Meet our Team

With over twenty years of experience across Tourism, Hospitality and Not-For-Profit industries, Peter Homan has demonstrated the ability to deliver world-class services by leading the development, translation and execution of a wide range of strategies including business development, community engagement, marketing, communications, business transformation and operations.

Peter has showcased the determination to resolve complex issues by leading research and analysis activities to identify inefficiencies, trends and root causes (e.g., economic, technological) while formulating innovative, sustainable solutions.

Throughout his career, Peter has positively contributed to a number of organisation’s growth, development and success including improving the organisation’s capability, team performance, culture, brand awareness, stakeholder relationships and ultimately revenue.

Up until 2019, Peter served as the general manager and CEO of the Outback Queensland Tourism Association for 5 years.

In July 2019, Peter was appointed as CEO of Southern Queensland Country Tourism.

Geoff McDonald has been the Toowoomba Regional Council appointed Board Member of Southern Queensland Country Tourism (SQCT) since he was first elected to Council in 2012. He has spent the last 6 years as Vice Chair of the Board and in November 2020 he was elected Chairman of the Board as well as the Local Government Representative.

He has been Chair for Councils Environment and Community Committee with carriage of Tourism and Events from 2012 to 2020. Over the 8 years there has been growth of events and visitation to our region. He has been a lead advocate for the relevance of Regional Tourism Organisations (RTO) for Local Government. The changes in the Board Structure and operations of SQCT have been supported by Local Government and progressed with his oversight on the board and part of the working group to “super charge” the RTO.

In this current term of Council, Geoff McDonald is the Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Finance and Business Strategy Group. Born and raised in Toowoomba, Geoff is a fifth-generation business owner along with his wife Lisa and parents John (Cracker) and Joan McDonald. Their company Cracker Print and Paper has a trading history dating back to 1901. Geoff has a long history of community involvement as a patron, ambassador, board member and life member of a number of community, business, sporting and charitable organisations.

As a company director of Tangalooma Island Resort, David is a key driver in the strategic planning and future development of the resort.

David is recognised as one of Australia’s top authorities in Asian tourism and has served on the Queensland China Council and Australian Tourism Export Council’s China advisory panels. He has also been a member of advisory panels to Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland and Brisbane Marketing which makes him a valuable asset to the SQCT Board.

David has been Vice Chair on the Board since 2019.

With a passion for tourism and a solid background in tourism product and destination marketing, Deb Holland joined Southern Queensland Country Tourism in November 2021 as Marketing Manager. Deb’s skill base covers marketing and sales, brand development and project management in both domestic and international markets.

Deb’s experience includes 3+ years as General Manager, Marketing, Sales and Revenue for NRMA Parks and Resorts, 1 year contract at Tourism and Events Queensland looking after marketing for four regions, plus 5 years leading tactical marketing for the Mantra Group (Peppers, Mantra and BreakFree brands). Deb also initiated and lead the international consumer marketing strategy for Village Roadshow Theme Parks and worked with Dreamworld/WhiteWater World leading the Events and Group Sales teams.

A love for learning, Deb holds a Master of Marketing (Griffith University), Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and is currently studying for a Diploma in Positive Psychology and Wellbeing with the Langley Group.

Deb is leading the marketing direction for Southern Queensland Country Tourism.

Anita brings her 15+ years' experience within the Australian tourism industry to her new role as Business Development Manager for Southern Queensland Country Tourism.

Anita will work with CEO, Peter Homan to deliver training and support for Members and Industry and brings her knowledge and skills in brand management, product development, events, marketing and sustainable tourism to region.

In addition to supporting local Southern Queensland Country operators, Anita will also be working closely with relevant stakeholders, the broader community and community groups.

Anita Butler has held a number of sales, marketing and business development roles between Byron Bay > Cairns, and was also Vice President of the Board of Adventure Queensland. Anita has also worked on many Youth and Eco Adventure Group committees, such as Adventure Noosa (Tourism Noosa), Adventure Airlie (Tourism Whitsundays) and Adventure Brisbane (Brisbane Backpacker and Adventure Association) made up of industry representatives who are involved in this segment market.

Anita is the point of contact for Southern Queensland Country membership.

Chris Parsons’ career began with an ad in the paper, ‘’WANTED: TV Presenter, Gold Coast Lifestyle Show - must be presentable, have good communication skills and ability to remember lines’’. Unsure how many of those attributes he actually possessed, Chris drove down the highway and into a career that has become his absolute passion, TV. His career has seen him present and produce numerous episodes of popular travel shows ‘Queensland Weekender’, ‘The Great South East’ and ‘Creek to Coast’.

Chris has hosted numerous events and functions including the Queensland Tourism Awards, the Tourism and Events Development Conference, the Southern Queensland Country Tourism Industry Conference as well as many sporting events and festivals.

Chris can regularly be seen on ‘Queensland Weekender’ and hosting the National Lotto each week. He’s also the Ambassador for Bareboating in the Whitsundays, commentator for the Queensland Ocean Swim Series and a Board Director of Southern Queensland Country Tourism since 2017.

Louise Sturgess is an accomplished corporate communication, media and marketing professional with more than 25 years’ executive experience across tourism, not-for-profit, government and membership-based organisations.

