His Excellency
Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AO CSC RANR
Governor of South Australia
Kevin John Scarce was born in Adelaide in 1952 and spent his early childhood in Woomera. He was educated at Elizabeth East Primary School and then at Elizabeth High School, from where he joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1968.
After graduating from the Naval College, Kevin served in HMAS Sydney in Vietnam and then undertook courses in the United Kingdom in 1973. On return to Australia he completed professional supply courses and then served at sea in HMA Ships Vendetta, Yarra, and Duchess. In 1975 Kevin posted ashore to HMAS Watson where he married Elizabeth Anne Taylor.
In 1977 he participated in the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in the United Kingdom at Spithead whilst serving in HMAS Melbourne. On completion of the cruise Kevin was posted to the RAN Staff College Project to establish the first Naval staff course in Australia which commenced in 1979.
The family moved again later in 1979 to Washington DC to serve at the Australian Embassy. On return to Australia in 1982 Kevin completed further supply specialist training before posting to sea in HMAS Perth as the Supply Offer. Promoted to Commander in 1985, Kevin undertook one of his many postings to the Canberra region where he undertook a variety of specialist logistic roles until 1987. In that year the family moved again, this time to the Nowra area in New South Wales where Kevin was appointed as the Supply Officer, Naval Air Station HMAS Albatross.
Following a year's study at the University of NSW, ADFA campus, where Kevin completed a Master of Management Economics degree, he was promoted to Captain and posted to Fleet Headquarters as the Fleet Supply Officer. He remained in this role until a further posting to Canberra in 1993.
In 1994 the family moved back to Washington DC where Kevin completed a Master's Degree in National Security Strategy at the War College, US National Defense University. Kevin took command of HMAS Cerberus in 1995 where he remained until promoted to Commodore in 1997. Later in that year Kevin was appointed as Flag Officer Naval Training Command. The family moved twice in 1999: to Sydney early in the year where Kevin was posted as Commodore Logistics, responsible for supporting the Fleet at sea, and then back to Melbourne in December after being promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral where he assumed the duties of Support Commander - Navy.
From 2000 until 2003, as Head Maritime Systems in the Defence Materiel Organisation, Kevin was responsible for the acquisition of all Australian Defence Force ships and submarines and the support of these vessels and their equipment through life.
Immediately prior to retiring from the Royal Australian Navy in 2004 in the rank of Rear Admiral, he briefly led the Defence Materiel Organisation. This organisation, widely dispersed throughout Australia and overseas, had 8000 staff spending more than $6B annually in acquiring and supporting the entire Australian Defence Force's military platforms and equipment.
Following retirement, Kevin formed and led the South Australian Government team charged with expanding the State's defence business opportunities. One of the team's first initiatives, to build Air Warfare Destroyers in Adelaide, was successfully achieved in May 2005 when the Federal Government awarded the contract to the locally based ASC. The State's $250 m package of infrastructure, skills development and attraction was integral to the success of the ASC bid.
In 2006 Kevin became an advisor to the corporation formed to deliver the State's shipbuilding infrastructure and skills commitments, and was a member of the Port Adelaide Maritime Corporation Board. He was also Chairman of the Board of Foundation Daw Park, a volunteer organisation that generates funding for medical research for veterans and older Australians.
Kevin and Liz have two children, a daughter, Kasha (1978), who works as a youth counsellor with Boys Town in Sydney, and a son, Kingsley (1980), who is a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy.
Kevin is a keen golfer, with aspirations well beyond his ability, likes to keep fit, collects fine red wines and enjoys reading. He was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia in the 2004 Australia Day Honours Awards for his service to the Australian Defence Force and was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 1994.
David Bedson & Jo-Ann Vaughan
Life Education is the largest non government provider of preventative drug education in Australia reaching 750,000 young people annually. Last year Life Education SA reached 70,000 young people in 405 primary, secondary and preschools throughout every region of the State from Mount Gambier to the West Coast. Life Education’s mission is to empower the young to make the best decisions for a safer future free from the harms caused by drug misuse.
David Bedson has been Life Education’s Chief Executive Officer since 2002. He has a Master of Education degree and has an extensive background in education and human resources. He is a member of the Board of Management for the SA Network for Drug and Alcohol Services (the SA Peak organization for NGO services in the drug and alcohol services industry).
Jo-Anne is Life Education SA’s Curriculum and Training Manager with responsibility for curriculum and program development. Jo-Anne is a qualified teacher and has worked with Life Education as an educator since 1995 and as Curriculum and Training Manager since 2003. Jo is engaged as a specialist curriculum writer by Life Education Australia to develop their new secondary suite of preventative drug education programs titled “Face the Facts” which focus on alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and illicit drugs.
