RNA Foundation

Don Chandler was elected to the RNA Council in June 2015. Don is currently a Partner of Crestone Wealth Management following the acquisition of UBS Wealth Management in June 2016. Don joined UBS in November 2012 after a 21-year career with Ord Minnett. Don was the Queensland State Manager of Ord Minnett for 8 of those years. During his career Don has provided investment advice to a broad range of Private and Wholesale investors. The move to UBS and subsequently Crestone has provided the platform and resources to significantly expand his expertise and offering to high net worth clients.

Don and his family have had a long association with the RNA and he is a former President of The Brookfield Show Society. In addition to the RNA, Don sits on the Investment Committee of the RFDS Foundation, is Chairman of the Brookfield Recreation Reserve Trust, and a Non-Executive Chairman of a Private Queensland Families Investment interests. He is a member of the AICD and holds a Bachelor of Business, QUT.

Ari was appointed to the RNA Council in December 2022. He is a partner in Queensland law firm Thynne & Macartney. He enjoys a career protecting the interests of Queensland’s farmers and graziers when buying and selling rural properties, running their businesses and planning for the future.

Recognising the role agriculture will always play in the prosperity of rural Queensland's communities, Ari supports the RNA Foundation's work across its three pillars: heritage, education and agricultural development.

Ari is a director of Outback Gondwana Foundation Ltd, the charity that established and operates the Eromanga Natural History Museum and was a former Chair of the RNA's Future Directions Committee. He also maintains connections with his extended family’s grazing businesses in Central Queensland.

Ben is an accredited leadership facilitator through the Proctor Gallagher Institute (USA) and assists individuals and teams to improve their performance and results both personally and professionally. Ben is an admitted Solicitor in the State of Queensland and has worked in private practice and in-house in the principle areas of food and agriculture, property, corporate and insurance laws. His commercial experience extends to business development in international trade and marketing food based commodities globally. Ben works closely with his family business, which produces beef cattle and sugar cane in North Queensland.

In addition to serving as a Board member of the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland's (RNA) Foundation, Ben serves as a Board member of Camerata - Queensland's Chamber Orchestra, Member of the Brisbane Festival Giving Committee; Member of the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation Grants Committee; and formerly a Member of the RNA's Future Directions Committee serving as Senior Deputy Chairperson.

Ann has been associated with the pastoral industry for most of her life, having lived in numerous rural locations, mainly in Western Queensland. Following her husbands death in 2000, Ann independently and successfully ran the family sheep and cattle grazing property until it was sold in 2018. She is now retired and lives in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast.

Ann recently completed a 3 year term on the Queensland Water and Land Carers board and is currently on a Work Health and Safety committee with AgForce. Still a member of the Muttaburra Stock Show , Ann was the inaugural lady President 2009/2010.

The people and communities of inland Australia have a very special place in Ann’s heart.

Pete Lewis is the director of Brisbane-based consultancy Way With Words after a 40 year career in print & broadcast journalism .

He is a former National Rural & Regional Reporter for ABC News & Current Affairs, an ABC Foreign Correspondent and Executive Producer of ABC-TV’s award- winning national rural affairs programme Landline .

Pete studied Politics & Economics at UNSW, and worked in the print media before joining the ABC in 1980.

He worked in radio and television news & current affairs in Newcastle,
Adelaide, the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canberra and covered three Summer Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games, America’s Cup yachting, Formula One Grand Prix racing and even a Papal Tour.

For two decades he was a member of the team that produced the award-wining ABC-TV rural affairs programme Landline and ran it for five years as Executive Producer.

His work has won numerous accolades and citations including a Dunlop national motorsport award, a Eureka Science Prize, Clarion Awards from the MEAA Queensland Branch and the 2014 Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists’ Award for Excellence in Rural Broadcasting.

Pete is a former National Media Section President of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, former President of the Rural Press Club of Queensland, immediate Past President of the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists and a former delegate to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

Julie is the CFO of MDH Pty Ltd, a family owned and operated large scale beef cattle enterprise operating across Queensland. Julie is a director of the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame, The Zanda McDonald Award Foundation and Marcus Oldham College. Julie is the elected grass-fed producer representative on the MLA board selections committee, and chairs the Agforce QLD Market Access Coordination Group.

Julie was a mentor in the Graeme Acton Beef Connections Program for both the 2018 and 2021 Beef Australia events, a mentor in the inaugural Advancing Beef Leaders program, and has been a judge and host for the Zanda McDonald Award since the awards inception in 2014. These programs offer significant learning and mentoring opportunities for those working in the agricultural sector who are under 35 years of age.

Julie is an advocate for attracting and supporting young people in agriculture and developing the leadership skills of the upcoming generation.

Ali is a marketing and events specialist with deep ties to rural Australia. Having spent her formative years on sheep and cattle properties stretching from the Back-of-Bourke to Cunnamulla in South West Queensland, Ali’s upbringing instilled a lifelong connection to the land. Her early education was shaped by the School of the Air, followed by boarding at Wenona in Sydney. With over two decades of experience in marketing and event management, Ali has a proven track record of delivering successful events and strategic marketing initiatives.

From 2014 to 2016, Ali served as Vice President of the Brookfield Show Society, where she co-founded the Brookfield Long Lunch, an annual fundraiser that has raised over $500,000 since its launch in 2014. Ali remains actively involved as the event’s manager, driving its success in funding vital projects at the historic Brookfield Showgrounds and enhancing the Brookfield Show Society’s role as a dynamic community hub. Ali’s efforts extend beyond her local community, with the Brookfield Long Lunch contributing to numerous rural charities annually.

Her commitment to the bush and its people remains central to her personal and professional life. Ali’s commitment to excellence and passion for agriculture and community events make her a valuable asset to the RNA Foundation Board.