API Ltd Board & Governance

Bart Charles Mead

Director

Chair

Paul Billingham

Independent Director

Paul is a former senior partner with global accounting firm Grant Thornton where, up until his retirement in early 2021, over some 30 years he established and lead the firms Australian Financial Advisory and Consulting practices and chaired the Sydney office. Over his career, Paul has lead numerous complex assignments in the property sector, from restructuring businesses and building out developments; to the refinancing of over $7.6bn of syndicated bank debt to A-REITs during the GFC.

An experienced NED, Paul sits on and chairs several boards and board committees in the defence, professional services, property and leisure sectors and divides his time in fulfilling these roles by providing strategic, restructuring and M&A support to clients in a wide variety of industries.

Paul is a Fellow of both Chartered Accountants ANZ and of the Governance Institute of Australia, and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. A resident of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, he is married with a 16-year-old daughter and is a keen yachtsman – recently retiring as Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, home of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Penny Wilson

Associate Director, Savills Property Consultants

Education

• Bachelor of Commerce (Property Economics) – University of Western Sydney
• Bachelor of Business (Management) – University of Western Sydney
• Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD)

API History:

• API Membership Survey Committee
• Communication and Audit Committee
• ANZPJ Editorial Board
• API Associate Member and CPV (2002)
• API Fellow Member (2021)

Having worked for KPMG, Colliers, Lunney Watt, Property NSW and the Commonwealth Bank, Penny has over 20 years industry experience in property advisory, valuations, and property finance roles.

During this time Penny has spent 5 years in CBA’s Institutional Banking team. Instructing, reviewing, and endorsing valuations, attending Construction Project Control Group Meetings, assessing and approving construction drawdowns and preparing loan documentation and credit submissions, for institutional borrowers.

In 2022, Penny joined the Savills Property Consultancy Team which is part of a fully integrated global property company providing end to end consultancy and transactional services.

Greg Sugars OAM

National Director & CEO-Preston Rowe Paterson Australasia

Greg has been involved within the Australian Property Industry since 1989. In that time, he has been at the forefront of several significant strategic changes, particularly around industry aggregation, technology and innovation as well as the change in risk and insurance solutions available to valuers. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and International Director of Preston Rowe Paterson Australasia. Prior to that he was the founding CEO of Opteon.

A firm believer that the valuation industry has been underselling and under educating its clients on what valuers actually do, Greg enjoys the opportunity to present at lots of industry events and universities. Greg is an author, public speaker and podcaster and dedicates a lot of his spare time raising funds for an international children’s charity, the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation.

Greg is a  Fellow of the Australian Property Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  In 2015 Greg was recognised in the Australian Day Honours List for his community work and awarded a Medal of The Order of Australia.

Andrea Carolan

Director

Andrea joined the API in 1987 and became a Fellow in 2014. She is the Managing Director of Public Private Property which is a niche provider of specialist valuation services focussing on land acquisition and compensation in addition to public sector financial reporting.

Prior to the commencement of Public Private Property in 2017, Andrea’s professional experience included periods spent at Maloney Field Services, JLL, Colliers and the State Transport Authority.

Andrea has a special interest in property sector education. She has presented for the API on numerous occasions over the years and continues to be directly involved in curating API education programs. She is the Immediate Past President of the Australian Chapter of the International Right of Way Association and is heavily involved with the delivery of IRWA’s Principles of Land Acquisition to Australian participants.

 

Andrea’s primary goals for her API Board tenure centre on the challenge of elevating the status of the valuation profession and to foster more collaborative discussions between all relevant stakeholders.

Gavin Hulcombe

Director

Gavin joined the API in 1993, before being appointed a Fellow in 2010.

Gavin’s valuation career commenced with the Queensland Department of Lands before joining Herron Todd White in 1994 as a residential valuer. Since 2000, Gavin has specialised in the valuation of residential projects and subdivisions, having valued a number of Brisbane’s largest residential projects.

Gavin has gained valuable experience as a leader and company director inside and outside of Herron Todd White.

Gavin is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He has served as Managing Director of the Herron Todd White Brisbane office since 2002. He was a member of the Herron Todd White Australia Board between 2005 and 2020 and served as Chair of the Herron Todd White board between 2008 and 2016. Gavin has served and chaired the Herron Todd White Finance and Risk Management Committee.

Scott Chapman

Director

Scott has a breadth of property industry experience spanning 21 years, initially commencing in sales and commercial property management. Employed in the valuation industry for 14 years, he has been an Associate Member of the API since February 2009, initially commencing at Knight Frank Valuations before moving to Opteon in mid-2009. For the last 9 years, he has worked in various senior leadership roles at Opteon and is presently the Managing Director for Opteon Australia & New Zealand.

Robert Hecek

APIV Chair

Robert joined the API as an Associate in 1983, became a Fellow in 2000 and was appointed Life Fellow in 2016. He is also a Certified Practising Valuer and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Robert formed the valuation practice Valuecorp in 1980, based in Gladesville in Sydney, and employs 25 valuers, covering all facets of valuation and consulting work through NSW. Robert is currently Chair of the APIV Limited Liability Scheme.

• API National President 2014/2015
• Appointed to the Professional Indemnity Insurance Committee in its early beginning in 2003
• The current chair of APIV Ltd (Limited Liability Scheme)
• Current member of the  API Complaints Committee
• Member of API International Committee
• Elected to NSW Divisional Council in 2006 and was elected as Vice President NSW Division in 2008. He became the President of the NSW Division in 2009 and 2010 for two terms
• Recipient of the S F Whittington Memorial Gold Medal in 2012 for outstanding contribution to API and the Property Profession
• Current First Vice President and Executive Council Member of WAVO
• Founding and current member of the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition, backed by UN and UK Government, formed at the UN in Geneva in July 2018

With the cooperation and input of all stakeholders and major valuation firms, Robert completed and implemented the Australian Banking and Finance Industry Residential Valuation Standing Instruction – the first of its kind for the Australian valuation industry. All valuers now complete an annual, mandatory, competency-based, online module testing their knowledge and understanding of the standing instructions.

Robert has also presented as a delegate at numerous Property conferences worldwide on Fire Safety and Valuation issues and advances in professional standards.