VGC Board Member – Alex Woodthorpe

Alex is a successful strategic advisor, certified Advisory Board Chair, and experienced CEO. Previously as an Executive Chairman within Asia Pacific, Alex’s expertise lies in global capital markets and investment banking. Specialising in growth focused new markets, as well as change and crisis management.

While in Asia, Alex developed opportunities for less privileged children. His community work focused on the well-being and education of children. Alex has sat on the Board of numerous international schools including the Board of Kellett School, The British International School in Hong Kong, as well as Chairman of the Development Committee. Alex’s entrepreneurial nature allowed him to develop scholarships and bursaries for people who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to the opportunity.

How long have you been a volunteer board member with Volunteering Gold Coast?
I joined the board formally at the last AGM and informally last May.

What drove you to become a volunteer board member for Volunteering Gold Coast?
Having recently arrived on the Gold Coast I was keen to get involved with our local community and give back some of my experience to a Not-For-Profit organisation. VGC appealed to me as it is an established organisation entrenched in the community, transitioning through leadership change with a growth mindset.

What resonates with you the most about being a volunteer board member for Volunteering Gold Coast?
Since first meeting them, I have been struck by the passion and knowledge of the longest-standing members of the board and their desire to see the organisation be well run. As with other charities I have been involved in, marrying large corporate experience with local organisations can be challenging but I have been welcomed wholeheartedly and love the board’s passion to run VGC as a best-in-class organisation.

In one word best describe what Volunteering Gold Coast means to you? “Community” is the one word I think of when I think of VGC.

Do you volunteer anywhere else? I am on the board of Somerset Storyfest, Australia’s largest Children’s literacy charity based here on the Gold Coast. This combines my love of children’s welfare with books and reading. It is a passionate Not-For-Profit organisation that impacts ten’s of thousands of children’s lives a year. At its heart is the Storyfest Festival which brings children authors and children together for three to four days on the Gold Coast each year. This year we will add a festival in Longreach and we also have a “traveling author” bus that visits remoter parts of Queensland.

I also chair The Kellett Foundation in Hong Kong which is the charitable arm of Kellett School, The British International School in Hong Kong. Our primary goal is to fund and provide bursaries to the school for underprivileged children, with a particular focus on the refugee community of Hong Kong. I founded the Foundation with fellow board members of the school in 2018 and to date, we have offered five life-changing bursaries.