The Geelong Cats Foundation has welcomed four new directors to the board, with Kate Betts, David Lamont, Catherine Middlemiss and Lyndsay Sharp joining current directors Barry Fagg (chair), Geelong Football Club president Craig Drummond and Robert Threlfall.
“Kate, David, Catherine and Lyndsay bring a passion for the club and the region to our Foundation board,” Geelong Cats Foundation chair Barry Fagg said.
“They are committed to the club and the community and have strong ties within the region. They will each have fresh ideas and we are all looking forward to the strong contribution that they will make to our Foundation in the coming years.”
Kate Betts has had over 20 years of experience in a range of senior roles in communications, community engagement, marketing and fundraising in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors.
Betts is the current Senior Advisor Communications and Engagement at Alcoa Australia and previously held roles at Give Where You Live Foundation, Westfield Geelong, and Melbourne Airport.
Betts holds a Bachelor Arts (Public Relations) from RMIT University. Is a graduate of the Leaders for Geelong (Committee for Geelong) program and has completed the Partnership Brokers Accreditation Scheme. She recently commenced a Master of Social Impact in August 2021.
Betts is dedicated to community development through many volunteering roles. She is currently Vice Chair of St Kilda Mums Inc after cofounding Geelong Mums in 2013 and has been a director on a number of not-for-profit boards across many years.
David Lamont is an accomplished CFO who has worked across a multitude of industries with an industrial or service angle with more than 30 years working in the financial sector.
Lamont has held the role of CFO at BHP since 2020. Prior to joining BHP, he was the CFO at CSL Limited from 2016 to 2020, and Executive Director and CFO at MMG Limited from 2010 to 2015. Lamont has been exposed across all aspects of finance within divisional management accounting and analysis, group financial reporting, treasury, investor relations, as well as leading the IT, legal, procurement and marketing/sales functions.
Lamont is a passionate Geelong person having grown up in the city and supported the club his entire life. David graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University in 1989.
David is very excited at the prospect to continue to honour the great past successes and to be part of celebrating the future through the work of the foundation as it continues to give back to the community which is such a mainstay of the culture and values of Geelong.
Proudly born and raised in Geelong, Catherine Middlemiss is a marketing, communications, and business development specialist.
With more than 16 years’ experience in the education sector including six years at Sacred Heart College in Geelong, Middlemiss knows what genuinely drives community engagement and how to identify trends and opportunities. Middlemiss enjoys the challenge of delivering a variety of business development activities that contribute to the growth of an organisation, especially the development and implementation of diversified fundraising strategies.
A life-long supporter of the Geelong Cats with strong family connections to the club, Middlemiss looks forward to joining the Foundation board and contributing to the growth of its vision and ambition to guide current operations and future development, building the foundation’s depth and reach in the community.
Middlemiss is a past chairman of the Signature Charity Foundation, a former Director of the Costa Foundation and a current Director and Vice President of the Geelong Chamber of Commerce. She holds a Master of Business Administration, Harvard Business School: Disruptive Strategy (2018) and Leading Change (2019) and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
With more than 35 years’ experience in journalism, marketing and public relations, Lyndsay Sharp heads up all things marketing, sales, and customer experience across four of the most dynamic ‘products’ on The Bellarine Peninsula – Jack Rabbit Vineyard, Flying Brick Cider Co, Leura Park Estate and Curlewis Golf Club.
Sharp holds a Master of Professional Communication (USQ) and Bachelor of Arts (Melbourne) degrees, and her fortes include marketing strategy, campaign direction and copywriting.
Sharp’s work history has included Senior Consultant with the Clemenger Group (HOLT PR), Journalist with Reed Publishing and Lecturer at RMIT and Deakin Universities. Lyndsay was the inaugural Publicist of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (1993, 94, 95).
The Geelong Cats Foundation is the philanthropic heart of our great club and provides an ongoing invitation to members, sponsors, supporters and the wider community to invest and partner to support our past, present and future.
