Committee Members
Councillor Alan Pendleton, Chairman
After a long career with Blacktown City Council as an Environmental Health and Building Surveyor, Alan progressed to the position of Director of the Department. As Director he was responsible for waste planning and management, environmental planning and management,and was the Principal Building Surveyor for the approval of all building applications until he resigned in 1994.
Councillor Alan Pendleton was first elected to Council in 1995. Following his re-election to Council in 1999,Councillor Pendleton was elected Mayor of Blacktown City from 1999-2004. He is now serving his fourth term as a Councillor of the City in which he has lived for 49 years. In August 2009 he was again elected Mayor.
Councillor Pendleton has served on many and varied Committees representing Council such as WSROC, Hawkesbury Nepean Advisory Catchment Committee, Floodplain Management Authority, was the inaugural Chairman of the Western Sydney Waste Board and Chairman of Greater Western Sydney Economic Board.
He is currently the Chairman of Regional Development Australia, Sydney.
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Roy Medich OAM CLO JP, Deputy Chairman
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MEDICH CORPORATION
Roy has extensive experience in property development. He has considerable first hand knowledge of various market sectors. Projects include retail, commercial, residential and industrial.
Roy, along with his son Anthony, established Medich Corporation, which currently holds a substantial portfolio of investments in Sydney, the Hunter Region and in Melbourne.
Roy has served on many community committees and his current commitments include:
- Chairman of The Medich Foundation
- UWS Roy Medich Bachelor of Medical Research Scholarship
- Member of the University of Western Sydney Foundation Board
- Member of The Salvation Army Advisory Board for Greater Western Sydney
- Member of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Member of the Urban Development Institute of Australia
- Member of the Property Council of Australia
- Member of the Penrith Valley Economic Development Board – Penrith Business Alliance
Les McMahon, Treasurer/Secretary
Les McMahon is the General Manager of Wollondilly Shire Council and has held that position for the last six years.
Prior to his appointment as General Manager Les has had experience as Director Operational Services at the City of Botany Bay Council; General Manager – Australia of SCS-Wetherill Environmental (SWE) and Environmental Engineering Consultancy with offices in Australia and New Zealand affiliated with SCS in America; General Manager of the Macarthur Waste Board a regional statutory authority responsible for minimising waste in the region, working in partnership with councils, industry, businesses and the community; Shire Engineer and later as the Director of Works with Wollondilly Shire Council; Chief Executive/Secretary of the Institute of Municipal Management (NSW Division) and the Local Government Clerks’ Association of NSW.
Les’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and a Bachelor of Business (Local Government) and he has both a Local Government Engineers’ Certificate and a Local Government Clerk’s Certificate.
Les is also a member of various boards including Macarthur Group an organisation assisting young people to gain skills and employment via apprenticeships and traineeships and Macarthur Business Enterprise Centre, responsible for the delivery of support services to small business in the area of Macarthur and Liverpool.
Jozefa Sobski, Committee Member
Jozefa Sobski has a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, a Diploma in Education and a Masters in Adult Education. After five years of high school teaching in south western Sydney, Ms Sobski joined the Ministry of Education. She spent five years in the Department of Technical and Further Education in policy administration and then became Principal of Meadowbank College of TAFE. In 1992, she was appointed Director of South Western Sydney institute of TAFE and then Deputy Director-General of Education and Training. She has been a member of the NSW Board of Studies and the TAFE Commission Board. She was a member of the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre for over ten years and GROW Sydney Area Consultative Committee for eleven years. She has held numerous positions on committees and boards during her period of public service. Most recently, she has been active in the community as Convenor of NSW Women’s Electoral Lobby. She is Chair of the Jessie Street National Women’s Library which is supported by the City of Sydney at Ultimo and she is on the Management Committee of NSW Rape Crisis Centre.
Ms Sobski has a special interest in improving access to all levels of education for various groups disenfranchised by their socio-economic circumstances, race, language background or disability. Skills and workforce development have been her particular professional interest as well as a commitment to improving access to services for all in the community. Ms Sobski is interested in marshalling the resources of community organizations and businesses to partner with government agencies to improve social and other infrastructure and community capacity and capability.
Marcus Testoni, Committee Member
Marcus Testoni has had a distinguished career in tourism, hospitality and events management working as general manager Gledswood Homestead a multi award winning tourist attraction. Marcus has studied tourism international and holding formal qualification in psychology, vocational education and an MBA.
He has also been active in tourism sector associations and orginisation including President of the Tourist Attractions Association, National chairman of Australian Travel and Tourism Review Panel, and board member of the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau. Marcus has also been a member of the GWSEDB and GROW Sydney Area Consultative Committee. He has always been an active member of the community and is proud to have been the charter president of the Rotary club of Narellan.