Brian Knowles
An accountant in private practice since 1954, he has specialised in administration of housing and building societies. Since retiring in 1988 he has continued as chairman of Directors of a large group of housing societies and acts as consultant to his former business, which continues to trade as B. H. Knowles & Co. He was President of the Australian Association of Housing Societies for 6 years and served on the Government Advisory Committee for 12 years. Was a member and office-bearer of the Board of Governors of International House at the Queensland University for 18 years and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association of Queensland for 8 years. A Rotarian since 1960, served as Club President 1963/64, District Governor (D9600) 1969/70 and Director of Rotary International 1986/88, serving also as RI Treasurer in 1987/88. Was vice-chairman of the 1990 Portland RI Convention Committee, chairman of the 1993 Melbourne Convention Committee, vice-chairman of the Council on Legislation in Caracas, Venezuela in 1995 and parliamentarian to the 1998 Council in Delhi. Brian has been appointed as Chief Sergeant at Arms for the 2003 Convention in Brisbane. Served on the nominating committee for President of R.I. on 4 occasions.
Served as Chairman, Western Pacific PolioPlus Committee from 1991-2000 and Chairman of WHO's Interagency Co-ordinating Committee for the same period. Since 1990 on behalf of the Rotary Foundation and in conjunction with the World Bank supervised Rotary's US$15 million contribution towards a new polio vaccine facility in Kunming, China. Brian has served as an adviser to the International PolioPlus Committee since 2001 and also heads a committee in Australia, aimed at raising funds from the private sector for polio eradication - as part of a global initiative. Served for 8 years on the Management Committee of Rotary Down Under and 6 years as a Director of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund.
Married to Nancy in 1955, they had two children - Greg, also an accountant who was tragically killed in France in 1982 and Janelle who served as an intelligence officer in the Australian Air Force, before marriage to a former Air Force pilot, now with QANTAS. There are three grandsons aged 17, 15 and 12. Brian has always maintained a keen interest in sport and served as president of the Queensland Squash Association for 9 years and as an Australian selector for 8 years.
Geraldine Cox AM
Geraldine started her career with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970. Her first posting was to Phnom Penh, where she experienced life in a country at war when the Vietnam War spilled over into Cambodia. Subsequent postings were Manila, Bangkok, Tehran and Washington DC.
After resigning from the government in 1987 she worked for 8 years with The Chase Manhattan Bank in Sydney before deciding to live in Cambodia in 1996.
Geraldine’s original experiences in Cambodia never left her and on a return visit in 1993 she became involved in helping an orphaned Cambodian child. From that small beginning Geraldine founded what is now the Sunrise Children’s Villages.
King Norodom Sihanouk bestowed her with full Cambodian Citizenship by Royal Decree in 1999 and she spends half the year with the children and the remainder travelling to raise funds.
Pan Macmillan published Geraldine’s autobiography, Home Is Where The Heart Is in 2000 and Hollywood bought the rights to make a feature film based on her book.
Geraldine was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2000.
The documentary, My Khmer Heart, won the Hollywood Film Festival Documentary of the Year Award in 2000 and has since been bought and screened by HBO and Discovery Cable Channels. Her story has been featured on Australian Television over the last few years on Australian Story, The Sunday Program, This Is Your Life and more recently as a stand alone documentary on ABC’s Channel 2.
Geraldine has been appointed to serve on the International Advisory Board of Oasis Africa - www.oasisafrica.net
In November 2006 Geraldine was awarded the Circle of Courage Award from the Australian Charity, Youth Off The Streets. Also in November 2006 The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International named Geraldine a Paul Harris Fellow in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.
In June 2007, Australia Network, the cable television channel screened in 41 countries, invited Geraldine to be one of their Ambassadors, where she will promote the channel and its programs. Geraldine is invited to speak by many organisations, both in Australia and overseas.
For more detailed information please visit the website - www.sunrisechildrensvillage.org or contact Geraldine personally on geraldine.cox@sunrisechildrensvillage.org
Dr Scott Field
Scott Field was a Class IV World Peace fellow at the University of California-Berkeley from 2005-2007, where he completed a double Masters degree specializing in International Security and the Middle East, and studying the Arabic language.
His applied field experience from June to August last year included 6 weeks in Washington DC, affiliated with a Palestinian NGO, and 6 weeks in the West Bank and Israel, conducting research into the entry of the Islamist group Hamas into Palestinian politics. Prior to joining the Rotary program, his background was in ecology and conservation biology, with a PhD from the University of Adelaide in 1997, followed by postdoctoral work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, and lecturing and research positions at the Universities of Adelaide and Queensland.
