Responsible Gambling Fund Chair and trustees

Meet the members of the Responsible Gambling Fund's Trust: the expert advisers who set the direction for GambleAware and recommend programs and initiatives for funding.

How the Responsible Gambling Fund Trust works

The purpose of the Responsible Gambling Fund is to provide expert advice and funding recommendations to the NSW Government about addressing gambling harm in the community. At least 6 times a year, the trustees meet to explore and make recommendations on:

• research
• community awareness and education
• early intervention, support and counselling services
• supporting departmental policy makers and regulators.

Meet the trustees

The Trust currently has eleven trustees. They all bring their own expertise from diverse fields including public health, law, government, gambling industry, academia, business and social research.

Chris Bertinshaw (Chair)

Chris Bertinshaw is an experienced CEO and company director and has been consulting with a range of public and private companies providing advice on corporate governance and effective management for the last 30 years.

Chris currently Chairs the Board of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. He is accredited by the NSW Government to provide governance training to non-government school ‘Responsible Persons’. He is the Managing Director of Inclusive Boards Pty Ltd, a search and development company preparing and placing people of diverse backgrounds onto company boards. 

Chris has a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Governance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; a Master in E-Commerce degree from the University of New England and a Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Technology, Sydney. He holds a Diploma in Theology from the Australian College of Theology and, having gained a Company Directors’ Diploma, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Chris facilitated the AICD director education programs in Australia and overseas specialising in corporate governance, finance and strategy and risk for almost 10 years.

Dr Clive Allcock

Clive Allcock is an experienced psychiatrist who has done significant work in the field of treatment of problem gamblers. Although he retired from full-time clinical employment in 2006, he continues to work part time for the Mental Health Review Tribunal. He also takes on consultancy work, including acting as an expert witness in legal cases involving gamblers and gambling issues.

Dr Allcock was a founding member of the National Association of Gambling Studies, and has held senior academic positions including Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Sydney.

Professor Paul Delfabbro

Paul Delfabbro is an internationally renowned gambling researcher, and a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Adelaide.

His PhD thesis covered the demographic, behavioural and cognitive factors underlying gambling in South Australia. He has also authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and reports covering issues including gambling among adolescents, analysis of the structural characteristics of gaming machines, population prevalence studies, responsible gambling measures, gender differences and the behavioural profiling of problem gamblers in venue environments.

Among Professor Delfabbro’s awards and prizes are the 2015 Thomson Reuters Citation Award in Social Sciences and the Pro Humanitate Literary Award for his book Children in Foster Care.

Anne Fitzgerald

Anne Fitzgerald is an accomplished senior executive and board director across a number of industries including registered clubs, government, the performing arts, community sector and health insurance. She has worked in the not-for-profit, commercial and government sectors and has considerable experience in developing strategy and leading multi-disciplinary teams.

Anne is currently the Chair of charity, Youth off the Streets and the CEO of the Talent Development Project. Prior to these roles Anne led the ClubSAFE Responsible Gambling Program for the registered clubs industry as part of her executive management position at ClubsNSW from 2001- 2020 and has seen significant change in the responsible gambling space in that time for the better.

Anne holds her MBA, a Graduate Diploma of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a qualified mediator.

Steven Gal

Steven Gal has extensive experience in the roles of board member, executive and senior manager, having held key positions in NSW State government and not-for-profit organisations.  After a long career in primary health and health promotion, Steven then went on to work in the areas of aged care, disability, youth, First Nations issues, refugee and migrant issues, child protection, natural resource management, community development, funding and procurement.

He has led funding reforms and designed new programs and services to meet the support needs of a wide range of people. In his current board roles, he chairs the board of Inner West Neighbour Aid, is the independent director of Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service and a director of Accessible Diversity Services Initiative. 

Robert Lagaida

Robert Lagaida has extensive experience in the NSW public health and not for profit sectors, having previously worked as a senior executive within NSW Health for over 20 years in policy development, hospital services management, financial management, public and private partnerships, capital works program, procurement and information management. Mr Lagaida received a Public Service Medal in recognition of his contributions to the NSW public health system.

