Steve has been a Senior Manager in the Club Industry for the past 21 years and General Manager of the Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Supporters club since September 2017

He is married with 2 children, a son Lachie – 19 and Bridie 21

He experienced the Commonwealth Games right on the club’s doorstep in 2018 which almost drove the club broke.

Steve has led the club through this on to a record year in 2019/20 and then once again through the recent pandemic into another record profit last financial year growing the club from 60 employees to 90 and a 45% profit increase on the clubs best ever year.

Coolangatta as a town suffered terribly with the hard border closure cutting off what little customers they had left.

During this period Steve played a leading role in the highly successful Essentially Cooly campaign which created huge media attention on Cooly and its border struggles.

This campaign resulted in an incredible $14,000,000 rescue package for Coolangatta businesses and an exclusive Southern Gold Coast only round 2 of Play Money

About this time Steve penned an honest, brave and truthful post on LinkedIn titled Pandemic Fatigue.

This post led to considerable media exposure where Steve now regularly appears on Brisbane and Gold Coast ABC radio

Steve’ s own Mental Health issues are something he is comfortable sharing as he strives to make a difference in our industry.

Steve and his great friend Maddy Ellis have organised two major fundraisers in the last 18 months with Clubs for a Cause Walking with Mates for Mental Health Awareness raising over $90,000 in donations and assisting to remove stigma and normalise these important conversations

Steve was a board member of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce , the Gold Coast branch of the Club Managers Association and is a regular volunteer for Orange Sky Laundry on the Gold Coast . He is a major advocate for Mental Health Fitness in the workplace regularly presenting to colleagues and industry events.

Steve focuses very heavily on improving his own club’s culture with a wellness committee recently formed and a strong employment Assistance program on offer.

He is a massive believer in looking after people before profits and doing business with a conscience.