GOVERNORS 

Centennial Parklands Foundation has a Board of Governors in place to oversee the strategic and investment decisions of the entity.

The current Governors of Centennial Parklands Foundation are:

Ilan Israelstam (Chair)

B Com, LLB (Hons) (UNSW)

Ilan is an accomplished leader in Australian financial services. He was a founding team member at BetaShares, one of Australia's leading financial services organisations.

Previously, Ilan worked in New York and Sydney for The Boston Consulting Group.

Ilan is also a Director of the Sydney Jewish Museum Foundation.

Ilan lives in Centennial Park with his wife and three young children and can regularly be found running, dog-walking and socialising in the Parklands. He is passionate about ensuring that the Parklands' legacy, beauty and critical importance to the City endures forever.

Penny Mapp

BA (USyd) History of Art 

Penny is an accomplished senior leader, serving on the Board of a range of organisations, including Executive Director of the Grahame Mapp Foundation, Non-Executive Director of Carsingha Investments, Non-Executive Director of Mapp Group Holdings and Chair of the Footpath Library.

She is also the Founder and Director of Sydney Nature Kindy and is currently working on fulfilling her dream to open a full-time nature-based childcare centre in Sydney. 

Penny lives in Randwick with her twin girls. She is also a major supporter of the Ian Potter Children's WILD PLAY Garden and a passionate advocate of nature education.

Nina Murray 

B Com (with merit) (UNSW), MBA (UTS)

Nina is an experienced non-executive director and has previously worked at Macquarie Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She graduated locally from UNSW with a BA in Commerce and recently completed her MBA at UTS. 

Nina has a longstanding connection with Centennial Parklands as Chair of the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust's Community Consultative Committee (CCC). She is also an avid park user and has run, picnicked, dog walked, watched movies, scootered, and cycled in and around Centennial Park and Moore Park for more than 20 years.

She is particularly interested in the visitor experience to the Park and in the promotion of its place in the life of Sydney. In this way she hopes to help its preservation and enhancement by helping to strengthen its voice in the community.

Nina is married, with two children and she enjoys playing an active part of the local community.

David Bluff

B.Comm/LLB (1st Hons)

David is currently Head of Private Equity at the Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, which oversees investments for future generations of Australians. He has had a 20 year career in international corporate finance and private equity at JPMorgan, SABMiller plc and as a Partner of The Carlyle Group. David has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. David brings a wealth of strategic and governance experience to the Board.

He lives locally with his wife and two daughters and can be found cycling, running and enjoying the Park’s wonderful gardens on a daily basis. He’s passionate about supporting and preserving the Park’s critical role as a natural environment in urban Sydney.

Tim Gordon

B Com, LLB, LLM (UNSW)

Tim Gordon is a Partner of Corrs Chambers Westgarth and one of Australia’s best known corporate lawyers. Tim advises high profile corporates and private equity funds on M&A and other transactions as well as corporate governance and regulatory matters. He is a member of the Law Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Securities Law Committee of the International Bar Association.

Tim has a deep connection to the Parklands. Tim first moved to Sydney to attend UNSW, landing in Randwick where he immediately fell in love with the open space of the park. Tim lived in Randwick throughout (and well after) his student days and played soccer at Queens Park, Moore Park and Centennial Park for more than 10 years. Tim remains a regular visitor to the Parklands with his family and their pug Freddie. Tim is a passionate advocate of green spaces, biodiversity and sporting facilities in cities and wants to do what he can to help ensure future generations of people in Sydney continue to have access to nature and a beautiful outdoor environment.

In addition to his legal work, Tim is a director of Watertrust Australia, a national water and catchment policy not for profit and the professional Rugby League Players Association.

Emilia Kefford

BEd (Early Childhood), Master Ed (Leadership and Management), Grad Dip Counselling

Emilia Fairfax Kefford has a wealth of experience in the not-for-profit, philanthropic and education sectors spanning two decades.

She holds a Bachelor of Education, Early Childhood Education (Macquarie University), as well as Master of Education and Graduate Diploma of Counselling from Notre Dame University. Following her studies Emilia worked with children and families as a teacher and counsellor. 

Emilia has also held roles at some of Australia’s leading charities, including Redkite, Mission Australia and Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia.
Emilia has been involved in philanthropy for over a decade and is currently Director on a number of family boards at Cambooya. She currently lives in Vaucluse with her 3 young children and chocolate Labrador. Growing up on Lang Road, Emilia has a fond affection for Centennial Park and what it can offer to the community. She is also an active member of Sydney Wildlife Rescue and is often caring for injured and/or sick birds and possums.

Nick Fordham

Nick Fordham is Chief Executive Officer of The Fordham Company, one of Australian's most successful and diverse talent management agencies. The Fordham Company, whose clients include some of the nation’s most respected and high-profile individuals covering sport, media and entertainment. Fordham has also built numerous successful businesses from global documentary and scripted production, sports broadcast rights, agriculture, cyber security and health food.

Along with his family, Nick established the Fordham Foundation in 2020, in honour of his Father John Fordham AM, to raise funds for ongoing research in the area of Head and Neck Cancer which took his Father's life in 2019.  Nick is also a Board Member of the Head and Neck Cancer Foundation and The Ricky Stuart Foundation which has successfully built numerous respite centres for families living with disability. 

Nick is a regular at Centennial Park with his wife Liz and two daughters, Maisie and Coco who all have a great love of nature, wildlife, and conservation.