The Pinnacle Foundation

The Pinnacle Foundation has been established to provide scholarships to lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersex and bisexual youth who are marginalised or disadvantaged. It was set up by a group of friends who saw a big need in the LGBTIQ community that was not being met.

About Us

With so much unrealised potential out there we’re about providing financial and mentoring support to LGBTIQ youth who may not be able to achieve their educational or career goals on their own. Pinnacle aims to give young LGBTIQs the chance to achieve their full potential.

No matter what your interest or vocation, we might be able to help. Want to be an actor, musician, doctor or architect? A chef, accountant, lawyer or engineer? Whatever you aspire to, we may be able to offer the financial support and resources to help you get there.

We know that some young LGBTIQs can face a tough time – coming out to their families, friends and schools, with some finding themselves without the money and support needed to keep up their studies. That’s where we come in. We know from our own stories that having completed an education can make a big difference in this world. We know that with hope for the future it’s possible to leave those problems behind and move on to fulfilling and productive lives. We want to help encourage young LGBTIQs to make something of their lives so that they can act as future role models for others. We want to light the spark within!

So we’ve set up The Pinnacle Foundation with the aim of having enough money to fund a number of scholarships every year. In perpetuity, forever, from here to eternity.
Pinnacle has the great support of a volunteer Management Committee – a bunch people really committed to creating life-changing opportunities for LGBTIQ youth.

The good news is we are a registered charity with gift deductibility status. That means all your donations over $2 are tax deductible…so give generously!

If you’re into nitty-gritty details, Pinnacle has been established as a public company, limited by guarantee and registered under the Corporations Act 2001 (ACN 127 662 604 and ABN 81 127 662 604).

Meet Our Board

Sean Linkson Executive Director

Sean is one of the three founding Directors of Pinnacle, along with Philip Comans his partner of 14 years, and their long-term friend Paul Clark. Inspired by the Point Foundation in the US, Sean, Philip and Paul set up Pinnacle with pro bono help from Freehills Lawyers, Saatchi & Saatchi and Sothertons Chartered Accountants.

After four years in creation, Pinnacle was officially launched in November 2009 by our Patron, The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG. Sydney-based, Sean is also a member of the Management Committee that runs the day-to-day activities of the foundation.

Currently he is a Partner in a large head-hunting firm, Talent Partners. Prior to joining Talent Partners, he was Managing Director of A.T. Kearney Executive Search, spending nine years at the firm growing their Australian and New Zealand business. He commenced his search career with Australia’s largest human capital consulting company Morgan and Banks. In preceding years he worked for the Australian subsidiaries of international banks JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan and Lloyds. Prior to this, he spent nine years in project management with a leading Australian construction and engineering company.

Sean has a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Master of Commerce majoring in finance. Every day Sean sees the advantage of a good education. His love is putting people into careers they love. Seeing people achieve their full potential is what inspires him – it was also the inspiration for The Pinnacle Foundation. He wants to see every young LGBTIQ achieve their full potential and make a mark in the world.

Georgie Ferrari Non-Executive Director

Georgie is Melbourne-based and CEO of the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, the peak body for young people and the sector that supports. She has a master’s degree in policy and management and has been in her current role for seven years.

Georgie reports to a board of governance but also serves on two boards (the Victorian Council of Social Service and the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition), so has a solid grounding in governance processes. Before moving to Melbourne Georgie lived in Sydney were she was a committee member of the Anti Violence Project coordinated by ACON, a committee of management member of the Public Health Association of NSW and on the parade organising committee for Mardi Gras in 2002.

The Pinnacle Board relies heavily on Georgie’s in-depth knowledge of young people and youth issues in Australia, along with her sound management and governance experience and excellent networks in Victoria. Georgie lives with her partner Rachel and their two whippets, Rabbit and Sunday.

Bohdan Abrat Non-Executive Director

Bohdan is a corporate lawyer by trade, specialising in Funds Management and Superannuation law. He holds a combined Arts/Law (Hons) degree from Melbourne University with a double major in Fine Arts and History, and an honours thesis in law on property rights upon separation in same-sex relationships.

Melbourne-based Bohdan has worked at Goldman Sachs in Melbourne for the past six and a half years, currently as an Executive Director, Senior Counsel and Head of Compliance for the Asset Management division. At Goldman Sachs, he is the co-chair of the GLaM network, which seeks to promote a work environment that respects, welcomes and supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex professionals, as well as providing a forum to foster an understanding of issues facing gay and lesbian professionals within the broader financial services sector, by partnering with local universities and not for profit organisations such as Pride in Diversity that focus on workplace inclusion.

