BOARD MEMBERS
Steven Dowden
Chairman
Steven attended school in Mackay before heading to Brisbane for University. After 7 years in the Finance Industry, Steven returned home to Mackay in 1995 and joined in the family business as Financial Controller. In 2005, Steve took over the General Management of the business. He joined the Board in 2009 and took over as Chairman at the 2016 AGM.
Stevens love of footy began when he playing in Mackay as a junior which eventually saw him play in Brisbane and France. Upon his return to Mackay, Steve played locally for 3 years including in the inaugural QLD Cup competition in 1996. He also coached locally at both Junior and Senior levels; he even won Coach of the Year.
“I love footy and am passionate about opening up opportunities for our local boys and girls to experiences all that is great about the game, on and off the field, and what it can offer them in life!”
Michael Luck
Experienced sports administration professional with over 15 years’ experience in the National Rugby League as a player andadministrator. Educated in Australia and New Zealand with a strong focus on top line strategic management and governance.
Currently the Chief Operating Officer for the North Queensland Cowboys, which is a support role for the Chief Executive.
Responsibilities consists of overseeing day to day activity of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys to ensure the effective, efficientoperation which enables the CEO to focus on the strategic growth of the Club.
As part of the Cowboys Executive, I’ve had the opportunityto be involved from end to end in major strategic projects such as the North Queensland Stadium Development, NRL Cowboys House, thesoon to be opened Cowboys Community Training and High Performance Centre and the NRL’s 2018 Pathways Reformation.
Melissa Sorensen
Melissa Sorensen is Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA. She is the Commercial Manager of the Australian Operations of Hastings Deering and has been with the company for 16 Years gaining valuable experience in all aspects of finance including mergers and acquisitions. Although the position looks after all branches in QLD and NT, Melissa is fortunate enough to be able to base the role out of her hometown Mackay.
Melissa’s financial acumen and commercial knowledge combined with her love of sport motivates her to be able to contribute to sports administration and holds board member roles at the Cutters and the Mackay Hockey Association. Melissa continues to play hockey and coaches at a local, regional and state level.
Seini Willett
Seini is a Manbarra, Torres Strait Islander, an Australian South Sea Islander with ties to Tanna Island of Vanuatu and connections to the Fiji Islands. She has over 20 years experience in the Education department. Currently, Seini is with the Central Queensland Region, State Schooling, Department of Education, as the Indigenous Pathways and Partnerships Officer.
Seini is very active and passionate in supporting her Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community in whatever capacity needed. She also acknowledges the importance of walking together with the broader community, building their Cross-Cultural Awareness with local Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian South Sea Islander perspectives.
Frank Attard
Frank is the managing director of the Key Solutions Group in Mackay. is a local cane farmers son, who played footy for the Wests Tigers and attended high school at Mirani High. After finishing high school, he got a Diploma in Applied Science.
Frank was working at Mackay Sugar for 8 years before he got a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering. After his study, Frank worked at DBT Australia, and studied a Masters in Business Administration. In 2007, he went on to start Key Solutions Group, and still operates it with approx. 100 staff members.
Emma Coburn
Emma is a partner at Wallace & Wallace Lawyers and has been admitted as a solicitor since 2004. Emma is in the Commercial and Property Law team at Wallace & Wallace Lawyers and in particular, heads up their Mining, Energy and Resources section. Part of the role has Emma working out of the firm’s Moranbah office one day a week.
Being a part of the Mackay community has always been important to Emma and she has sat on management committees for various not for profit organisations over the years. With three boys playing Rugby League locally, much of her free time is spent at Rugby League and until recently her focus was on community football, sitting as an Independent Director and Chair of the Governance Committee for the Board of Rugby League Mackay & District Ltd until November 2023. In this role Emma saw first hand how important Rugby League is to the Mackay community from under 6’s to A grade level. She is passionate about ensuring pathways for the local rugby league community.
Chris Wright
Chris became partner of Brown and Bird accounting in 1999. He is also a registered company auditor and has over 30 years’ experience in public accounting. He head an agri-business team providing performance measurement indicators to farmers in Central Queensland. Through his public practice role and his board roles, he has had extensive experience in both for-profit and not-for-profit companies.
Chris also has a high level of community involvement and service and look forward to continuing this involvement in the future. ” I enjoy the community and service involvement especially in organisations that I believe to be vital to Mackay and District.”
He has also been a past committee member of several sporting and community organisations including Port of Mackay Rotary Club. He has a high level of community involvement and service and looks forward to continuing this involvement in the future.
Dan Ross
Dan has over 13 years’ experience with Brown and Bird. Dan is experienced in managing the relationship between auditor and the client’s management employees for several large audit clients.
Dan has local government experience at Isaac Regional Council, and Mackay Regional Council where his focus has been on accountability, audit, productivity improvement and quality control. Dan’s audit experience and business management expertise allows the performance review of organisations to be undertaken with a critical eye for detail and real world understanding of costs and subsequent cost recovery.
I committed to my role in 2024 & I am currently RLMD chairman and been involved in the RLMD board since 2019. Partner at Brown and Bird Mackay.