Since 2004 Marcus has changed his career becoming an educator. He is employed as a full time TAFE teacher at the Hills College in tourism and event management and is also in his spare time, employed part time by Southern Cross University at The Hotel School Sydney.
MARY JO CAPPS, Committee Member
Mary Jo Capps is the CEO of Musica Viva. She has held managerial roles in symphony orchestras and ABC radio on both coasts of the Australia. As a consultant, her clients included - the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Company B Belvoir Theatre, Bangarra Dance Theatre, National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Following three years as Deputy Managing Director and Director of Development for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Ms Capps was appointed to the top job at Musica Viva in 1999.
Mary Waterford, Committee Member
Mary Waterford is the Executive Officer of Western Sydney Community Forum, which builds strong, organised community organisations across Western Sydney. WSCF resources the sector with policy critique, training and regional development eg transport disadvantage www.wscf. org.au.
Mary has worked extensively in the community sector in many capacities for over twenty years including neighbourhood centre management, women’s refuge evaluation, disability community projects and mental health cultural development projects. Her work has focused most recently on resourcing community organisations through the development of networks and collaborations, exploring the most effective ways to assist community agencies to make a difference to disadvantaged communities.
Mary is a founding member of the Western Sydney Reconciliation Network; Voice for SONG (Voice for small organisations, non government) coalition, (raising the profile of the importance and value of small community organisations to healthy local communities) and Nepean Regional Task Force on Homelessness. She has also been a member of working parties such as the Blue Mountains GROW Committee, DoCS Community Services Grants Program Roundtable and the Stronger Families Planning Group. In her spare time she grows roses and helps to build capacity and leadership in Timor-Leste through the Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters project and Hato Builico Friendship Committee.
Mike Da Silva, Committee Member
Mike Da Silva is Managing Director of MDSA Promotion Marketing, with 35 years experience in traditional & digital Sales Promotion. MDSA specialises in Customer Acquisition, Retention & Relationship, Lead Generation, Tourism Marketing, Movie Marketing & Online Games.
MDSA Clients include: Qantas (18 years) News Corp, News Digital, eBay, PayPal, Australian Wool Innovation, Accor, ANZ, SONY, Disney, Dreamworks, ClubsNSW, Universal,Fox, ING DIRECT, BPAY, IAG & Coles Online. MDSA has Clients and Partners throughout Asia and owns the Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia. The Dragons of Asia. Mike is a Past President of the 47 year old Marketing Agencies Association Worldwide, New York and is now a Life Member. He was also International Executive VP for Asia Pacific for 12 years.
Mike is a winner of a MAA Worldwide International Marketing Professional of the Year Award, a Brand Leadership Award for an Individual, from the Asia Brand Congress, for his work in Asia, a Global Super Achiever Award from the Indira Ghandi University, for his work in India, and the inaugural Life Achievement Award from the Australian Promotion Marketing Association, the industry body he co-founded 32 years ago. In a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro last October, Mike was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame.
Narelle Kennedy, Committee Member
Narelle is the founding Chief Executive of the research think tank, the Australian Business Foundation.
She has a work history including private enterprise, government and the not for profit sector around Australia. Narelle’s experience includes management of high-profile business units, senior policy analyst and adviser roles and manager of high-volume direct services to the public. Narelle has recognized expertise in both economic and social development issues, specifically on business regulation, trade practices and competition policy, regional development, industry clustering and business innovation.
Prior to leading the Australian Business Foundation as its CEO, Narelle Kennedy spent seven years as a senior Director of Australian Business Limited, the predecessor organisation to the NSW Business Chamber, periodically acting as Chief Executive.
Narelle is a Director on various Boards and Advisory Councils and has numerous affiliations in areas of leading-edge public and business affairs, such as with Chief Executive Women, the Australian Technology
Showcase and the Enterprise Workshop program. She has represented Australia at the Business Advisory Committee to the OECD and served on the expert panel for the Review of Australia’s Innovation System in 2008. Narelle was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society through economic and industry policy research.
Steve Finlay, Committee Member
Steve is the Executive Director for Engineers Australia. With a degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Engineering, Stephen has extensive career in the delivery of civil engineering projects commencing with the Department of Main Roads NSW spending almost ten years in the regional areas of Bulahdelah, Newcastle, Coonabarabran and Port Macquarie. Stephen moved to the local government arena in 1983 and, after a distinguished career as a Director of Engineering in Local Government Councils, joined Engineers Australia 26 years later.
Stephen joined Engineers Australia as Executive Director Sydney Division in September 2009. The role of Project Director for the Australian Rainfall and Runoff Revision was also added to his portfolio in March 2011. Stephen is also a member of the Project Leadership Team (PLT) for the management information system (MIS) development and roll out.