Bohdan has had a long running association with the Queer community, beginning in 1998 as the ‘Queer Officer’ at the Melbourne University Student Union, working as an activist for Queer student rights. From 2001 – 2005, he served as a Director on the Board of the Midsumma Festival in Melbourne, initially running the Sports Program, and later sponsorships and partnerships, overseeing a successful financial growth period for the festival. In 2002, Bohdan led ‘Team Melbourne’ to the Sydney Gay Games, and was thereafter instrumental in bringing together Melbourne’s Gay and Lesbian sporting clubs to form Queer Sports Alliance Melbourne (QSAM) as an overarching umbrella organisation to support and nurture Melbourne’s gay and lesbian sports programs.

He has co-hosted ‘The Sports Lounge’ on Melbourne’s FM Radio JOY 94.9 for the past 7 years, focusing on sport from a gay and lesbian perspective, winning the Australian Community Broadcasting Award in 2008-9 for the best community-based radio sports show.

Warren Stanborough Non-Executive Director

Warren and his partner John Douglass are among The Pinnacle Foundation’s earliest supporters and our first major benefactors. They have been in a relationship for over 35 years and in that time have become revered in LGBTIQ circles – not just for their long and enduring relationship, but also for a very out and proud involvement in the community.

Warren’s career has spanned 20 years in the airline industry including three years at Qantas, seven years at British Airways and ten years at Garuda Indonesia as Victorian and Tasmanian Sales Manager. The poor bloke commuted between Melbourne to Sydney every weekend for those 10 years at Garuda – up Friday nights, back Monday mornings. That’s commitment for you. After his long career in the airline industry, Warren moved into hospitality for seven years as General Manager of the landmark Ravesi’s Hotel on iconic Bondi Beach. He was responsible for all the hotel and restaurant operations.

For the last decade, in conjunction with partner John, Warren has been a Director of a number of companies involved in real estate investment and property development, including Ravesi’s which hosted The Pinnacle Foundation’s launch in November 2009.

Sydney-based, Warren is also a Board representative on Pinnacle’s Applicant Selection Panel that determines every November who and how many applicants are awarded scholarships.

Pippa Downes Non-Executive Director

Pippa is a Managing Director and Equity Partner of Goldman Sachs. Pippa works in the Proprietary Strategies division within Goldman Sachs, where she strategically invests the firm’s capital. With over 19 years experience in global equity markets trading Pippa has led the local trading arms of several of the world’s leading Investment Banks.

Whilst at Goldman Sachs Pippa was the Co-Founder and Chair of the firms GLaM network (Gays, Lesbians and Mates). Since its inception the GLaM network has promoted an array of initiatives to promote a work environment that respects, welcomes and supports not only LGBTIQ professionals, but the broader issues of diversity and inclusiveness for all staff. Pippa strongly believes that economic empowerment of our community is an essential part of the drive for equality and that education is a key prerequisite in that goal. Pippa has also served on and acted as Chair of the firm’s Talent and Diversity Council.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2004 Pippa was a Director and the Head of Equity Derivatives Trading at Deutsche Bank in Sydney. Before joining Deutsche Bank Pippa was a Director and Head of Morgan Stanley’s Equity Trading and Derivative business when they started their Australian Equity Franchise in 1998 based in Hong Kong. Pippa started her career working for Swiss Bank O’Connor on the Floor of the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange in San Francisco and then the Philadelphia Stock exchange before returning to work in Sydney as a Director for UBS.

Pippa is currently on the Board of Swimming Australia and the Swimming Australia Foundation. She has a Master’s in Applied Finance from Macquarie University and Bachelor of Science (Business Administration) from University of California, Berkeley. Pippa is also a keen sportsperson being a former member of the Australian Swim Team and has represented Hong Kong at the International Rugby Sevens. She lives with her partner Cassandra, her young son Matthew and new daughter Sophie in Bronte, Sydney.

Lisa Daniel Non-Executive Director

Lisa has a Master of Arts majoring in film and worked as a lecturer in film and media at a number of Melbourne Universities including Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts. She has been a freelance writer in film and been published in a variety of international publications, as well as being the Editor of The Bent Lens: A World Guide to Gay and Lesbian Film (Allen & Unwin, Alyson Books, 2003).

