Your Board of Directors
GEOFF WENT, PRESIDENT
Geoff has been on the Railways for 30 years, having joined as an apprentice fitter in 1985. He has worked in numerous locations as a fitter working on passenger and freight rolling stock. He is currently employed as a Safety Professional in Customer Service. He joined the Institute in 1985 and joined the NSWRI Bowling Association in 1992, and was selected for his first lawn bowls carnival in 1994. He was elected to the NSWRIBA committee in 1994 and became the secretary in 2000 and did this job for 11 years. Geoff was elected to the Board in 2009. Geoff was elected as President in December 2024.
ROBERT (Bob) RITCHIE, VICE PRESIDENT
In 1998, Bob finished a long and successful career in the Railways, beginning as an apprentice Fitter/Machinist in 1970 and finishing as a Senior Office SO3. Accomplished in Business Manager with qualifications for Financial, Commercial and Project Management, Industrial Quality and Technology Management with Systems, Quality Auditing, Systems Training and managing skills in Business Excellence. Bob came to the Institute in May 1999 as the temporary Manager/Secretary; in September that year, he was appointed by the Board to the position. He became a member of the Institute in 1970 and has been actively involved with the Billiards and Snooker Club from 1983 to date. Elected Team Manager for the inaugural Billiards/Snooker Interstate Team of 1985 and has held that position and been a team player for 22 competitions to date. Bob presently holds the position of Secretary/Treasurer of the club since his appointment in 1986 and has been instrumental in organising Interstate Competitions for 25 years. Bob retired as Manager of the Institute in July 2018 and was elected to the board in 2019. Bob was elected as Vice President in December 2024.
GILLIAN GEORGE, TREASURER
Gillian started working in the rail industry in 1982. Her first position was with State Rail Authority, working in the MIS branch; from there she was promoted to the Finance branch. Later, Gillian went on to study and complete her Human Resources Management Certificate, enabling her promotion to Personnel Officer within Corporate Personnel Services. Over the years, she has been involved in numerous projects for HR, from system upgrades to workforce profiles for the Premiers Department and more recently, in her current position as a Senior Subject-Matter Expert within the Enterprise Resource Planning group (ICT), implementing a Training Competency and Management System. This exhaustive and diverse project experience has given her the valuable opportunity to hone her interpersonal skills, giving her the ability to communicate effectively at all levels within the organisation. She is on the board of directors for the Railway Institute, a position she has successfully held for the last 9 years. Being the first female to join the board has enabled her to not only influence the approach and thinking of the board but allowed her to take on the primary role as an effective conduit between the board and its members. Gillian's personal interests include sailing, motorbike riding and swimming. Gillian was elected Treasurer in December 2024.
KENNETH (Ken) RAINFORD, BOARD MEMBER
Ken started with the Railways in 1960 as Apprentice Electrical Fitter and progressed to Electrical Instrument Maker and Tester at Strathfield Testing Laboratory in 1964. In 1970, he was appointed as Senior Foreman in charge of Instrument Repair Staff, responsible for NATA testing of departmental and external customer’s electrical instruments.
In 1971, Ken with other railway employees established the First Pistol Club in Australia through the Institute (The Railway Institute Pistol Club), of which he was the President for the first three years. He was elected as Secretary of the Club in 1974, a position he has held to this day.
Ken retired after 44 years of continuous service with the Railways in 2005. He has been a member of the Institute Board since 2003 till present. Ken was re-elected to the board in November 2024.
PETER NICHOLSON, BOARD MEMBER
Peter started his Railway career in 1981 as a Clerical Officer, advancing to be a Senior Finance Officer with City Rail before leaving in 1998. He re-joined rail in 1999 during the recruitment drive for the Olympics and currently works at Team Leader at Central, where he was in charge of station and Passenger Information throughout the country terminals.
Peter became an Institute member in 1982; by 1990 he took an active interest in playing golf and in 1991 was selected to represent the Institute at his first Golf Carnival in Western Australia. This involvement and love of the game saw him nominated and elected as the NSWRI Golf Association Secretary (1992) and later in that year was elected to the Institute Sports Board, a position he held up, until taking redundancy (1998).
On re-employment back with rail, Peter immediately took up an active role in golf again by assisting, organising and hosting golf events and interstate carnivals, a role he still performs to date. In 2007, Peter was nominated and was elected onto the committee of the new NSWRI board and held the position of Vice President until December 2015. Peter was re-elected to the board in November 2024.
REG AGAR, BOARD MEMBER
Station support officer based at Central station for the past 24 years.
My railway career began on Melbourne Cup day 1984. I have worked in various roles over the years, including overhead gantry driver and forklift driver for freight rail. Moved into an administrative role as a revenue protection officer for freight rail, which required me to travel around the state auditing all the freight centres. I joined city rail in 1999, working at town hall station for 12 months, then moved to revenue based at Blacktown station.
I then moved to special events based at Central before joining the alternate transport team also based at Central, before finally becoming a station support officer at Central, my current role.
Outside of work, I have been involved with local soccer for the past 40 years. I was the vice president of Auburn FC before moving to the club secretary role until 2023. I am now the club photographer, which I enjoy immensely. I also do some corporate photography for Sydney Trains.
I am married with two boys. My youngest son is also in the job as a train guard with Sydney Trains.
I have two grandchildren with whom I spend a lot of time.
My interests: live music, movies, driving to country towns in my 1962 VW Beetle, spending time with family and friends and, of course, photography.
Future plans involve travelling a bit more while I can and deciding on where to retire, which is not easy with so many great places to choose from.
Reg was first elected to the board in 2022, and re-elected in November 2024
MARK SMITH, BOARD MEMBER
Mark was elected to the board in November 2024.