Northern Queensland PHN (NQPHN) is overseen by a highly qualified Board of Directors who are experienced health professionals and business experts, and who have a wealth of knowledge working within our region.
Ben Tooth
Board Chair
Ben is an experienced Board Director and Executive Manager with over 15 years’ experience in senior management health, finance, and accounting roles. Ben is a graduate of the Australian Institute of C...
Ben is an experienced Board Director and Executive Manager with over 15 years’ experience in senior management health, finance, and accounting roles. Ben is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company DIrectors and fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Ben has broad experience in the health sector leading teams and in consulting roles in both the public and private sector. Ben is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Ramsay Health Care’s Cairns Facilities. Ben is a purpose driven leader who is passionate about leading high performance teams, and delivering on strategies that ultimately lead to greater outcomes for the North Queensland community.
Ben strives for continued benefit for the entire North Queensland region and provides leadership and support to various organisations in director and committee roles including with Cairns Regional Council, Cairns Bank, and the Cairns Catholic Diocese development fund, and previously with Regional Development Australia.
Prior to becoming Chair, Ben held the roles of Deputy Chair and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee.
Jeff Stewart-Harris
Deputy Chair
Jeff is an experienced Chair, Director, Chief and Senior Executive with a passion to see individuals, teams, organisations, their boards, communities, and regions thrive - now and into the future. He ...
Jeff is an experienced Chair, Director, Chief and Senior Executive with a passion to see individuals, teams, organisations, their boards, communities, and regions thrive - now and into the future. He has been Chief and Senior Executive for 26 years of his 32-year Queensland local government career. In addition, in an almost 10-year career in the ports sector, he held Chief and Deputy Chief Executive roles, accountable for half of Queensland’s trade by tonnage though the ports of Hay Point, Mackay, Abbot Point, and Weipa. His initial professional discipline was in public and environmental health which fuelled the thread of community health, wellbeing, prosperity, and sustainable futures to be an enduring focus throughout both careers. He has deep expertise in community advocacy, engagement, and participation, including a strong focus on mental health, suicide prevention, and first peoples’ engagement. As a strong advocate for the regions, Jeff lives in Mackay, is interim Chair of Regional Development Australia – Greater Whitsundays, and an enthusiastic participant in the Northern Australia (Qld, NT and WA) Alliance of RDAs. He has also held board roles on the Australian Mining Cities Alliance and several other regional, community and industry organisations. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in several disciplines and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jeff was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for outstanding service to state and local governments in Queensland.
Suzanne Andrews
Board Director
Sue is the Chief Executive of Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, a community-based health organisation that delivers holistic primary health care to the people of Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community nea...
Sue is the Chief Executive of Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, a community-based health organisation that delivers holistic primary health care to the people of Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community near Cairns.
During her time as CEO, Sue has led the drive for the transfer of responsibility for delivering primary healthcare services from the Queensland Government to Gurriny Yealamucka, a first in Queensland, with Gurriny now looking after all primary healthcare services in the community, including women’s and maternal health, sexual health, chronic disease, and social and emotional wellbeing.
In 2016, Sue was also a key driver for the establishment of the first pharmacy to open in Yarrabah in nearly 20 years, ensuring the Yarrabah community had a wider range of primary and allied health services.
Prior to her appointment as CEO in 2012, Sue was the Finance Manager at Gurriny Yealamucka for more than five years, leading and managing the day-to-day financials of the organisation with a budget of $8 million.
Sue has also previously worked with Cape York Digital Network, implementing and rolling out projects within each Cape community around the use of technology, and Gindaja Treatment and Healing Centre in Yarrabah, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residential rehabilitation service which caters for both men and women with drug and alcohol-related problems.
A proud Aboriginal woman who grew up in Yarrabah, Sue is passionate about closing the gap in Indigenous health disadvantage. Sue was appointed a director of Northern Queensland Primary Health Network in 2017.
Tara Diversi
Board Director
Tara Diversi is the CEO of Sophus Nutrition, a digital nutrition platform that improves accessibility and affordability of expert nutrition and dietetic care through the combination of evidence-based ...
Tara Diversi is the CEO of Sophus Nutrition, a digital nutrition platform that improves accessibility and affordability of expert nutrition and dietetic care through the combination of evidence-based nutrition with psychology, behavioural economics, and technology. She also holds current roles as the President and Chair of Dietitians Australia, National Dietetic Adviser to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Entrepreneurship Facilitator for Cairns.
Tara is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Advanced Sports Dietitian starting her career in Cairns in private practice in 2003 and working in almost all areas of dietetics. To complement her dietetic studies (MND, BHSc), Tara holds an MBA, two post-graduate psychology qualifications (GDipPsyc; PGDipPsyc) and Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. She is the author of four books, nine textbook chapters, and six peer-reviewed papers.
After growing up in Kunnunurra and Cairns, Tara’s initial passion and work focused on Indigenous health in Australia and Papua New Guinea which drives her continued interest in improving health and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She has also worked extensively in sports nutrition, mental health, and incorporating behavioural economics into healthcare.
