Board of Management
Profiles
Peter Gill, BE (Civil), Dip. T & RP
Chairman
Peter Gill is a Company Director and real estate consultant. He is Director of Gill Property Pty Ltd, Catholic Homes and Eastern Palliative Care, Past Director and Chairman, Mercy Hospice Care (1981-1996) and Past Director, Caritas Christi Order of Malta Hospice (1994-2000). Peter has worked in the commercial real estate sector for more than 40 years and is a Director of a number of other operating companies.
Frà Prof Richard Divall, AO OBE
Director
Knight of Malta in Solemn Religious Profession, D. Lett [Hon Mon] Doc Univ [Hon ACU] Doc Ed e Cul [Hon SP], FRAS FRNS, Commendatore al Merito Melitense
Richard Divall is a Member Religious in Hospitaller – Refugee Religious Order, and Lay Member from 1990. He was Music Director of the Victoria State Opera from 1972-1996, and Principal Resident Conductor, Opera Australia from 1996-2001. Scholar, Newman College, Senior Fellow, Queen’s College, The University of Melbourne, Board member, Malcolm Sargent, Cancer Fund for Children and others. He is undertaking his PhD in Theology, at the Catholic Theological College/MC/University of Melbourne and is a Tracy Maund Fellow, Royal Women’s Hospital 1996.
Richard Power, FAICD
Director
Richard has a career as a Director and Chairman in financial services spanning more than 25 years, founding and developing an enterprise across Australasia with multiple divisions. He is Director and Chairman of companies including Affirm Software Group Pty Ltd.
Dr Damian Benson, B.Bus (Acc), Grad Dip Cost & Mgmnt Acctg, MBA, DBA
CPA, ACIS, ACIM, AIMM
Director
Damian is a senior executive with more than 30 years' national and international experience including roles in health services, chemicals, steel, investment, manufacturing, agribusiness and information technology. He has undertaken extensive consulting in these industries, as well as mining, utilities, transportation, government and defence. He has many philanthropic and community positions relating to palliative care including: member of the Committee of Management of Eastern Palliative Care, Deputy Chairman Eastern Palliative Care, member of the Advisory Committee of the Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre, School of Physiotherapy, the University of Melbourne and Austin Health and Director of the Centre of Palliative Care Foundation St Vincent’s Hospital, to name a few.
Eugene Smarrelli, CA, FCPA, Dip Bus (Acc)
Director
Eugene has more than 30 years’ experience in the accounting profession specialising in tax and business consulting. He has been a Director of Banks Group since 1989, and heads its financial management team. Eugene is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, a Fellow of CPA Australia and a Registered Tax Agent. He uses his managerial experience to help various not-for-profit organisations, to which he devotes his time as a committee member, specifically in function organisation. He is currently the Chair of The Toccolan Club, which has raised over $700,000, and has been Chair of the Banks Group Charitable Foundation since 2004, which has raised in excess of $80,000 for charity. He has assisted organisations including The Alfred Foundation – In Support of Palliative Care particularly for those living with AIDS, Life Goes On – A Palliative Care patient and carer support and training organisation, Challenge, EJ Whitten Foundation and Alfred Hospital, Emerald Hill Mission, Here for Life, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Leukaemia Foundation, MS Society, Peter Mac (Lung Unit), Robert Rose Foundation, Royal Children's Hospital and The Reach Foundation.
Associate Professor Paul Desmond
Director
Associate Professor Paul Desmond graduated from the University of Melbourne and was a resident and registrar at St Vincent’s. After completing his gastroenterology training he spent three years at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, undertaking research into drug metabolism in liver disease. He returned as staff gastroenterologist at St Vincent’s and became Director of the Department in 1995. He is currently also the Director of Special Medicine and Aged and Community Care. His research interests are in natural history of chronic viral hepatitis and the introduction of new endoscopic techniques.
