Meet the Board Members

Brian Vowels - Chairman

Brian joined the Foundation in November 2011 as the Treasurer and a Trustee and became Chairman in December 2015. Brian is an accomplished finance professional spending over 30 years in the insurance industry working both locally and internationally before retiring from corporate life in 2021. Before retiring, Brian was also the Chairman of the Financial Services Accountants Association, a non-profit training organisation, for many years.

Brian has now focussed his efforts in the humanitarian space, becoming Managing Director of Sustainable Food & Water in 2022, which aligns well with the Foundation's endeavours. He is also a director of Mercurien Insurance, Better Driver, Bondi Trading Co., Sealight Capital, AEIOU Group, AEIOU Investments, and Back to the Bush Indigenous Corporation. Brian is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, holds an MBA, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Justice of the Peace.

Brian carries on the legacy of his father, Professor Marcus Vowels AM, who was a founding trustee of the Foundation and established the then Australian Cord Blood Bank.

Jeremy Wright AM

Jeremy’s qualifications include BE (Hon) MBA and GAICD. He studied and worked first as an engineer then moved into marketing and management initially with Kodak, in Australia and USA. He then moved to the performing arts working at the Sydney Opera House as Marketing Manager, before entering senior positions in the energy sector and telecommunications.

His community activities began in 1983 as a Director of the Sydney Dance Company and in 1989 with his wife Marilyn, launching Red Nose Day in NSW and a successful prevention campaign for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Jeremy joined Rotary in 2009 and was appointed District Governor for Sydney to the Illawarra, for the year 2021-22. He now on the Board of the Rotary Foundation Australia.

From 2004 to 2013, Jeremy was the founding Chief Executive of MS Research Australia, raising $25mill over 9 years, for research aimed at solving multiple sclerosis. Jeremy was also on the Board of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network from 2014 to 2023.

Matt Lewinsohn

Matt joined the Foundation in October 2016. Matt has been a lawyer since 2005 with extensive experience in public and private sectors across health, central government and financial services industries.

Currently Matt is working as in-house corporate counsel for Steadfast, covering a broad range of corporate and commercial matters in the insurance industry. Matt has always had an interest in health, and prior to studying law was a qualified practicing physiotherapist.

Matt looks forward to assisting the Foundation by utilising his experience gained in the public and private sectors.

Paul Lam-Po-Tang

Paul joined the Foundation in November 2011 as the Secretary. He has over 25 years experience as a lawyer in private practice and in-house working on corporate transactions, joint ventures, financing and funds management. He has over 15 years of experience as a company secretary. Paul now teaches meditation and yoga, and works as a life coach.

Paul, as a director, is carrying on the work of his father, Dr Reg Lam-Po-Tang, who was one of the founding trustees and also co-established then Australian Cord Blood Bank.

Annette Trickett

Annette joined the Foundation in 2019. Annette is the Principal Scientist / Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Laboratory that provides services to Sydney Children’s and Prince of Wales Hospitals, having worked in the cellular therapy field for more than 35 years. She was previously the Director of both the Sydney Cord Blood Bank and the BMDI Cord Blood Bank in Melbourne and has worked closely with Marcus Vowels and Reg Lam-Po-Tang who established the Sydney Cord Blood Bank and the Foundation.