If you are a financial member of the Sutherland Shire Business Chamber, we invite you to cast your vote for the election of our new Board of Directors.
There are three General Board position vacancies.
Please review the Candidates listed below before downloading the Ballot Form to vote.
Voting closes midday on 28th September 2021.
Please read the instructions carefully before casting your vote.
Thank you!
You can view videos here from our candidates.
 | Sophie Brown – Sophie B Photography Sophie Brown is a photographer and started her business ’Sophie B Photography’ in 2009. Following a corporate career in marketing and advertising, Sophie decided to follow her passion of photography and start her own small business. Combining her business skills and corporate experience, together with photography, SophieB brings people, business and photography together through her work. The main areas of photography are Corporate Events, Corporate Headshots, Corporate Events and SophieB also loves to photograph weddings! In April 2020, SophieB started a photography project, ’Sutherland Shire Open 4 Business’ to help support businesses that have continued to provide product and services to the Sutherland Shire and the wider community. To date, SophieB has photographed nearly 200 business and continues to build relationships with businesses in the Sutherland Shire by creating imagery that can be used across their individual social media, marketing and broader business activities. By joining the Chamber, SophieB welcomes the opportunity to continue to build the presence and awareness of local businesses, products and services that are available to the Sutherland Shire community. Click here to view video of Sophie |
 | Joanne Costanzo – Nina’s Chocolates Joanne brings a wealth of food business and retail experience to share; from over 12 years operating retail stores, to 10 years leading food manufacturing businesses, and four years consulting for retail precincts and shopping centres. She is thankful to have worked for companies including Qantas, Toyota, Independent Prepared Foods, Sydney Opera House, GPT, Lendlease, Westpac, Westfield and the Sydney Airport Corporation. Currently Joanne represents the Shire’s Retail industry, encouraging investment and economic development as part of a Sutherland Shire Council initiative. This passion for synergistic business growth has only increased by working with the local iconic brand of Nina’s Chocolates among the Gymea & Engadine businesses. Feeling grateful to be part of the small communities that make up the Shire, as well as running Shire based businesses for 12 years, Joanne is keen to find more ways for small and medium businesses to maximise working together for growth and longevity. Click here to view video of Joanne |
 | Joel Curtis – Endeavour Wellness Joel is the owner and Principal Psychologist of Endeavour Wellness and holds a Masters’ Degree in Sport Psychology. He has been running his business in the Sutherland Shire since 2009. Joel is passionate about supporting people in their life and business. He is involved in several local networking groups and has a strong focus in building connections with Shire business. As a Board Director Joel loves the opportunity to help increase chamber membership and help people find the connections they need from within the local business community. Click here to view video of Joel. |
 | Jeremy Fleming – Stagekings Jeremy Fleming is the Founder and CEO of Stagekings. This Sutherland Shire based company is responsible for some of the most well-known temporary event structures of the past six years. Building stages and sets like the Opening Ceremony for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the set for Ninja Warrior, the replica Edinburgh Castle at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, Shakespeare’s Pop up Globe Theatre in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and Ultra Music Festival. Over the past 18 months, Jeremy has been navigating Stagekings through the most difficult time the event industry has ever experienced, since the complete shut-down of the industry at the outbreak of Covid-19. This prompted a pivot to manufacture work from home office furniture to keep Stagekings in business. By doing this he has reemployed staff, as well as employing more than 70 more out of work event crew to help in the manufacturing of over 40,000 pieces of furniture and now stands as a successful brand of its own – IsoKing. On top of this during the lockdown Stagekings has donated over $100,000 to charity, including Support Act – the Heart and Hand of Australian Music, through the sales of the IsoKing desks. Click here to view video of Jeremy. |
 | Melissa Gerke – Copywriter Melissa is an experienced SEO copywriter and educator and has been working in the local community for over a decade. With a background in biological science, she excels at taking technical jargon and distilling it into easily digestible, irresistible sales for her clients. Websites that Melissa writes for include The Domain, SBS and news.com.au. She also regularly improves the SEO and wording of websites belonging to local businesses, ranging from health coaches, social workers and tradies. Melissa regularly gives back to the community. She managed a Sylvania Bulldog Rugby Union team for three years. She also contributes to the Facebook community The Freelance Jungle and Flying Solo. Melissa freelances from her home in Grays Point and regularly meets with local businesses for a cuppa and a chat. Click here to view video of Melissa. |
 | Peter Ristevski – Chan & Naylor Peter Ristevki is a CPA and holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce & Taxation from the University Of Western Sydney and is a partner at Chan & Naylor Southern Sydney. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the accounting, finance and property sectors. He leads a team of dedicated property and business specialist accountants in Cronulla. Peter also created the ‘C&N Turnaround Solutions’ arm of Chan & Naylor, assisting businesses with voluntary / involuntary administration and liquidation services and thrives on helping clients achieve their financial goals. Peter’s expertise and commentary on property investing has been highly sought after by the Australian Financial Review and Channel Nine News. Several years ago, Peter Ristevski had cofounded one of the first Yellow Brick Road branches in Sydney co-located with his accounting business. In addition to his property and business accounting services to residents in the Southern Sydney area, Peter is passionate about serving and representing his local community; He was elected to Liverpool Council in September 2012 and was also elected as Deputy Mayor for Liverpool. Click here to view video of Peter |
 | Dijana Thompson – Southern District Rugby Club Dijana is a business development events marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience in vast range of business sales portfolios, events, marketing campaigns and activations. Dijana has a strong B2B strategy brain and has the opportunity to think outside of the box to obtain the best possible result. With an extensive career in the event venue within corporate national and state-based organizations, performing arts community, hospitality and local government sector. Currently I work closely with my clients to complete project management. 2019 I was engaged by St George Business Chambers to commence stage one of the buy local stay local campaigns which is a strong passion of mine. Being a local and working with so many businesses in the Sutherland shire I strongly believe in the local community connections. In my pervious roles, as Entertainment Centre Manager of Georges River Council (formerly Hurstville City Council) ad Club Central Hurstville & Menai, I was successful in managing profitable venues. Dijana’s experience is complimented by her extensive tertiary education consisting of a Bachelor of Tourism Management, Bachelor in Marketing and a Masters of event management. Click here to view video of Dijana. |
 | Yasser Zaki – Tender Loving Care Disability Services (TLC) Yasser Zaki is the CEO of Tender Loving Care Disability Services (TLC). TLC supports people with a disability in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Dubai. He has been working in the sector for over 12 years, working through various roles and gaining specialised experiences in the disability services sector. He is also a director of MAYEfoodz, importing quality Egyptian foods through the Domty and Voodz brands into the Australian market. MAYEfoodz was established to create a pathway to employment for people with a disability. Yasser is passionate about TLC and loves being involved with projects from beginning to end with a hands-on approach. With this in mind, he has worked on a vision that he shares with the team; to be a service where people don’t struggle to achieve their dreams and have the various support in place to provide a holistic approach to the individual’s needs and goals. Click here to view video of Yasser |
Important: If you have a company membership, only one person from your company can vote.
YOU MUST BE A CURRENT SUTHERLAND SHIRE BUSINESS CHAMBER MEMBER TO CAST YOUR VOTE(s).