Ahern AO was a former Queensland Premier and over time held the Ministries of Primary Industries, Industry and Technology, and Health and Environment. Sadly Mike passed away in August 2023. He will be greatly missed by Queensland Community Foundation.

Mike was also Chairman of the Australian Liver Foundation and it was his request that those who wish to remember him make a lasting legacy through the QCF Liver Foundation sub-fund.

The Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC (Chair)

Margaret McMurdo was President, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland from 1998 until her resignation on 26 March 2017, an Assistant Public Defender from 1977 to 1989 and she practised at the Bar from 1989 until 1991 when she became the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the District Court of Queensland.

Margaret was awarded an honorary doctorate from Griffith University in 2001 and the Centenary Medal in 2003 and in 2006 she received the Agnes McWhinney award from the Queensland Law Society for outstanding professional contribution by a woman lawyer.  She was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to the law and judicial administration in Queensland, particularly in areas of legal education and women’s issues.

In 2009, she received an honorary degree from the Queensland University of Technology and in 2012 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Queensland. Margaret was a founding committee member of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Queensland and its president in 1980-81.

Margaret is currently chair of the board of Legal Aid Queensland and patron of Women’s Legal Service, Caxton Legal Service, and LawRight’s Civil Justice Fund.

She is a founding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a member of the American Law Institute, an adjunct professor at the T C Beirne school of law, University of Queensland, and the inaugural judge in residence at the law school of Southern Cross University.

Paul Antonio

Paul Antonio grew up on the family farm in the Millmerran area completing tertiary studies at the Queensland Agricultural College (now UQ Gatton) before embarking on a long and distinguished career in Local Government since 1982.

In 2000 Paul was elected unopposed as Mayor of Milmerran Shire council  and subsequently became Mayor of the newly created Toowoomba Regional Council in 2012 remaining for two further terms.  Paul was Deputy Chair of the Council of Mayors in South East Queensland and applied this experience to a collective group of Mayors covering eleven councils that stretch over one quarter of Queensland land area.

Since his ‘retirement’ Paul now divides his time between his Board commitments and his much loved family farm.

Gillian Brown

Gillian Brown is an independent non-executive director with specialist experience in financial services, infrastructure, transport and logistics, debt capital markets, funds management and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.

She is proxy for Kylie Rampa when Kylie is unavailable and also holds the following directorships: QIC Limited; QIC Private Capital Pty Ltd; BRIC Housing, Electricity Retained Interest Corporation – Ausgrid (ERIC-A); Ausgrid Operator Partnership, High Speed Rail Authority.

Professor Peter Coaldrake AO

Professor Peter Coaldrake AO completed his almost fifteen-year term as Vice-Chancellor and CEO of QUT at the end of 2017. Peter is a dual Fulbright Scholar, and author or editor of a number of books and monographs, including most recently as co-author (with Dr Lawrence Stedman), of Raising the Stakes: Gambling with the Future of Universities (UQP, April 2013; second edition 2016). Peter Coaldrake was recently appointed as Chair of the Board of the Queensland Performing Arts Trust. He is also Chair of the National Fulbright Selection Committee and of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. He served a two year term as Chair of the Board of Universities Australia until May 2011 and completed a further three year term as a member of that Board in May 2017. Peter Coaldrake was named this year as a recipient of a 2017 Queensland Great Award by the Premier, and was also awarded the 2016 Asia Pacific Leadership Award by the Council for Advancement of Support of Education (CASE).

Alistair Comyn

Alistair has over 16 years of experience in financial services and has worked in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK).

Alistair has held a number of finance roles within QIC including QIC’s Head of Financial Advisory.

Alistair holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Cape Town, and is a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Bernard Curran

Bernard Curran is an Executive Director of BDO and a former partner of the firm. He is currently a Director of Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Bickerton Master Holdings Pty Ltd, and the Treasurer of the Caxton Legal Centre Inc.

Bernard is a past Chair of The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation and Creche and Kindergarten Association, and also serves on the Advisory Boards of a number of Private Companies.

He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Professor Sandra Harding AO

Professor Sandra Harding AO served as Vice Chancellor and President of James Cook University Australia from January 2007 to February 2022. In this role, she was responsible for ensuring clear and effective leadership and management of the University across all operating sites, including campuses in Cairns, Singapore and Townsville. At her retirement, she was the longest serving Vice Chancellor of any Australian university. She has undertaken sectoral leadership positions, including as Chair of the national peak body, Universities Australia (2013-2015), and as the inaugural Chair of the Queensland Vice Chancellors Committee (May 2020-December 2021). A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Professor Harding is a well-experienced Board Director, serving as Chair or Director of many organisations across a range of sectors in Australia and abroad.

Stephanie Paul

Stephanie Paul provides strategic counsel in corporate and financial communication, reputation management, stakeholder engagement and organisational change and transformation.

Her leadership of client teams and results achieved has been acknowledged internationally and nationally for setting industry benchmarks.

She is highly respected for her strategic ability to work with leadership and multi-disciplinary management teams to address complex business challenges to achieve outcomes. Her extensive experience spans the private and public sectors.

Kylie Rampa

As QIC’s Chief Executive Officer, Kylie Rampa leads the Executive Committee to drive QIC’s business strategy and operations. Kylie has more than 25 years’ experience in investment management, particularly in real assets investing. Her expertise spans private markets, particularly real estate, and private and public capital markets, real estate development, asset management, mergers and acquisitions, business strategy, and operations.

Prior to joining QIC, Kylie was Group Head of Investments at Lendlease, and a member of the global leadership team and global investment committee, with responsibility for driving the group’s global strategy to grow Lendlease’s funds under management and strategic capital partnerships. Kylie also spent 13 years at Macquarie, across Australia and the USA, and at various stages in her career worked at Gandel Group, AMP and Schroders. She currently sits on the board of the Sydney Opera House Trust. Kylie has a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology.

Christine Castley OAM

Christine Castley OAM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and an experienced leader across government, the community sector and statutory authorities. Prior to joining WGEA, Christine was Chief Executive Officer of Multicultural Australia, one of Australia’s leading settlement and community service organisations. She has also held senior executive positions in the Queensland Government, including Deputy Director-General roles in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Housing and Public Works.

Throughout her career, Christine has led major reforms and initiatives in areas including housing and homelessness, multicultural affairs, social policy, disaster management and domestic and family violence prevention. She is recognised for her clear strategic judgement, practical implementation and ability to build trusted relationships across government, community and industry. In 2026, Christine was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to multicultural communities and public administration. Christine currently serves as a board member of the Residential Tenancies Authority, Queensland Theatre Company and DVConnect.

She previously served as Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council and has held a range of governance and advisory roles at state and national levels. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Master of Public Administration from the University of Queensland. Christine is passionate about strengthening communities and creating opportunity through leadership, collaboration and philanthropy.

Courtney Talbot

Courtney is a Company Director who holds voluntary positions in various community organisations including Queensland Library Foundation, MS Queensland and Brisbane Festival.

In 2018, Courtney was named QCF’s Emerging Philanthropist of the year for her inspiring commitment to philanthropy.

Courtney is a member of Philanthropy Australia’s New Generation of Giving Programme and coaches Queensland’s most elite female rowing crew.