She steered corporate communications for the lead charity for the Great Barrier Reef through a period of considerable growth and change and implemented communication initiatives that achieved global impact. As Corporate Communications and Marketing Manager for the state-wide Queensland Museum Network, Louise introduced a whole of business brand strategy that reshaped the organisation and introduced innovation across the Network’s museums in Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville and other commercial and business units.

Louise spent seven years leading communication, marketing and media programs for Brisbane Marketing and implemented successful Destination Brisbane public relations strategies including for major events such as the World Veterans Athletics Championships etc. Prior to that she worked with tourism icons Village Roadshow Theme Parks (Warner Bros. Movie World, Dreamworld. etc.)

Louise has considerable experience in media liaison, stakeholder and government relations, communication strategy, internal communication, event management and PR, annual and other reporting, issues management, and writing and editing publications and digital content which helps her to excel In the Tourism Industry.

Louise has been the Company Secretary at SQCT since Nov 2020.

Maddy is a highly experienced marketing and engagement specialist with over seven years’ experience working within the local government, higher education, and tourism sectors. Maddy joined the Southern Queensland Country Tourism team as Marketing Coordinator in April 2021, after most recently working for the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Marketing and Communications.

Maddy’s skill base lies mostly within event management, corporate communications, and social media marketing. As the Young Tourism Leader for the Southern Queensland Country region for 2022, Maddy’s mission is to promote tourism’s diverse career opportunities to our region’s senior high school, TAFE and university students.

Andrew brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Southern Queensland Country Tourism Board with a long sales career in the travel industry starting with STA Travel.

After a 7 year tenure across Victoria, South Australia and Vancouver, Andrew joined Contiki where he was first tasked with heading up business development projects and leading the brand’s marketing and sales partnerships, before becoming Head of Sales in 2018 – leading the Australian sales teams and helping to steer the brands’ identity evolution through distribution challenges and changing consumer behaviours.

Andrew comes from a regional background growing up on a generational beef & wool farm. He is a passionate advocate for grass-roots tourism and thriving regional communities and believes strongly in supporting local producer and artisan businesses to strengthen the abundance of culture our country offers both domestic and international visitors.

He was promoted as Head of Sales for travel brands Contikki, Trafalgar and Costsaver and most recently became Head of Sales for the NZ market for all three brands.

Andrew was elected to the Southern Queensland Country Tourism Board in November 2020.

Martin Cooper is the President of the Granite Belt Wine Tourism since 2019 and the owner of Ridgemill Estate, one of the Granite Belt’s leading wineries.

He has extensive experience in the tourism industry ranging from detailed research, project development and hands on Involvement In promotion and management of the Ridgemill Estate winery and accommodation business. Through his time at Queensland Tourism and Travel Corporation (QTTC) he has come to understand the relationship between Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ), local government and the Regional Tourism network.

Martin was elected to the SQCT Board in November 2020.

Michelle has curated a diverse career resulting in varied skill sets. After graduating from university, she set off on a working holiday abroad which was initially meant to be a gap year but ended up being 2+ years. Toowoomba called her back with family and friends and that big country charm.

Over the years Michelle has worked for many iconic Toowoomba businesses such as the Toowoomba Chronicle, the former McCafferty’s Coaches in the travel, reservation department, The Downs Club as a Functions Co-ordinator and has held roles in Shopping Centre administration, marketing and management. She has also been a part owner of a family, retail business.

Michelle commenced work with Southern Queensland Country Tourism (SQCT) in 2018 to fill a maternity leave position as the Tourism Support Officer. She is now the Administration Manager and supports the CEO, staff, SQCT Board and stakeholders.

Steven Becker is our latest director to join the board of Southern Queensland Country Tourism. Steven comes with strong financial, commercial and executive management expertise within major listed and private equity owned multi-dimensional corporate and professional advisory firm environments.

Experienced in project management, organisational transformation, marketing and distribution, IT and audit.

Steven has developed strong leadership, staff development and team management skills and has worked for tourism companies, Mantra Group and Flight Centre Ltd.

Stephen joined the board in January, 2022.

Suzanne joins the SQCT team with a background in running her own travel and tourism business. Starting off in the highly competitive international market, then moving into domestic travel, she understands what it means to adapt quickly to changing conditions and demands.

Originally from England, Suzanne has lived in Wales then regional VIC, NSW & QLD. She has gained a wealth of knowledge from working in small businesses to larger corporations and even spent 15 years as a police officer.

Suzanne brings with her a can-do attitude; she is keen to assist tourism businesses to evolve and improve with the support and services offered with their SQCT membership. She wants the best, not only for the industry members, but also travellers, to ensure they have a great experience when they visit our region.

Look out for Suzanne, she is ready to visit every corner of our region to listen, share and help promote what is, one of the best regions in Australia!

As our newly appointed Finance Officer, Jane is responsible for the financial management of Southern Queensland Country Tourism Ltd (SQCT).

Jane’s accounting career spans some 20+ years, and during that time she has worked across various local industries, including motor vehicle dealerships, construction, tourism and aged care.

She completed all her schooling, University and post-graduate studies in Toowoomba. In 2019 she returned with her young family from Central Queensland after having operated a family-owned motel for 8 years.

The beautiful Garden City beckoned Jane and her family back home. It is where she has established roots, and where she was keen to raise her family and reinvigorate her accounting career.