Our Board

Chair

B.A.(Comms), M.Comm, GAICD

Wendy Machin brings to the Board years of experience in the travel and tourism sectors. She also brings more than a decade of leadership experience from senior roles on Government and mutual Boards. She is passionate about promoting NSW and is excited about the opportunity to lead the Crown Holiday Parks Trust Board as it brings to holiday makers even better services and facilities.

Ms Machin is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Masters of Commerce from the University of NSW (UNSW) and has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).Currently the Deputy President of the NRMA, Ms Machin was President for six years. She is also the Independent Chair of the Customer Owned Banking Association, the Deputy Chair of ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program), sits on the Destination NSW Board and is a member of the ANZ Stadium Advisory Committee.

Ms Machin was the first woman National Party MP in the NSW Legislative Assembly. Between 1985 and 1996 she served as a Cabinet Minister, Shadow Minister and as Deputy Speaker of the House. She has run her own consulting business and has also worked in-house in a range of companies and industry associations.

Ms Machin was also the Deputy Chair of the Australian Republican Movement from 1998 to 2000 and a delegate to the 1999 Constitutional Convention.

Wendy owns and operates beef cattle properties in the Manning Valley. She has a strong interest in disability services, plays golf, loves all sport, is a fan of Roger Federer and is married with three adult children.

Director

LLM, LLB Hons., Grad. Dip. Law, Acc. Cert, MAICD

Christopher Shaw brings to the Board decades of experience in providing advice and legal representation to parties that strive to balance their legal obligations with economic, environmental and social drivers. He is recognised for his practical and hands on approach to resolving legal issues.

Mr Shaw is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a Masters of Law from the University of Sydney and has completed a Bachelor of Law from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

Currently Managing Partner at Shaw Reynolds Lawyers, Mr Shaw also has experience in the property sector where he practices as a corporate lawyer specialising in administrative, local government, planning and environmental law. He regularly appears on behalf of clients in the NSW Land and Environment Court and the Supreme Court and lectures on local government, planning and environmental law.

Mr Shaw is a non executive director or past director of various property organisations including the Australian Property Institute Pty Ltd and the Australian Property Institute Valuers Ltd. He is also an active member of the Property Council of Australia where he sits on their Divisional Council and chairs their Planning Committee.

Previously, Mr Shaw worked with The Shell Company of Australia in accounting, operational and marketing roles. After almost a decade with Shell, he moved across to private legal practice.

Director

John King brings experience of a 48 year background in highly successful and widely recognised international tourism marketing and management.

For most of his tourism career he has been responsible for the development and management of successful destination marketing and development strategies, a number of which have been recognised with international awards. For 20 years he owned an international tourism consultancy through which he worked as an adviser to governments, multilateral agencies, tourism authorities, industry organisations and companies principally throughout Australia, Asia, Pacific and the Middle East.

He is widely recognised for his work particularly in the fields of Indigenous tourism, wine and food tourism and destination brand development.

He has served on a wide range of industry and company Boards. He was Chairman of Tourism Tasmania, for nine years and Chairman of the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) for a similar time. He is the Australian Tourism Minister’s nominee to the Board of Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and was the NSW Minister for the Environment’s tourism appointee to the Board of Management of Lord Howe Island. He was appointed in 2011 by the NSW State Government as one of four members of the Visitor Economy Taskforce responsible for developing the Government’s NSW Visitor Economy Plan. He was also Chairman of Southern Travel Holdings with major tourism operations in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.

He has been invited to speak at numerous international conferences, including the United Nations World Tourism Organisation conference on Pilgrimage Tourism (Santigo de Compostela), the UNWTO/UNESCO First World Conference on Heritage Tourism (Siem Reap), and was key note speaker at the World Indigenous Tourism Conference (Vancouver). He has also served on the Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association and was an advisor to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation

In 2011 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to tourism in Australia. In addition he received the 2010 Pacific Asia Travel Association Award of Merit for Tourism leadership, and is an Honorary Fellow of Southern Cross University in recognition for his contribution to tourism education and research.

Mr King has been appointed to the NSW Crown Holiday Park Land Manager Board for a term of 5 years from 1 May 2020.

Director

M.COMM, FAICD, FAPI, CPV

Matthew Toohey brings to the Board more than 25 years experience in commercial property and business development. He has held senior executive roles with Jones Lang Lasalle Australia, McDonalds Australia and Wesfarmers Limited. He is currently the General Manager of Group Property at Coca Cola Amatil (Asia/Pacific) and leads a team responsible for acquisition, development, divestment and the asset management of over 280 properties across 6 countries.

He was the General Manager of Property for Bunnings for over 10 years and has experience in mergers and acquisitions/business development as well as extensive property expertise in valuation, town planning, investment, acquisition, development, construction and asset management.

Mr Toohey is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of the Australian Property Institute and a Certified Practising Valuer. He holds a Master of Commerce from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and has completed the Advance Management Program at the European Institute for Business Administration (INSEAD, France), as well as an Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School (USA).

Mr Toohey has over 15 years experience as a company director in both executive and non executive roles which includes being a director of Bunnings Group Limited, executive director of the Coca Cola Amatil employees hare plan trustee, non-executive director of the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW, non-executive directer of NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust Land Manager and non-executive director of International House at the University of Sydney.