SecondBite’s board consists of dedicated professionals who are committed to ending hunger, and ending waste. Our board members volunteer their time, experience and ideas to help SecondBite rescue as much food as possible to feed Australians who need it.
Julian Martin
Chairman
Julian Martin joined the SecondBite Board in February 2018, having previously been Chairman of SecondBite’s NSW Advisory Committee. He became Chairman in July 2020 and oversaw SecondBite’s rebranding process which culminated in the launch of the new ‘Ending Waste. Ending Hunger.’ positioning theme.
Julian has had a 30 year career in advertising holding CEO and Managing Director roles at advertising agencies in Melbourne, Sydney, London and New York. Julian is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of BrandCental. He has developed successful brand and communications strategies for major organisations across Finance, Retail, Food Service, Media, Package Goods, Professional & Trade associations, Federal, State and Local Government.
Julian has a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Owner President Program. His other community roles include multiple positions for Woollahra Municipal Council including Councillor, Chair of Corporate and Works Committee, and Vice Chair of Urban and Planning Committee. Julian has also been a Board member of the Holdsworth St Community Centre and of Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London.
Simone Carson (AM)
Deputy Chair
Simone is a co-founder of SecondBite and was appointed Director in September 2006.
Simone was a Registered Nurse with a keen focus on children’s health. Simone worked in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital and co-ordinated research projects for the Infectious Diseases Department. She also gained a certificate in Paediatric Intensive Care and subsequently became a Clinical Nurse Specialist. Simone completed a Bachelor of Education at La Trobe University and the Graduate Company Directors Course at the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Simone has a special interest in volunteers who are the “golden thread” enabling the significant growth and expansion of SecondBite’s work in the community and relationships within the food security sector. Simone is a member of the SecondBite Volunteer Committee and a Trustee of the SecondBite Future Trust. Until 2019, she was a board member of the St Vincent’s Institute Foundation.
In recognition of Simone’s tireless work in the community, she was inducted into the Victorian Honor Roll of Women in 2016, made a member of the Order of Australia in 2017 and awarded Melbournian of the Year in 2018. Simone was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2018 and will be looking to improve food rescue in Australia by examining best practices globally.
Georgia Beattie
Director
Georgia joined the Second Bite board in March 2016. She is CEO of Bulla Park, Australia’s largest organic mushroom farm and a non-executive Director of Rowing Australia.
She specialises as a next gen farmer embracing the use of technology and innovation to achieve fast growth and scale in agriculture. She began her career in the startup space founding wine packaging business Lupé Wines in 2010. The company created innovative IP to manufacture a single serve glass of wine and raised venture capital to expand quickly into events, hotel minibars and airlines across Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. The company was acquired in 2016.
Prior to this Georgia spent a period in the tech industry as CEO of Realestate.com’s new venture Spacely as well as CEO of Startup Victoria. Georgia is also on the advisory board of Law Squared.
Rebecca Bedford
Director
Rebecca joined SecondBite as Director in March 2016 and is a Trustee of the SecondBite Future Trust. Rebecca is a Partner with law firm MinterEllison, in the Dispute Resolution Group. She specialises in distribution and supply chain issues in all industries including, automotive, energy, fast moving consumer goods, fitness and telecommunications.
Rebecca also regularly advises on regulatory compliance (including competition and franchising), intellectual property, comparative advertising and general dispute resolution. She regularly speaks at legal events, including the International Bar Association’s annual conference, on legal issues arising from international distribution arrangements.
John Curtis
Director
John became a director of SecondBite in May 2020, having been involved with SecondBite from the beginning to support the less fortunate and reduce waste.
John is a consultant to Herbert Smith Freehills and previously a partner for over 20 years, International Managing Partner, Managing Partner of the Melbourne Office and Head of the Projects Group involved in large economic infrastructure, mining and resources projects for well over 30 years.
John was recognised as Best Lawyers Australia ‘Lawyer of the Year for Transportation’ in 2011. He has worked extensively on private infrastructure investment, construction and engineering projects with particular expertise in transport (road and rail), water, power and social infrastructure projects. He has also worked on infrastructure projects in the USA, South East Asia, China, Chile, UAE and the UK and is a Director of Asialink.
John also conducts a local farming business breeding Angus cattle – Waldara.
Richard Gwilym
Director
Richard joined the SecondBite board in July 2020. Richard is a Partner in PwC’s Consulting Business within the Government and Public Sector Industry Team, specialising in Digital Transformation, Efficiency and Citizen Centric Reform in Public Sector organisations. Richard leads PwC’s national Digital Transformation Capability, a team of 1400 professionals focused on helping organisations transform their organisations and deliver value through their customer, experience and digital transformations investments.
Prior to joining the Government and Public Sector Industry Team Richard spent 15 years consulting to clients in the UK, Europe and Asia Pac Regions in the Retail and Consumer Goods sector across strategy, operations, supply chain, multi channel retailing and large scale technology transformations.
David Lomax
Director
Dave was appointed Director of SecondBite in February 2018 and is Chair of the SecondBite Finance & Risk Committee. Dave is a Partner in the Ernst & Young (EY) Transaction Diligence team with over 17 years of professional experience in the UK and Australia covering M&A and Audit. Since joining the EY Transaction Diligence team in 2006, Dave has gained significant financial due diligence experience, working with clients on a number of significant Australian and international M&A transactions.