At Berkeley, his environmental background cross-fertilized with his studies in international politics in several ways, including in the area of environmental security, which looks at the security implications of global environmental trends such as climate change. He continues to pursue his interest in Middle East politics, and is currently preparing manuscripts on the management of Hamas in Palestinian politics, and the prospects for democracy in Iran and the implications for US policy.
He currently holds positions as a Visiting Scholar in the Institute of International Studies at Berkeley, and as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, where he will be teaching International Relations in the Autumn.
Phil Hollow
Phil was born in Adelaide in 1950, attended Unley High and the South Australian Institute of Technology where he studied Woolclassing and he also studied Natural Resource Management at the University of South Australia.
Phil joined the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1978 and has worked in various locations around South Australia and overseas. He commenced his career at Cleland, moved to Danggali in 1985, Port Lincoln in 1987 and then to the position of District Ranger in charge of the Coorong and Lakes area in 1993. Currently, he is on secondment to the Department of Environment, Coast and Marine Branch, where he is the Community Engagement Project Office for Marine Parks.
He was awarded the South Australian Ranger of the Year in 1994 and he and his wife, Sue, lived and worked in Washington State in the USA for 12 months in 1994/1995. Phil was the first Ranger Exchangee to Washington State and he managed Birch Bay State Park on the Canadian border.
Phil commenced his Rotary involvement as an honorary member at Renmark before joining the Rotary Club of Port Lincoln in 1990 and the Rotary Club of Encounter Bay in 1993. He is a past president and Paul Harris Fellow. In 1995 he was the team leader for the G.S.E. team that travelled to District 1050 in Manchester. Phil has served on the G.S.E. District Committee and was an Assistant District Governor for District Governor Ian Oliver.
Phil’s presentation will be on “The Coorong and Lower Lakes – what now?”
Professor Dean Jaensch
Dean Jaensch is Professor in the School of Political and International Studies at Flinders University. He is the author and co-author of 25 books and numerous chapters and articles, mainly on Australian politics, including The Politics of Australia (MacMillan), Power Politics: The Australian Party System (Allen and Unwin) and The MacMillan Dictionary of Australian Politics (MacMillan).
He is widely involved in public political education and is a regular political commentator and analyst in the Australian media. Professor Jaensch has also carried out numerous consultancies, including for local government, and he is constantly involved with speaking to a wide range of groups and organisations on the topic of Australian politics. He is a Life Member of the Australian Political Studies Association.
Professor Tony Jorm
Prof Tony Jorm is a Professorial Fellow at ORYGEN Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. His current research focuses on public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, and particularly on interventions to improve the public’s helpfulness towards people developing mental disorders. Prof Jorm is the author of 12 books or monographs, over 300 journal articles and over 25 chapters in edited volumes. He has been awarded a Doctor of Science for his research and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He is a member of the Research Committee of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund. He is a past President of the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research. He has been listed in ISI HighlyCited.com as one of the most cited researchers in Psychology/Psychiatry of the past 20 years.
Peter Marshman OAM
Click here to download a copy of Peter Marshman's Speech
Peter Marshman is a businessman turned social entrepreneur with plenty of passion for his new venture.
Throughout his career Peter has been starting, buying and selling businesses. These businesses have included well known names such as System Built Homes, The Modern Group, Windy Point and Riverfront restaurants and Burns for Blinds.
In 1998 Peter’s interests began to change. He started the charity Youth Opportunities Association with the aim of helping young people, who were going off track, by training them with the skills to take control of their life, rather than remain a victim of their circumstances.
Peter funded the start up of Youth Opportunities and began working with schools in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. This year, Youth Opportunities is working in partnership with 25 schools throughout metropolitan and regional S.A. graduating around 1800 students per annum.
The results of the program are outstanding. Youth Opportunities has been recognized with three Prime Ministers Awards for community excellence and an SA great award for excellence in education.
As the results become more widely known, there are more and more requests for the program from all sections of the community. Peter has recently sold his business interests to focus on managing the growth and getting the financial support to roll out the program to schools throughout Australia’.
Peter is the author of the book “Choose Your Life”.
Dr John Reid
Click here to download a copy of Dr Reid's Paper
Dr Reid is a cognitive neuroscientist whose specialisms are the study of driving behaviour, and sleep. He obtained his bachelor degree in psychology and economics at Caulfield Institute of Technology, in 1988, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Melbourne, in 1998. His thesis is titled A Cognitive Study of Dysfunctional Driving Behaviours. His present research project is an epidemio–logical study of the prevalence and causes of daytime sleepiness.