Lisa is the Director of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival – a position she has held since 1998. In 2005 Lisa was named ‘Woman of the Year’ at Melbourne’s Rainbow Awards. In 2005 Lisa served as a jury panel member for Best documentary at the Los Angeles Outfest, and in 2006 Lisa was a Jury panel member for Best Documentary at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco. She is one of the longest serving queer film festival directors in the world, and is widely respected in her field both nationally and internationally. She has overseen the growth of the MQFF from a small community film festival with 30 sessions and 3000 attendees to one of the largest and most respected queer film festivals in the world with over 100 sessions and attendance of 25,000. The MQFF is oldest, largest and most successful queer film festival in Australia, and the second largest film festival in Victoria. Lisa has engendered excellent community participation through the MQFF via yearly panels and discussions about topics relevant to the queer community and via the formation of the Queeries: Bent on Film Youth package as well as the Trans selection sub-committee.

Lisa is an active supporter of local queer film making talent and regularly gives her time to filmmakers for advice about filmmaking and film festivals.

Meet Our Management Committee

Susan Brooks Chair of Selection Panel

Susan is our compliance guru and has extensive experience in managing regulatory risks and consumer issues from within executive government, statutory administrative bodies (Australian Broadcasting Tribunal and Australian Securities Commission) and financial services sector (Chief Compliance Officer, Westpac and has been the Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman). She is currently a member of the ABC’s Independent Complaints Review Panel and several Managed Investment Compliance Committees. She holds Bach. of Eco. and Masters of Law.

“Being a member of the Management Committee I am able to apply the wealth of experience I gained through corporate life. It also allows me to give back to our community. Back in the Seventies I was a beneficiary of the Labor Government’s new approach to university entrance, so I understand the benefits of education and how it can change your life. In semi-retirement I can now devote significant time to the Foundation and at the same time enjoy travel and quality time with my partner Janis.”

My role with the Foundation is best described as a ‘Jill of all trades’, since as well as chairing a small team responsible for scholarship selection, I provide governance and general policy advice and design processes for us to use. All to ensure compliance with our policies and Constitution since our reputation is very important to us. In the next couple of years I am also implementing a program to boost the number of registered mentors.”

Philip Comans Fundraising

Phillip is one of our founding Directors, along with Sean.
“I have been a real estate agent for the past 10 years and before that many different jobs (or careers) including photographer, PR and event management consultant, retail buyer and even a masseur.

Thankfully I went to University when it was provided free, and came out with an Economics Degree. I’ve seen over and over again how having that Degree has opened employment opportunities for me. It was at Uni that I came out and again luckily my family were very accepting. The Uni environment was really important to me during that time, providing fantastic friends and counselling support.

I’m a Director of Pinnacle and partnered with Sean Linkson (another Director) with our rescue dog Sooty (she doesn’t “do” rescue she was rescued)”.

Steven Deveraux-Stanford Marketing & Communications

Steven heads our Marketing Task Force, doing wonders in helping The Pinnacle Foundation connect with our scholars and corporate partners.

With qualifications in Public Relations, Marketing and Property, he has spent the past decade working throughout Australia and internationally in the luxury and commercial property markets.

Currently Steven is co-founder and Director of high-end estate agency, Leonarder Collins Luxury Homes – ranked by the CNBC International Property Awards as one of the ‘Top 5 Estate Agencies in the World’ for the past 4 years.

With Steven’s understanding and appreciation of how further education and mentoring have aided in his own accomplishments, his skills and talents play a large part in communicating our message to the wider community. He is the proud father of Cooper, an adorable black schnauzer.

 
Dave Rorke University Liaison

Dave joined The Pinnacle Foundation in 2009 as a integral part of our Selection Committee and now also the Marketing Task Force, providing a student perspective and connecting Pinnacle to universities across Australia.

Currently working at Macquarie University as the PACE International Program Officer, Dave is closely connected to the campus community where so many Pinnacle Scholarship applicants have originated from.

Dave’s background includes environmental management and international relations whilst also being heavily involved in the development of LGBTI programs at Macquarie University. This has included running the QueerSpace in 2008/09 which provides a safe community space for GLBTIQ students & staff, and co-founding/coordinating the Ally Network, a visible campus-wide support to the GLBTIQ community at Macquarie.

With his continued involvement with higher education both personally and professionally, Dave understands its value to realising someone’s potential and is key to communicating this to campus communities.

Geoff Annabel Scholar Liaison

Geoff Annabel joined The Pinnacle Foundation in 2011 to oversee our Scholar Liaison. Geoff is CEO of an asset management company which specialises in property and Australian equities. He is a licenced real estate agent and registered valuer.

Geoff provides assistance to our scholars by helping them to obtain educational items funded by their scholarship, liaising with other Pinnacle colleagues when the need arises and general administrative support.

“I applaud the aims of the Foundation and love adding my small bit assisting emerging leaders of the LGBTIQ community to shine through educational assistance.”

In addition to Pinnacle Geoff’s background includes volunteering with a range of LGBTIQ community organisations including Queerscreen, ACON and Metropolitan Community Church.

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