Outside of work, Tara enjoys seeing people stretch their comfort zones – whether it is her daughter learning something new, clients swimming over insane distances or in extreme temperatures, or a new health professional seeing their first client. She believes in the power of individual contribution to make significant positive impact on individuals, groups, and communities.
Dr Konrad Kangru
Board Director
Dr Konrad Kangru B.App Sci, MBBS, FRACGP gained his MBBS from the University of Queensland in 2000, has been in private rural General Practice in the Whitsundays region of Queensland since 2005, where...
Dr Konrad Kangru B.App Sci, MBBS, FRACGP gained his MBBS from the University of Queensland in 2000, has been in private rural General Practice in the Whitsundays region of Queensland since 2005, where he has been a GP Supervisor and Medical Educator since 2009. He has remained a very active advocate for improving the support of rural doctors, currently as Co-Chair of the Queensland Rural and Remote Clinical Network, and Medical Advisor to the Office of Rural and Remote Health, together with prior roles as President and prior Conference Convenor of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland.
Dr Kangru has also undertaken and presented his research on the self-care of rural doctors, and has special interests in medical education and diabetes management, particularly in up-skilling colleagues about this important condition. He is passionate about reducing the disparity in outcomes for patients living in rural and remote communities, and ensuring that every clinician providing care to these areas is as well supported as they possibly can be.
Sharon Kelly
Board Director
Sharon has more than 42 years of experience working in the health sector across a range of rural regional and tertiary health care services in the public sector for both Queensland and South Australia...
Sharon has more than 42 years of experience working in the health sector across a range of rural regional and tertiary health care services in the public sector for both Queensland and South Australia. She is an experienced and professional health leader who has delivered senior leadership, strategic, and operational expertise with strength and knowledge around corporate governance, community engagement, community and institutional (forensic) mental health, strategy and planning underpinned by years of primary, secondary, and tertiary health delivery and leadership. Having recently retired from her role as Executive Director People Strategy and Governance with Townsville Hospital and Health Service, she is a passionate advocate for strengthening partnerships and the delivery of health services to people across northern Queensland. Sharon is a Registered Nurse and Midwife by background, holds a Masters Degree in Health Administration, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has most recently been a member of the Cootharinga North Queensland Board.
Luckbir Singh
Board Director
Luckbir is a Director at MacDonnells Law, one of the leading Queensland law firms. He has been recognised for his legal skills and client outcomes by Lawyer’s Weekly as a finalist in the 2016 Australi...
Luckbir is a Director at MacDonnells Law, one of the leading Queensland law firms. He has been recognised for his legal skills and client outcomes by Lawyer’s Weekly as a finalist in the 2016 Australian Partner of the Year Awards.
Luckbir has over the last 20 years been involved in many of the most significant, highly publicised and complex corporate law matters in North Queensland. His areas of expertise are corporate advisory, governance and mergers and transactions.
Mr Singh is also the Deputy Chair Cairns and Hinterland and Hospital Health Service and Queensland State Council member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Luckbir was born and raised in North Queensland, with his family having lived in the region since the late 1890s.
Toni Weller
Board Director
Toni has been part of the Townsville medical community since arriving as a medical student in 1998, 20 years of that as a specialist General Practitioner. As part of her passion for providing high lev...
Toni has been part of the Townsville medical community since arriving as a medical student in 1998, 20 years of that as a specialist General Practitioner. As part of her passion for providing high level patient care, Toni also works as a General Practice Liaison Officer with Townsville Hospital and Health Services (THHS) and co-chair of the Queensland General Practice Liaison Network. These roles focus on facilitating better integration and communication between primary and tertiary care providers and align with her interest in corporate and clinical governance to provide safe, high value care for our community. Outside of medicine she enjoys being a council member at The John Flynn College and spending time with her family.
Gerard Wyvill
Board Director
Gerard has extensive strategic management experience in complex healthcare environments both within the profit and not-for-profit private healthcare sectors at CEO level. His broad and diverse experi...
Gerard has extensive strategic management experience in complex healthcare environments both within the profit and not-for-profit private healthcare sectors at CEO level. His broad and diverse experience provides him with a very sound understanding of corporate governance and the issues influencing the planning and delivery of contemporary health care.
As a qualified CPA with extensive healthcare management training and experience, he has contemporary governance experience at a board level with several companies (for-profit and not-for-profit), working collaboratively with other directors ensuring good governance and achieving strategic healthcare service outcomes.
During his career, Gerard has developed strong professional relationships with some of Queensland's leading medical specialists, general practitioners, and major healthcare service providers – collaboratively developing successful business partnerships with leading national radiology, pathology, pharmacy, medical, and allied health service companies.
His most recent role being Executive Director of a group of private hospitals, having strategic and executive management oversight of major hospital and healthcare services in Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville. Having a focus on health service planning and growth, he oversighted the delivery of a number of successful infrastructure projects.
Having now lived and worked professionally in North Queensland for over 10 years, he has a desire to continue contributing to the on-going development and delivery of healthcare services in our regional communities.
Gerard is currently Chair of NQPHN's Finance, Audit, and Risk Management committee.
