Meet Our Board

Experience - Deborah Thomas is an experienced executive and board director, across both the corporate and not for profit sectors. With over 25 years of expertise in leadership, management and marketing skills, Deborah is the ideal person to lead Camp Quality into its next phase.

Deborah has managed some of Australia’s most popular magazine brands, including The Australian Women’s Weekly, where she was Editor-in-Chief for nine years. In 2015 she was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Ardent Leisure Group.

Throughout her time in the commercial sector, Deborah has also been involved with many national Not-for-Profit (NFP) organisations, including the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation, Father Chris Riley’s Youth off the Streets and is a founding patron of the Taronga Conservation Foundation.  

On joining Camp Quality Deborah said, “I am honoured and excited by the prospect of working with Camp Quality and applying my skills and experience to such a worthy, trusted and important organisation. Camp Quality changes people’s lives for the better and I cannot think of a more fulfilling job than helping children and families deal with the trauma that comes with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.”

Qualifications - MBA Macquarie University, LLB Sydney University

Experience - Chairman of Inteq Limited, an Australian corporate, strategic and financial advisory house; Chairman of Local Measure, a social media analytics company; member of the Advisory Board of UTS Business School, former Chairman of the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce, director of a number of private companies

Special Responsibilities - Member of Strategy & Revenue Committee and Audit & Compliance Committee

Experience - Chairman of Higgins Coatings, Chairman of Advisory Board for the Chair of Positive Psychology at Melbourne University, Foundation Board member of the National Gallery of Victoria

Special Responsibilities - Member of People & Culture Committee

Qualifications - Management Certificate, College of TAFE, Diploma of Marketing, CIT/Holmes College Vic, Executive Program University of Michigan, GAICD

Experience - CEO/Senior Vice President for DHL Express AU/PG, Board Chairman DHL Express Australia, Member DHL Express Management Board Asia Pacific excluding China, Director Tasman Cargo Airlines, Director CAPEC Australia

Special Responsibilities - Chair of the Strategy & Revenue Committee

Qualifications - BA Sydney University

Experience - Chairman of Camel Partners, a private advisory firm and the Camel Foundation. Director of the Western Sydney University Foundation, The Whitlam Institute, Adjunct Professor at WSU Business School and Patron of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue. 

Former Chairman of Rugby Australia and Member of World Rugby Council. Former Group CEO of National Australia Bank Group and Chairman of Clydesdale Bank.

Special Responsibilities - Chair of People & Culture Committee

Qualifications - BEc (Accounting Major), Sydney University. LLB, Sydney University. Harvard Business School Leadership Program

Experience - Head of M&A and Corporate, KPMG Law Australia; Joint Global Head of M&A and Corporate, KPMG Global Legal Services; Member of the Global Leadership Group of KPMG Global Legal Services. David is a senior corporate lawyer specialising in the provision of M&A, corporate, capital markets and corporate governance advice.

Special Responsibilities - Member of Audit & Compliance Committee & Board Member of The Oranges Toolkit

Qualifications - MBA University of Technology, BA Sydney University

Experience - Currently Country Manager and Director, Amazon Alexa, Australia/NZ. Member of Board of Governors, Wenona School. 2016 UTS Business School, Alumni of the Year. Master of Business in Marketing (UTS), BA (Syd Uni). Formerly Managing Director, Intel Australia/NZ. Director of the Australian IT Industry Association.

Special Responsibilities - Member of Strategy & Revenue Committee and People & Culture Committee

Qualifications - Diploma in Business Management Wits University Johannesburg, Advanced Management Program Melbourne University Business School

Experience - David is responsible for Zebra Technologies in Australia and New Zealand helping deliver business-critical mobility solutions to the region’s largest retail, minerals and energy, transport, logistics, supply chain and healthcare organisations. He was appointed General Manager following Zebra’s acquisition of Motorola’s Enterprise business. He brings more than two decades of experience in the ICT industry with particular expertise in strategy, business development and corporate change. Previously, David ran his own consultancy for 19 years focussed on business development in the IT & Telecommunications industry.

Special Responsibilities - Member of Strategy & Revenue Committee

Qualifications: PhD FGLF FAICD

Experience: Amanda has over 35 years’ experience in health and academia including CEO and non-executive directorship roles across health care delivery, clinical (critical care), public health, research, ethics, and corporate governance advisory.

Amanda is current chairman of the National Blood Authority Australia and a non-executive director of Camp Quality. Following her twelve month Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellowship in 2017, she was invited back as a Visiting Scientist to join a partnership project between Harvard Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Business School (HBS). She is also a current advisory board member of HBS-led Impact Weighted Accounts Initiative.

Amanda is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide, a Governor’s Leadership Foundation Fellow and a former Telstra Business Women Awards Finalist in two categories.

Amanda has received various awards and recognition for her business and community contributions. In 2018, she travelled to Sri Lanka working on a humanitarian project team fitting prosthetic hands to over 240 land-mine and other victims.

Qualifications: BInfTech Griffith University, GradDipMuTech Queensland Conservatorium, MAICD

Experience: Damon has over 25 years’ experience in Information Technology and business and runs specialist boutique Technology Advisory practice, Oakland Traleen. He has founded and successfully exited his own ICT business and sits on the Board of Travello and several other private companies. He works with and invests in early stage and start-up companies and sits as an Industry Fellow with the School of ICT at Griffith University.

Special Responsibilities: Board Member of The Oranges Toolkit

Experience: Dr Karen Luxford is the Group CEO, Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) & ACHS International. Dr Luxford has extensive experience in governance, strategic planning, safety and quality, healthcare standards, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and leading organizational change.

Dr Luxford is a senior executive in health with over 25 years’ experience in a range of leadership roles in the public, not for profit and private sectors including CEO, Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons, A/g CEO and Executive Director, Clinical Excellence Commission NSW and GM of the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre in Australia.

Dr Luxford is a Board member & President-Elect of ASQua, the former Board Chair of Endometriosis Australia (NFP charity), Board member of Camp Quality (NFP charity), Council member of Standards Australia, member of the ISQua Accreditation Council, Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), Certified Health Executive (CHE) and Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM) and the Australian Institute of Managers & Leaders (IML). Karen is an alumni Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy & Practice, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA and is passionate about health care.