Board of Directors

David Gonski AC - Chair

Mr. Gonski is the Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, President of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, Non-Executive Chairperson of Barrenjoey Capital Partners Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Chair of Levande Living and a member of the Board of the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

He is the former Chairperson of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (February 2014 – October 2020). Mr. Gonski was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007 and received the Centenary Medal in 2003.

Mr. Gonski holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of New South Wales.

Ari Droga

Ari Droga joined Global Infrastructure Partners in 2008 and is a founding Principal and Partner of GIP Australia, based in Sydney. Mr Droga has over 25 years’ investment and advisory experience, mostly in the infrastructure sector.

He is a former board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, a former Chair of the MCA Foundation, and a former board member and Deputy Chair of The Biennale of Sydney. Prior to joining GIP, Mr Droga held senior investment banking roles, locally and globally.

Ash Barker

Ash Barker leads the Australian infrastructure M&A activities of IFM Investors’ managed and advised funds, and the origination, execution and management of infrastructure investments. Ash has extensive experience in a variety of senior infrastructure, private equity and related roles.

His previous experience includes positions as Director at Hastings Funds Management and investment banking roles at Credit Suisse First Boston. At IFM Investors, Ash led the successful divestment of Pacific Hydro and acquisition of Ausgrid, is a board member of Ausgrid and has previously served as a board member of NSW Ports and Northern Territory Airports.

Deborah O'Toole

Ms Deborah O’Toole was appointed Non-Executive Director of Sydney Airport in August 2022.

Ms. O’Toole has extensive executive experience across a number of sectors including over 20 years in the mining industry and, more recently, in transport and logistics which included managerial, operational and financial roles.

She has been Chief Financial Officer in three ASX listed companies, the most recent being Aurizon Holdings Limited. She is an experienced Non-Executive Director over many years and currently serves as Chair of Transurban Queensland, and as an independent director of Pacific National Rail Group, Great Southern Bank (formerly Credit Union Australia) and Alumina Limited.

Ms O’Toole holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Margaret Staib AM CSC

Margaret is a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Australian Royal Aeronautical Society, and member of the Industry Advisory Board for the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics at Deakin University. Margaret was recently appointed the Northern Territory Defence and National Security Advocate and Chairs the Strategic Defence Advisory Board for the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

Margaret commenced her professional career as a military logistician with the Australian Air Force, after completing a Business Degree at the University of Southern Queensland. Her military service included holding the position of Commander Joint Logistics and Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

From the Air Force, Margaret continued her executive career as the CEO and Managing Director of Air Services Australia. There, she led significant transformation in air safety, air navigation technology and cultural change. Her expertise is in defence, national security, transport and logistics, aviation and aerospace, cultural change, and organisational transformation.

Mark Johnson

Mark has 35 years’ experience as an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand and then PwC, including as PwC’s National Assurance Leader in Australia from 2003 to 2007 and then as its Chief Executive Officer, Australia and Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific from 2008 to 2012. Mark has also had an extensive non-executive director career for over a decade, having previously served on the boards of directors of Coca-Cola Amatil, G8 Education, MH Premium Farms, Westfield Group, HSBC and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Mark Johnson is currently a non-executive director of Boral Limited, Goodman Group (and Chair of its Audit Committee), Metcash Trading Limited, The Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (Chairman) and Aurecon (and Chair of its Audit Committee). In the community, he is a Councillor of UNSW Sydney and a director of The Smith Family.

Mark Turner

Mark has been an Alternate Director and Non-Executive Director of NSW Ports since 2017. Mark Turner is an Investment Director at IFM Investors, where he is actively involved in investment management and transaction activities across the transport, utilities, and energy sectors.

Prior to joining IFM Investors in 2013, Mark worked in investment banking at Lazard across the infrastructure and resources sectors.

Michael Byrne

Michael has been a Director of NSW Ports since July 2020. He has over 30 years’ experience as a non-executive director and leader within the logistics, supply chain, retail and property sectors. He currently serves on the Ausgrid Asset, Management, Finance and Operator Partnership Boards. He is also a council member on the NSW Freight Advisory Council, a Senate member for the University of Western Australia and leads the Talent and Capability Think Tank for Deakin University.

Most recently he was Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Toll Holdings Limited and prior to this held roles including Chief Executive Officer of Coates Hire, Linfox and Westgate Holdings, as well as Non-Executive Director of Australia Post. Michael has also served on numerous government boards advising on transportation, infrastructure, food security and security matters.

He has also held board positions with OzHarvest (a food charity) and education committees for Victoria University and the University of Denver.

Nick O'Neil

Nick is the Head of Australian Real Asset Investments at AustralianSuper. His responsibilities include oversight of AustralianSuper’s portfolio of Infrastructure and Property investments in Australia.

Prior to joining AustralianSuper in 2024, Nick was a Senior Managing Director at Macquarie Asset Management Real Assets where he spent 17 years, firstly in Sydney and then working across the Americas in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and New York.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from Bond University.

Sandra Lee

Sandra has over 25 years’ experience in the investment management and financial services industry. Responsibilities include infrastructure portfolio and transactional management across the transport, utilities, timberlands, PPPs, renewables, and telecommunications sectors in Australia and globally. Sandra joined UniSuper from Perpetual Investments and prior to that, held various investment and finance roles within the NAB group.

At UniSuper, she currently has responsibility over the Fund's infrastructure activities comprising origination and active asset management of its unlisted Infrastructure portfolio and sector coverage over its listed infrastructure securities, with investments currently totalling over $15 billion. UniSuper is one of Australia's largest superannuation funds with current funds under management, in excess of $100 billion.

Sandra also currently serves as a Director on the board Plenary Health (Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre) and Aquasure (Victorian Desalination Plant).

Sir David Higgins

Sir David Higgins was appointed non-executive Chairman of Gatwick Airport in January 2017. As Chief Executive of Network Rail, Sir David initiated a major reform programme focussing on transparency, value for money and accountability.

Sir David also served as Chief Executive of the organisation responsible for the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Olympic Delivery Authority, establishing the organisation and negotiating the overall budget with HM Treasury, and led the commercial negotiations for Stratford City, London & Continental Railways, Lend Lease and Westfield. Sir David holds a degree in Engineering from Sydney University and a Diploma from the Securities Institute.

He is also a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Civil Engineers. He was appointed Chairman of United Utilities in January 2020.

Virasb Vahidi

As Partner at Global Infrastructure Partners, Virasb Vahidi is focused on value creation in portfolio companies and evaluating new businesses, technologies, and sectors.

Virasb has a long track record of transforming and building businesses by putting the customer at the center of every aspect of the enterprise. He has over 29 years of commercial, financial, and operational experiences in diverse industries including finance, media, transport, telecommunications, and technology.

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