Your Board of Directors

TERRY HUNTER, PRESIDENT

After 4 successful years of working in the private sector as a Senior IT Consultant, Terry has returned to the Railway fraternity. Terry rejoined RailCorp’s ICT Division as the BI Program Manager in June 2011.
Previously in 2007, and after a long career in NSW Railways spanning 35 years, Terry retired from the Government arena. It seems he couldn’t keep away for too long and continued as the President during this time.
Terry first joined the Board of the NSWRI in 1997 and became the inaugural President of the newly incorporated Railway Institute in 1999. He has been an active participant in Railway Institute sporting competitions since 1988.

GEOFF WENT, VICE PRESIDENT

Geoff has been on the Railways for 30 years having joined as an apprentice fitter in 1985. He has worked in numerous locations as a fitter working on passenger and freight rolling stock. He is currently employed as a Safety Professional in Customer Service. He joined the Institute in 1985 and joined the NSWRI Bowling Association in 1992, and was selected for his first lawn bowls carnival in 1994. He was elected to the NSWRIBA committee in 1994 and became the secretary in 2000 and did this job for 11 years. Geoff was elected to the Board in 2009. Geoff was elected as Vice President in December 2015.

PETER NICHOLSON, TREASURER

Peter started his Railway career in 1981 as a Clerical Officer, advancing to be a Senior Finance Officer with CityRail before leaving in 1998. He re-joined rail in 1999 during the recruitment drive for the Olympics and currently works at Team Leader at Central where he in charge of Station and Passenger Information throughout the country terminals.
Peter became an Institute member in 1982; by 1990 he took an active interest in playing golf and in 1991 was selected to represent the Institute at his first Golf Carnival in Western Australia. This involvement and love of the game saw him nominated and be elected as the NSWRI Golf Association Secretary (1992) and later in that year was elected to the Institute Sports Board, a position he held up to taking redundancy (1998).

On re-employment back with rail Peter immediately took up an active role with golf again by assisting, organising and hosting golf events and interstate carnivals, a role he still performs to date. In 2007 Peter nominated and was elected onto the committee of the new NSWRI board and held the position of Vice President until December 2015.

GILLIAN GEORGE, BOARD MEMBER

Gillian started working in the Rail Industry in 1982. Her first position was with State Rail Authority working in the MIS branch; from there she was promoted to the Finance branch. Later Gillian went on to study and complete her Human Resources Management Certificate enabling her promotion to Personnel Officer within Corporate Personnel Services. Over the years she has been involved in a large number of projects for HR from system upgrades to workforce profiles for the Premiers Department and more recently in her current position as a Senior Subject Matter Expert within the Enterprise Resource Planning group (ICT) implementing a Training Competency and Management System. This exhaustive and diverse project experience has given her the valuable opportunity to hone her interpersonal skills giving her the ability to communicate effectively at all levels within the organisation. She is on the board of directors for the Railway Institute, a position she has successfully held for the last 9 years. Being the first female to join the board has enabled her to not only influence the approach and thinking of the board but allowed her to take on the primary role as an effective conduit between the board and its members. Gillian personal interests include sailing, motorbike riding and swimming.

KENNETH RAINFORD, BOARD MEMBER

Ken started with the Railways in 1960 as Apprentice Electrical Fitter and progressed to Electrical Instrument Maker and Tester at Strathfield Testing Laboratory in 1964. In 1970 he was appointed as Senior Foreman in charge of Instrument Repair Staff, responsible for NATA testing of departmental and external customer’s electrical instruments.
In 1971, Ken with other railway employees established the First Pistol Club in Australia through the Institute (The Railway Institute Pistol Club) of which he was the President for the first three years. He was elected as Secretary of the Club in 1974, a position he has held to this day.
Ken retired after 44 years of continuous service with the Railways in 2005. He has been a member of the Institute Board since 2003 till 2014. Ken was re-elected to the board in 2015.

ROBERT RITCHIE, BOARD MEMBER

In 1998 Bob finished a long and successful career in the Railways, beginning as an apprentice Fitter/Machinist in 1970 and finishing as a Senior Office SO3. Accomplished in Business Manager with qualifications for Financial, Commercial and Project Management, Industrial Quality and Technology Management with Systems, Quality Auditing, Systems Training and managing skills in Business Excellence. Bob came to the Institute in May 1999 as the temporary Manager/Secretary; in September that year, he was appointed by the Board to the position. He became a member of the Institute in 1970 and has been actively involved with the Billiards and Snooker Club from 1983 to date. Elected Team Manager for the inaugural Billiards/Snooker Interstate Team of 1985 and has held that position and been a team player for 22 competitions to date. Bob presently holds the position of Secretary/Treasurer of the club since his appointment in 1986 and has been instrumental in organising Interstate Competitions for 25 years. Bob Retired as Manager of the Institute in July 2018 and was elected to the board in 2019.

REG AGAR, BOARD MEMBER

Reg was elected to the board in 2022