*Biographies below
| COMMITTEE POSITION | CLUB MEMBER | |
| President | Mary Farrell | president@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Deputy President Chairperson Board of Membership Chairperson Board of Properties | Greg Cox | vicepresident@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Club Captain Chairperson Board of Lifesaving | Tim Matchett | captain@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Secretary | Anna Carroll | secretary@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Treasurer | David Collins | treasurer@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Junior Activities Coordinator | Josh Sealey | jac@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Director of Surf Sports | Ben Cox | doss@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Vice Captain | Mitch Gilmour & Nicolas Perugino | |
| Chief Training Officer | Donna Riley | |
| IRB Captain | David Holzheimer | |
| Life Saving Gear Steward | Nicolas Perugino | |
| Surf Sports Gear Steward | Vacant | |
| First Aid Officer | Sharon Finucan | |
| Team Manager | Vacant | |
| Cadet Officer | Vacant | |
| Grants Officer | Leesa Monaghan | grants@pbqslsc.com.au |
| Youth Development Officer | Clayton Kimeklis & Yasmina Phadel | |
| Transport Officer | Tony Rapallo | |
| Grievance Officer | Leanne Major |
BIOGRAPHIES:
President:
Mary grew up in Ireland and was afraid of the water because it was sooo cold. The only way over it was to move to the Gold Coast. Mary joined Palm Beach (Qld) Surf Life Saving Club and proceeded to do her Bronze Medallion and followed that with another 67 awards. Yes she was hooked on lifesaving.
She is very passionate about lifesaving and loves sharing her knowledge with members as a Trainer and Mentor at the club. Mary is also a keen competitor, and has a goal of winning an Australian Medal which she is on track to to do so in 2040 when she turns 73. Mary would like to remind you all its all about the journey to the goal not just the goal itself so make sure to enjoy every day of your lifesaving experience.
Deputy President:
Greg while born in Manly, grew up at Burleigh Heads where he developed his love of the sea and subsequently Surf Life Saving. He was a Palm Beach nipper and then moved to Nobby Beach and Tweed Heads and Coolangatta during his teenage years and twenties. While he loved the water, Greg headed overseas and the in-land working for many years at the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
Greg and his family landed back on the Gold Coast in 2012 and has lived in Palm Beach since, rejoining the club to support his children through nippers. Greg has taken on various support roles within the club including Age Manager and then Team Manager in the junior club, before joining the committee as the Director of Surf Sports. He now holds the Deputy President role and is committed to supporting the club’s growth and future development. Greg loves the water and wants PBQSLSC Club members to enjoy the wonder of the surf. Importantly he is committed to developing confidence, competence and offering competitive opportunities to Club members.
Secretary:
Anna Carroll is an experienced Board Director, CEO and Senior Executive with a background in the Australian Government and Not For Profit Sector. For the past five years Anna has have been actively involved in the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club as a parent of three children who compete and patrol, a Level 1 Official and since 2017 elected as the Secretary of the Club. As former CEO of Netball Queensland Anna lead the State’s largest women’s participation sport and knows first hand the the positive role sport and community service plays in our community. As a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a particular interest in governance, leadership and organisational development Anna has enhanced the systems and member support at the Palm Beach Surf Club.
Treasurer:
David came to lifesaving as a Nipper dad at Northcliffe progressing to Age Manager and patrolling. After moving to Currumbin Valley and a few years out of direct involvement with lifesaving David was approached to join the Committee as Treasurer in 2017 a role he has greatly enjoyed. Professionally David has held a number of executive level roles in not for profit, private and public companies on the Gold Coast, an experience he has utilised in working with the other committee members. While David wasn’t really into un-filtered camel cigarettes and men in lycra, he did enjoy long slow walks along the beach, horse riding and night clubbing until he met his present wife skiing.
Club Captain:
Tim was raised on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and spent most weekends down at Freshwater beach where his father was a patrolling member. Tim’s association with SLS as a member didn’t start until the 90’s when mates from rugby encouraged Tim to join their beach relay team at Dee Why. After a couple of years growing a family with wife Astrid and a sabbatical from SLS Tim joined the Warriewood SLSC and helped build up a Masters Crew with his three young boys joining the Nipper program. Since the family moved to QLD, Palm Beach was the obvious choice given the focus on family and community and Saturday Nippers. After 5 years of coaching Palm Beach Nippers, Seniors and Masters the beach events, Tim has taken the role as Club Captain with a focus on creating depth in Patrol Groups the same way he helped people achieve more than they thought capable competing on the beach.
JAC:
Josh grew up at Beenleigh and played every sport but specialised in soccer and athletics during school, then played rugby league for a few years after school, with a few cheeky AFL games and plenty of surfing in between. He studied personal training straight after school, then worked in fitness centres for eight years, during this time completing his teaching degree. Josh is now in his 15th year as a high school PE/Sport and Fitness teacher. He is currently working at Ormeau Woods SHS and looking after the Ormeau Touch Program, which is now a Touch Football Australia Excellence Program. An achievement Josh is super proud of.
Marrying “the best wife in the universe” Louise when he was 21 they had 4 “radical and energetic” kids, Matthew, Skye, Jacob and Luke. Trying to be good parents they decided to get involved at Palm Beach Surf Club which had nippers on Saturday mornings which they thought was awesome!!
Josh has been at the surf club for 6 years now, with all his kids involved in different age groups. He started helping and jumping between age groups to watch all the kids, then signed up to help as an Age Manager with big Russ Francis to help with his U11 age group. He helped Russ for 2 years, then switched to U7’s to help his youngest boy’s age group, which he was pretty scared about! But the little ones were super fun and energetic!! And all our Palmy family parents are keen to get involved and help out when they can.
Josh is excited to take on the role of JAC and work towards helping every nipper find success over the nipper season, encourage and upskill our volunteers and amazing parents, and maybe encourage our nippers families to have a crack at a few competitive carnivals. But overall he’s just keen to keep our amazing family based club having a great time together on the beach every Saturday morning.
DOSS:
Ben was born and bred on the Gold Coast. Born at the old Southport hospital, grew up at Burleigh Heads, went to Burleigh Kindy, Burleigh State School and Miami High. Ben started his swimming trade at the age of 2 in the old pool at Burleigh, followed soon after by joining Palm Beach Nippers and it was from this point he developed a love of the ocean that remains with him today. In his late teens joined TH & C and has since had a long break away from the Surf life Saving Sports and its involvement.
Ben is an avid waterman and general sports advocate and has also enjoyed extensive travel around the globe working, surfing, snowboarding and living the dream. When Ben isn’t in the surf you might find him, in the gym, on his skateboard, bike or walking his trusted cattle dog Peanut, around Currumbin where he lives.
After returning to Surf Living Saving in 2019, Ben is looking forward to the DOSS position, working with all the members of the PBSLSC in the upcoming season. He is committed to creating an environment where everyone can strive to reach their own personal and team goals while having fun in a safe and trusted environment. Ben believes that with a congruent mindset, dream, belief, then add hard work and tenacity, that we as a whole, can build and continue a great legacy at Palm Beach.
