Meet Our Board Members
OV’s board is a dedicated group of outdoor enthusiasts who represent a wide cross section of our Community.
Members are appointed based on individual backgrounds and expertise, in addition to empathy and understanding of the outdoors sector. Each Board member is committed to the ongoing success and growth of the organisation in its role as advocate for the outdoors sector.

Steve McMurtrie
OV Chair
Steve joined the Board in October 2013. Steve’s current role is the Chair of the ROSA Network– a network of 4 state government residential schools: Blackwood Outdoor Specialist School, Outdoor School, Rubicon Outdoor Centre and Somers School Camp. Over his 35 year career within the Victorian education sector, Steve brings knowledge and expertise of the government education system.
Read more

Mark Collard
Read more

Reegan Key
Reegan is the Manager, Public Information and Warnings at Emergency Management Victoria. Her role focuses on implementing best practice in the outputs of the Public Information Section in Victorian emergencies, though the management and improvement of warnings, media engagement and community information across all hazards.
Read more

Sandy-Allen Craig
OV Deputy Chair
Sandy brings to the board a range of experience and expertise from across the Outdoor Education sector. She has worked as a freelancer, in corporate outdoor training, as a PE teacher and as an Outdoor Education Director in schools before moving into the tertiary sector where she has spent the past 3 decades developing and implementing Outdoor Education courses for Deakin University and Australian Catholic University.
Read more

Amber Gardner
Amber has worked in tourism for over a decade. She current heads Tourism North East, the regional tourism organisation charged with developing the long-term strategic vision for tourism in the High Country, North East Victoria. Prior to that she worked as the Director of Marketing, Sales & Business Development at Mt Buller,
Read more

Michael Naismith
Michael has over 20 years of experience in the outdoor industry. He has worked both locally and internationally instructing outdoor activities and managing programs. His focus in the last 10 years has been on the design and facilitation of programs with a therapeutic intention.
Read more

Sophie Bone
Sophie is joint owner with her husband, Tim, of BIG4 Bellarine Holiday Park, a 30-acre start-up venture in 2009. She spent the first 5 years in operations (alongside 15 staff) focused on two clear objectives – to drive revenue growth and to commit to a 100% digital marketing strategy with social currency at its core.
Read more
Sophie has now moved away from daily operations to focus on more strategic, longer term planning and property development across both BIG4 Bellarine and BIG4 Anglesea Holiday Parks in addition to accepting Social Media speaking engagements some of which include:
Social Media Tourism Symposium, Barossa Valley, South Australia –
“BIG4 Bellarine – A Social Case Study”
Awarded: Innovative Initiative Winner and Best Presentation Winner
Outback Queensland Tourism Symposium, Barcaldine, Queensland –
“Emotional Investment – the New Social Currency”
Tourism and Events Industry Development Conference, Townsville, Queensland – “Social Media – Maximising Engagement and ROI”
Prior to the BIG4 Bellarine development, Sophie founded Red Frog Copywriting, a start-up business working with Marketing and Advertising agencies crafting key messages and communications strategies.
Sophie started her professional career at Ballarat and Clarendon College as Head of the Senior English Department, after completing a Politics Major at The University of Melbourne followed by a Post Graduate Diploma of Education at Monash University.
Sophie currently sits on the BIG4 Holiday Parks of Australia Board as a Non Executive board member.
With four boys (Jack, Lachie, Ted and Max) aged between 8 and 13 years of age, Sophie is holding on for the ride!
Sophie welcomes the opportunity to join the Outdoors Victoria Board of Directors and being able to commit time to the interests of the group as dynamic, responsive, thought leaders within the outdoors sector.

Anthony Hall
Anthony joined the board in 2013 with a passion towards strengthening the outdoor education curriculum within schools. Anthony has been involved in outdoor education for over 20 years, having held the position of Managing Director of Hall’s Outdoor Education since 1994.
Read more

Richard Thornton
Richard has worked within the outdoor industry for over 25 years, working for small and large organisations around the world, including the YMCA, Outward Bound and The Prince’s Trust. He has been the Chief Executive Office for The Outdoor Education Group (OEG) since January 2016. Previously, Richard was Chief Executive at the UK Sailing Academy, Deputy Director at The Prince’s Trust and Operations Director of Fairbridge UK, a youth charity.