Our Board

Dawson Petie joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board of Directors in 2007 and was appointed Deputy Chair in 2014. In late 2017 Dawson was appointed as Chair of the Board.

Dawson is a member of the UnitingCare Queensland Quality and Governance Committees, as well as the Health Strategy Working Party.  He has served on a number of other Board committees.

Dawson holds other Board positions and is a past Board member of Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), Queensland Rail, Sunsuper and UC Super.

Dawson is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and an Affiliate Member of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Dawson has a strong commitment to community organisations and the non-profit sector and was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003 for distinguished service to the community.

Rev David Baker (ex officio)

David was inducted as Moderator of the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia in October 2014.

He experienced the church’s ministry in the community from a young age through the Methodist tradition. 

David worked as a valuer in rural and regional Queensland before completing theological training and ordination in 1991. He served in rural Queensland, and in a successful church planting venture in Karana Downs, before serving as a Presbytery Minister.

David holds a Diploma in Business Management from Queensland Agricultural College, a Bachelor of Theology from Brisbane College of Theology, and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Anne Cross has been the CEO of UnitingCare Queensland since November 2003.  She is also Chair of Australian Regional and Remote Community Services (ARRCS Ltd), UnitingCare Queensland’s aged care and community services in the Northern Territory.

Anne came to the role having held senior positions in government and non-government organisations across a broad range of rehabilitation, disability, aged care and community services. She has served on various government bodies including the Child Protection Council and the Smart State Council. 

Anne has recently been a member of the Queensland Government Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce led by Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.  

Anne is the 2014 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year and the national Government and Community category winner. 

She has undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in social work. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of Chief Executive Women. In 2008, Anne was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Services at the University of Queensland.

Andrew McBryde joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board in 2013 and Australian Regional and Remote Community Services in 2014. Andrew has previously been a Board and committee member with Endeavour Foundation (1993-2003), and was the inaugural Chair of the Board of Wesley Mission Brisbane.

He is active within the Uniting Church and has been a member of the Parish Council and Finance Committee at the Albert Street Uniting Church and the past Chair of the Finance Investment and Property Board and Governance, Nominations and Remuneration Committee of the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church.

Andrew is currently a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Centenary and Districts Chamber of Commerce, the Lighting Council of Australia and an Honorary Member and Past President of the Jindalee Rotary Club.

Andrew proudly supports SME development and owns and operates a group of commercial businesses in south-east Queensland.

Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes was appointed to the UnitingCare Queensland Board in 2013 and is a current member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee.

He has a long association leading and as a teacher and researcher at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies, Faculty of Business, Queensland University of Technology. Myles is an Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission Advisory Board Member, Director Pemsel Foundation and a Member of the UCA Assembly Legal Reference Committee. As a consultant, he has provided leadership and risk expertise to the Australian Taxation Office, Australian Treasury and State and Territory Treasury Departments, the Productivity Commission, Queensland Department of Fair Trading and the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services.

Myles is a qualified lawyer and legal consultant to McCullough Robertson. He has held various Uniting Church positions including Church Elder, Church Council Secretary and Chair, Presbytery member, member of Synod, Synod Standing Committee, Assembly, Assembly Standing Committee and Assembly and Synod legal reference committees and the Synod’s Governance Nomination and Remuneration Committee (GNRC).

Chris Townend was appointed to the Board in 2013 and is a member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and Chair of the Health Strategy Working Party. Chris has an extensive background in government, non-profit and private sector organisations throughout Australia, New Zealand and the UK, including holding Chief Financial Officer positions within health, higher education and the non-profit sectors.

Chris Chairs the board of Thomson Adsett Architects and holds Board appointments with Osler Technology Pty Ltd and Mercy Works Ltd Sydney. Chris also sits in a voluntary capacity on the Finance Committee of the Presentation Sisters.

Chris has an MBA and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors.

