On Thursday 15 October, ACBC Victoria held our AGM via Zoom with our members and several guest observers. We are delighted to announce that our Branch President, Matthew Schofield was unanimously re-elected, together with re-nominating Vice Presidents Laura Mattiazzi, Barry White, Tom Parker and On Kit Tam and Treasurer Ying Hou.
We also welcomed two new Vice Presidents: George Yeung and Rhys Roberts and three new Executive Committee members: Isabel Zhang, Bastion; John Warmbrunn, Ego Pharmaceuticals and, returning after an absence of 4 years, Damian Tkalec, Trade Travel Partners. We thank them and know they will each bring unique skills and ideas to our Branch Executive.
We accepted the re-nomination of 20 current members of our ExCo and are delighted that they have re-committed to serve our Branch for another year.
We have achieved gender and cultural balance and are pleased to have wide sectoral representation, talent and experience on our ExCo, which positions us well as we move into a ‘new normal’ way of doing business.
We also farewelled four members from our ExCo, who collectively have contributed almost 50 years’ service to our Branch. David Olsson, who resigned to take on the role of ACBC National President in late 2019; Bruce Sheng, Asipac Group; Frank Paton, Hunt and Hunt and Ben Foskett, Pathway Services Pty Ltd. We acknowledged and thanked them for their considerable support of our branch and look forward to continuing to work with them.
ACBC Victorian President, Matt Schofield, gave a comprehensive summary of our last 12 months activities, highlighting the contrast between the final 4 months of 2019 and the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on our business and finances over the past 8 months. Matt outlined priorities and forward plans for our Branch and believes we will emerge as a stronger, more streamlined organisation with a clear understanding of our place in the Australia/China bilateral relationship.
We have built up and maintain a strong and vibrant branch that is well engaged with our members and we thank each of you for your support.
The ACBC Vic Team, led by CEO Virginia Birrell, looks forward to working with you all over the coming 12 months. We thank those of you who are active members of our branch. Your time, financial contribution and expertise is valued, appreciated and acknowledged. We encourage all our members to involve themselves in our activities and are always pleased to receive your comments and suggestions. We look forward to meeting as many members as possible in the weeks and months ahead – albeit virtually for the time being – and to the time when we can once again meet in person.
President
Vice Presidents
Treasurer
Members