Dr Reid is a ‘hands-on’ environmentalist, a member of a Victorian State Park Friends Group, who spends a substantial amount of time maintaining the park — picking up rubbish, weeding, seed collecting and propagating, and replanting indigenous species.
Dr Reid was born in Brisbane in 1929. He has had a varied career, as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment, a senior executive in the international gramophone records industry, an inventor, a management consultant specializing in strategic planning, small business proprietor and manager (of an engineering documentation provider), and as an organizational psychologist. Counting his present occupation as a research scientist, he has had 7 different careers, and he expects eventually to make a further career change to become a writer… but not for a while yet!
Professional memberships:
Member, American Psychological Association
Member, Australasian Sleep Association
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Member, Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Ian Sutherland
RYDA is a not-for-profit organisation that has developed a road safety education program delivered to the youth of our community through Rotary Clubs. The program is directed towards our young people about road safety as they approach the period in their life when they start driving a car and ride as a passenger in a car driven by one of their peers.
RYDA was established in 2000 in northern metropolitan Sydney. Since then, the program has grown rapidly as a result of strong demand from schools. Over 50,000 students have participated in the program since inception. Such is the demand, that in 2008 alone it is expected that 30,000 students will be involved with the program.
The program targets Year 11 students and RYDA’s mission is to provide quality road safety information to youth and to ensure that when young people commence driving they have the best road safety education possible.
The RYDA program is offered in NSW, South Australia and Tasmania. In addition, plans are well advanced to introduce RYDA into Queensland. RYDA is strongly supported by State Government authorities. The organisation has established strong partnerships with participating Rotary Clubs and those local community groups who share an interest in the road safety of our youth.
Dr Ziggy Switkowski
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Dr. Ziggy Switkowski is a non-executive director of Suncorp, Tabcorp, Healthscope and Opera Australia. He is a former chief executive of Telstra. Last year, he chaired the Prime Minister’s Review into Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy. Recently he has been appointed to the Chair of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Tom Thorfinnson
Hailing from Eden Prairie MN USA, Tom and Jamie have two daughters, Alexis and Ashley. Tom is a real estate attorney.
Tom joined Hopkins MN Rotary in 1980 and served as President in 1992-93. He is active in Youth Exchange and chaired a multi-district youth exchange program for two years. Tom and Jamie have hosted 3 Rotary exchange students.
Tom has served District 5950 as Governor, Grants Chair, Foundation Chair and Membership Chair. He was a Polio Eradication Fundraising National Advisor, a President’s Representative to District Conferences and on the Council on Legislation.
He has served twice as overall Chair for the Rotary Institute for Zones 27-28 and served as the Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator for Zone 27.
Tom is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service. Tom and Jamie are Level 4 Bequest Society Members and Major Donors to the Rotary Foundation.
Passionate about providing safe water to children in need, Tom has traveled to the Caribbean nation of Haiti many times and Lead the Way in putting together Foundation grants that have drilled over 150 wells. A frequent speaker on The Rotary Foundation and safe water, Tom presented in January 2007 at the Rotary International Assembly.
Katrina Webb
Katrina Webb is recognized and acknowledged for her unique athleticism and outstanding success as a Paralympic athlete.
When Katrina was 18, on a netball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, she discovered that a weakness on her right side was a mild case of Cerebral Palsy.
With the discovery of her CP, Katrina realized that she was eligible to compete at the Paralympic Games. Although a difficult decision to make, Katrina decided to tackle her disability head on and take on the challenge.
At her first Paralympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, Katrina won a Gold Medal in the 100m and 200m sprint and a Silver Medal in the long jump. At the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, Katrina had the honour of being the first torchbearer to enter the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony and went on to win Silver in the 100m and 400m sprint and a Bronze Medal in the 200m sprint.
At the most recent Paralympic Games in Athens 2004, Katrina won another Gold Medal for the 400m sprint and set a new Paralympic Record. Katrina’s success on the track has made her one of Australia’s top performing Paralympic athletes. She is also a sought after motivational and inspirational speaker and runs her own business. As a qualified physiotherapist and a person who knows how to achieve gold medal results more than once, her business specializes in ‘Turning Silver to Gold’ and improving the performance and health of organizations, teams and individuals.
Katrina’s success as an athlete and as a business woman has been recognized internationally, when she was one of four athletes selected from around the world to present at the closing ceremony of the United Nations International Year of Sport and Physical Education in New York in 2006.