Our Board & Working Group

Tour de Cure would not be possible without a dedicated group of board members and our Working group who give their time to ensure each tour goes ahead without a hitch and the maximum possible funds generated get directed exactly where they are needed; cancer research, treatment, education and awareness.

Tour de Cure is a company limited by guarantee and is a not-for-profit organisation. It is an income tax exempt charity, with deductible gift recipient status.

The Board is committed to the highest level of ethics in the management and governance of the Tour de Cure, ensuring full transparency and accountability at all times.

Our Board

The Tour de Cure's Board consists of 5 independent, non-executive directors. This Board brings a wide range of business and commercial skills to the Tour de Cure.

Bruno Maurel - Board Member
Bruno Maurel, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Activation has over 30 years experience in retailing, training, sales & marketing. The Company  was established in 1984 and today it is the only company in Australia & New Zealand that Creates, Executes and Measures Brand Strategies in-house. Creative Activation has over 3,500 employees and with 8 specialist divisions provides these services to the majority of blue chip companies in Australasia. Bruno is passionate about developing people and delivering the ultimate customer experience for his clients.

Bruno has been married to Amanda for 25 years and together they have a close bond with their 3 children – Luke, Caitlin & Brittany. He enjoys reading, sports and learning and believes every day of your life is a gift.

Dominique Robinson - Board Member
Currently Solicitor and Managing  Partner/ Director of Sydney law firm Robinson Legal  1992 to present, specialising in Commercial and Property Law.

Commercial property lawyer at Freehill Hollingdale and Page 1987 to 1992. Started her career as prosecutor with the NSW State Crown Solicitor's Office  1980 to 1987.

Dominique has continued to build  her business and reputation  whilst representing some  high profile companies and individuals, including Mercedes Benz and  the  Trivett  Classic Group, governmental instrumentalities such as Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Trust, some of the country's major personalities  such as  Paul Hogan  and John Cornell and  some of the biggest retail  companies including Australian Geographic, Osh Kosh, David Lawrence, Early Learning Centre,  Marcs and  Morrissey.

With their three children Edward, William & Cassandra, Dominique  and her husband Andrew have always  tried to give something back to the community and  have  especially supported organisations and charities close to their hearts, including Kids for Life and Tour de Cure.    Dominique has travelled widely and enjoys promoting  Australia as the most beautiful and most 'equal opportunity' country in the world .   Having come to Australia as a  foreign (French) speaking migrant  at the age of 12 , and having to learn a new culture and language, she believes it is possible to succeed in Australia  in the face of different types of adversity so long as people have a vision and work hard towards it .

Dominique has recently lost best friends and colleagues to cancer,  so she  specifically admires the vision of the Tour De Cure and the unselfish giving nature of the wonderful team who not only give up their time and their own funds to ride for a cancer cure but spend countless hours doing fund raising as well.  She particularly encourages corporate sponsors to come forward and give a very small part of their profits to such a wonderful cause, as everyone has been touched  in some way  by cancer.  She is grateful for the opportunity to assist Tour de Cure in a practical way as a board member and is happy to volunteer her firm's services as  honorary legal adviser to the cause.

Geoff Coombes - Board Member and Working Group Member
Geoff is a sales and marketing professional who is passionate about making brands stand out in this cluttered world we live in. His business - Tribe Culture - specialises in custom promotional merchandise that unites the tribal following of the brands he represents.

Geoff's background before starting Tribe Culture would best be described as a Jack of All Trades having worked in Field Sales & Marketing, Category Management, Permanent and Semi POS design and development, experiential marketing, promotional marketing, sponsorship leveraging, promotional merchandise & premiums design and development.

He has worked with some of the leading brands in the world, the likes of The Coca-Cola Company, SAB Miller, Diageo, Pepsi, Channel 9, The Commonwealth Games, Microsoft, Qantas, Wizard Home Loans, Fuji Xerox, Optus, Siemens and many more.

Geoff is a self confessed adrenaline Junkie and has worked as a White water rafting guide and Mountain bike tour guide in Whistler Canada. In 1996 Geoff cycled across America with nothing but his camping gear, a map and a mate. It was this ride that started the idea for the Tour de Cure.

Geoff is the co-founder of Australia's leading cycling tour foundation THE TOUR DE CURE and he has also been involved, since its inception, in a corporate fundraising day called the 'A Day of Inspiration' which gathers together keynote speakers, entertainers and performers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney for a one day event in front of a corporate crowd to raise awareness and funds towards the curing of Cancer.

Gary Bertwistle - Member and Working Group Member
Gary is Australia's new pioneer in thinking. As an author Gary has published two books. In 2006 he published the Keys to Creativity. His most recent release was Who Stole My Mojo? His third book What Made You Think of That? is due out in bookstores in August 2009.

Gary is a keynote speaker who speaks on the thinking behind creativity, innovation, marketing, brand and performance.  In 2002 Gary opened Australia's first ever creative thinking venue at Fox Studios in Sydney called the Ideas Vault.  His venue is now used by some of the biggest corporations in the country for creative thinking, meetings, seminars and training sessions. He is the co-founder the Tour de Cure and  the founder of the corporate fundraising day called the Day of Inspiration which gathers together keynote speakers, entertainers and performers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney for a one day event in front of a corporate crowd to raise awareness and funds towards the curing of Cancer.

He's won the TEC Speaker of the Year Award in both 2007 and 2008 and is renowned for his passion and drive in helping people to think differently about their life, family, business and Mojo.

Samantha Hollier-James - Member and Working Group Member

Samantha is an Experiential Marketing Specialist, driving brand sales by creating customer experiences.

Samantha has worked within the experiential marketing industry for the past 13 years, across Australasia and key European markets in both agency and brand roles. She has worked with and for numerous multi national brands including Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nestle, Foxtel, Diageo, Pepsi, NRMA, Toyota, Murdoch Magazines and ObjectStar before founding Key 3 Steps. Key 3 Steps offers experiential brand audits, brand activation learning modules and freelance project management services.

Samantha is driven by adding value, learning and growing with each team she is involved with.

Samantha formed part of the initial team that established the Tour de Cure. She has also been involved, since its inception, in the corporate fundraising day called the 'A Day of Inspiration' which gathers together keynote speakers, entertainers and performers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney for a one day event in front of a corporate crowd to raise awareness and funds towards the curing of Cancer.

Our Working Group

With the aim to raise money for the fight against cancer, and to be the leading cycling tour foundation in Australia, there are many projects throughout the year that we need to develop and execute in order to reach our objectives.

Without the normal paid resources of most companies we rely on those who kindly give their time to complete these projects. The Tour de Cure is proud to have enlisted the help of a core Working Group who bring together a range of skills.

The team all volunteer their expertise that includes:

• Brand Marketing
• Sales
• Senior Management
• Business Ownership
• Digital Production
• Legal
• Finance
• Product Management
• Channel Management
• Corporate Networks

The 'Working Group' exemplifies Tour de Cure's values of TRUST, DOER and COLLABERATION.

Many thanks go to the following people

Amy Copcutt,  Andrew 'Max' Walker, David Lo, Denver Beven, Joshua McBride, Phil Mouret and Malcolm Heath