Mr Lagaida also has extensive experience in governance, board, audit and risk management portfolios. He has previously served and is currently serving as a Board Member and/or Chair on Audit and Risk Management Committees in a number of NSW Government Agencies, Local Government, aged and disability organisations and medical colleges. 

Mr Lagaida holds a Bachelor of Economics, Master of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Information Systems. He is a Fellow with CPA Australia and a Graduate and Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Elizabeth Lyne

Elizabeth is a qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience. She has provided taxation, business advisory and audit services in the agriculture, government, health, construction, property, retail, hospitality, travel and not-for-profit sectors, and has held senior finance roles in energy and meat processing enterprises.

Ms Lyne is a sitting member of the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (Guardianship Division) and conducts hearings throughout regional NSW. She has extensive board experience. She is a director of NSW Crown Holiday Park Land Manager and NSW Rural Assistance Authority and a past director of Riverina Division of General Practice and Primary Health, Murrumbidgee Medicare Local and Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network.

Ms Lyne is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, is a Certified Practising Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney. She lives on the family farm in the South-West Slopes region.

Professor Joel Negin

Joel Negin is the Deputy Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. He was previously the Head of the School of Public Health for eight years. Professor Negin is an experienced manager, project coordinator and researcher with a focus on health issues affecting vulnerable populations. His research work at the University of Sydney has included health policy and financing, social determinants of health, and serving remote populations with health services.

Professor Negin also has extensive experience in fieldwork, project management and research with academic institutions, government, United Nations agencies and strategy consulting firms. He has held positions with the Monitor Group strategic consultancy and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. In addition to the RGF, Joel is a member of the NSW Police Firearm Registry Consultative Council and a number of boards.

Sara Pantzer

Sara is an experienced senior executive with more than 30 years of experience across a diverse range of industries, from global pharmaceutical and biotech companies to national standards regulation, telecommunications and finance, and Ministerial advisory roles. Her specialist skills are in public policy, strategic communications, government relations and stakeholder management.

Sara's contribution to the pharmaceutical sector has been recognised through numerous awards.

Sara also serves as a Non-Executive Director on a range of not-for-profit Boards, in the health, civil society and education sectors.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Dispute Resolution, degrees in Economics and Law, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Anastasia Polites 

Anastasia Polites is currently the senior manager of Industry Relations at Aware Super.

Anastasia was previously an employment and industrial relations lawyer for both Unions and Employer Associations. She worked for Local Government NSW and managed the legal and industrial teams at the Fire Brigade Employees’ Union and the Electrical Trades Union in NSW.
Anastasia started her legal career as a legal aid and community sector lawyer in NSW and worked on cases with disadvantaged clients including those affected by problem gambling.

Anastasia has been a director on the Board of legalsuper, and the recipient of the Garry Weaven scholarship with AIST which allowed her to attend the Harvard Kennedy School. 

Anastasia has a Masters of Law and Legal Practice from the University of Technology, Sydney, and also a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Commerce from the University of Sydney.

Tarek Barakat

Tarek is the Deputy Secretary Hospitality and Racing, with responsibility for Liquor & Gaming NSW, the Office of Racing and the Office of Responsible Gambling.

Prior to joining Hospitality and Racing, Tarek worked at the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment as Executive Director, Strategic Projects at Property and Development NSW, before becoming Executive Director, Policy & Reform, where he led the most significant reform to the state’s Cemetery and Crematoria sector in its history.

Starting in Local Government, before moving to the Department of Justice and onto Liquor & Gaming NSW as Manager, Policy and Legislation, Tarek has also held several senior executive roles at Create NSW, including Acting Chief Executive and Chair of the Night-time Economy Taskforce, during which he led the redevelopment of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, the expansion of the Art Gallery of NSW, and commercial negotiations to reopen Sydney’s Theatre Royal.