Maree Blake joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board in April 2013 and holds the position of Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee. Previously, Maree was a member of the Board’s Governance Committee. Maree is an Independent Member of Holy Cross Laundry Risk Committee. She is a past Chair and member of the audit and risk committees for Queensland Police Credit Union (now QBANK), Toowoomba Regional Council and Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation and a past governance committee member for RSPCA Australia.

Maree has also held the position of Queensland Regional Commissioner for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Deputy Chair of the Queensland State Council of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Maree is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and of CPA Australia and she holds a Bachelor of Business degree and post graduate Management qualifications.

David Pitman was appointed to the Board in 2011. He is a member of the Board’s Governance Committee. David has previously served two terms on the Board in an ex officio capacity as the Moderator of the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. David worked as a teacher before studying theology at Parkin-Wesley College in Adelaide. He then spent 13 years in parish appointments, including four years working with the Indian Division of the Methodist Church in Fiji as Superintendent Minister of the Nausori Circuit.

David moved to Queensland in 1983 to become Principal of Alcorn College. When Alcorn was amalgamated with Trinity College in 1986, David became a member of the combined Faculty, teaching worship, preaching, pastoral care and mission. David was inducted as the full-time Moderator of the Queensland Synod in 1996 and completed his term in 1999 when he then served as Superintendent Minister of Wesley Mission Brisbane and Albert Street Uniting Church. He was reappointed as Moderator of the Queensland Synod for a further three year term from 2005 to 2008.

In addition to his membership of the UnitingCare Board, David serves as Convenor of the Uniting Church National Assembly Working Group on Worship and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. David was awarded an AM in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours in June 2013.

Andrea Staines joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board in April, 2016. Andrea Staines is a professional Non-Executive Director, currently on the boards of QIC, Goodstart Early Learning and listed company, SeaLink Travel Group.  She was formerly on the Boards of ASX 30 listed company, Aurizon, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Gladstone Ports Corporation, North Queensland Airports, Allconnex Water and listed company, Early Learning Services (now G8).

Andrea is on the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation board, the Transport for NSW Advisory Board, and several Chief Executive Women (CEW) Committees. She was formerly a governance advisor to Binna Burra Mt Lodge and on the Brisbane Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation board.

Andrea is a former CEO of Australian Airlines (mark II), a Qantas subsidiary flying between Asia and Australia, which she co-launched.  This makes her one of few female airline CEOs globally, past or present. During this time, she was also a member of the Qantas Group Executive Committee. Prior to this, Andrea was the first female General Manager of Pricing & Inventory at Qantas. Before joining Qantas, Andrea worked in various financial and strategy roles with American Airlines.

Andrea has an MBA (Distinction) focusing on finance and strategy from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland.  Andrea is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and a Member of Chief Executive Women (CEW).  She is the mother of two teenagers whom she raised single-handedly during her eight years at Qantas and Australian Airlines.

Nigel Alexander joined the UnitingCare Queensland Board in May 2017.

After starting his career in a chartered accounting firm, Mr Alexander spent over a decade in various corporate finance roles for both Australian and international banks.

In 1996, he was appointed CEO of The North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Limited (NAPCO); a large scale beef cattle producer, running approximately 200,000 cattle on 14 cattle stations across Northern Australia. Following the acquisition of NAPCO by the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) in 2016 Mr Alexander resigned as CEO but has continued to serve as a Director on the NAPCO Board.

Since 2000 Mr Alexander has served as a Director of The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) and is its current President and Chairman.

Mr Alexander is also President of the Australian Automobile Association and a World Council Member (and Treasurer of the Asia Pacific Region) of the Paris-based Federation Internationale De L'Automobile (FIA) whose primary mission is to reduce the world's 1.25 million annual road toll.

He holds a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) from the University of Southern Queensland and a Masters in Applied Finance from Macquarie University.

Married with three adult children, Mr Alexander lives in Brisbane and enjoys spending as much time as possible back on the family farm.