Dave sponsored SecondBite through the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Program in 2015, in which SecondBite was crowned EY Southern Region 2015 Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
Dave is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Andrew Monotti
Director
Andrew was appointed Director of SecondBite in December 2011. Andrew is currently Partner, King & Wood Mallesons and Adjunct Senior Associate, Faulty of Law, Monash University.
Andrew specialises in competition law (including third party access), utility regulation, joint ventures, contracts and intellectual property. In competition law, he concentrates on transactions, Australian Competition and Consumer (ACCC) approvals of mergers and acquisitions and advice and compliance programs, including National Competition Policy reforms. He has been involved in significant Australian and international and global mergers and acquisitions and competition law issues across various essential industries. Andrew also specialises in franchising and other forms of distribution and dealer arrangements.
Andrew has co-lectured in competition law at Monash University for a number of years and holds a Non-Executive role as Adjunct Senior Associate, Faculty of Law with Monash University.
Alan O’Hara
Director
Alan joined the Second Bite Board in November 2022. He is the COO of Hinkler Books a global, independent publisher.
Alan specialises in Supply Chain and Manufacturing having over 25 years of Global experience leading and transforming operations for Ixom, Chemist Warehouse, Sigma Healthcare and Menora Foods.
He is a Fellow of the CILT and holds a GRAD Dip in Business Marketing from RMIT.
Matt Preston
Director
Matt was appointed Director of SecondBite in October 2018 after a long association with our organisation. Matt is an award-winning food journalist, best-selling cookbook author and international TV personality. He is currently co-host and mentor of Plate of Origin on Network Seven with long-term friends Gary Mehigan and Manu Feidel.
Matt writes a weekly column for delicious on Sunday in the News Corp metro mastheads seen by over 4 million Australians every week. He is also a senior editor for delicious. and taste magazines, and contributes to one of the world’s best-read recipe websites, www.taste.com.au with a monthly reach of 2 million food lovers.
Matt has written seven cookbooks that have been best-sellers in Australia and overseas. His TV shows have reached an audience of 180 million people across 110 countries.
As well as 11 seasons of MasterChef Australia, and four seasons of various format variants, Matt has also appeared on MasterChef Italia, MasterChef Holland, MasterChef India, MasterChef Poland and MasterChef NZ. He has also taken dramatic roles in Neighbours, Offspring, Lowdown, and The Bold & The Beautiful.
Over the last 10 years Matt has been a regular co-host and presenter for ABC Radio, Smooth FM, Nova, the Hit Network and Triple MMM. Matt is also a key social media influencer in Australia and internationally with a combined international social media reach of over 1m followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Sam Schachna
Director
Sam was appointed Director of SecondBite in July 2016 and is a member of the Risk and Finance Committee. Sam has over 18 years of experience across the Consumer Goods, Financial and IT Advisory Services industries. Sam’s professional career commenced at KPMG, where for over six years he led projects and provided strategic, regulatory and financial advice to leading blue-chip clients.
In 2008, Sam joined Menora Foods, a national leader in fast moving consumer goods. As Managing Director, Sam led a nation-wide team of over 150 staff with responsibility across domestic and international operations. In 2015, Menora was acquired by Monde Nissin, one of the leading branded food manufacturers in the ASEAN region. In 2017, Sam co-founded Simple Foods that developed and marketed a range of innovative natural and organic brands across major retailers in Australia and New Zealand. Simple Foods was acquired in July 2019.
Sam holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Systems from Monash University.
Craig Taylor
Director
Craig was appointed Director of SecondBite in 2021. He began his retail career at the Coles Support Centre in May 2006 in the Fresh Produce Department. Craig has held various management roles across Fresh Produce including Supply Manager, Category Manager and Business Category Manager with experience across every aspect of the Fresh Produce business.
In 2012 Craig moved to the Coles Bakery business where he took over the end to end management of the business and was responsible for reshaping the strategy to increase the number of in-store bakeries across the fleet as well as the establishment of the Redkite partnership that still exists today.
In 2015 Craig moved to Coles Liquor to head up the successful transformation of the Liquorland business after which he was appointed General Manager Merchandise, responsible for setting and managing the strategic direction across Merchandise, Online and Supply Chain businesses for all brands across Coles Liquor.
In November 2019, Craig was delighted to accept an offer to move back to where it all started, the Fresh Produce Business Unit, in the role of General Manager.
Craig has a natural bias for creative change, strongly believes in the value of establishing high performing teams and cares passionately about the environment and the community.
Jacqui Walters
Director
Jacqui is a professional services leader and non-executive director with over 20 years’ experience working for top tier management consulting firms. She has established new businesses and held leadership roles focussed on professional services growth strategies and business performance, including merger and acquisition activities. Her client work has ranged from whole of organisation transformation and restructuring to innovation and commercialisation, major capital project delivery, and post-merger integration.
Jacqui is inaugural Chair of CleanCo Queensland, a recently established low emission energy generator owned by the Queensland State Government. She is a Director, Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee and a member of the Investment Committee for Development Victoria; a Director and Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee of Slater & Gordon; and a Director of Pathways to Resilience (a for purpose early childhood resilience organisation). Jacqui was an inaugural Board Member and Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee for Building Queensland.
Jacqui holds a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Trustee of Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).