Andrew Forrest Founding Director, Australian Children’s Trust

Andrew Forrest founded the Australian Children's Trust (the Trust) in 2001 with his wife Nicola. Andrew’s commitment to helping underprivileged children is well known and he has been at the forefront of initiating programs for the benefit of children across Australia. He is the primary funder of the Trust and a central driver of the philosophy to help people in the long term - not simply short term relief but to assist people to gain the skills to help themselves; the fishing rod, not the fish. Having grown up within and around indigenous communities, his philosophy expresses itself strongly in the national indigenous, employers and government partnership of the Australian Employment Covenant with the goal of establishing 50,000 jobs. In his business life, Andrew created two great Australian companies from scratch that now employs many thousands of Australians and has trained and employed many hundreds of indigenous people. As CEO of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG), the company grew from start up to a market capitalisation of over A$8 billion. The companies he founded are now important suppliers to the world’s steel industry of iron ore, nickel and cobalt metal. They own and operate large plants fed from major mines unknown to Australia until they were discovered by his geologists. In FMG’s case, these discoveries are serviced by newly established port and railway systems that operate throughout the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Andrew was CEO and Deputy Chairman of Minara Resources, director Australia’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy and Chairman of Athletics Australia. He currently serves as Chairman of explorer Poseidon Nickel and founder of the Australian Employment Covenant. He has received the Australian Centenary Medal and the Australian Sports medal as well as multiple global finance awards but insists his toughest job is raising his kids.

Nicola Forrest Founding Director, Australian Children’s Trust

Nicola was one of the founders of the Australian Children's Trust (the Trust) and over the last five years has been instrumental in assisting many deserving organisations through the Trust’s grant process. Nicola serves on the Management Committee of the Trust and invests tirelessly, empowering organisations and individuals to improve the lives of children in Australia, including indigenous and outback communities. Nicola believes that it is the right of all children to be nurtured, to dream, to aspire and to develop well beyond what their current circumstances may allow. Nicola is particularly interested in early intervention and resilience building both disadvantaged children and communities. She feels privileged to have the opportunity to work with leaders in their chosen fields and feels the Trust’s greatest advantage is its ability to draw people and organisations together creating an holistic solution for community issues. Nicola’s 25-year career spans the leadership, management and administration of charitable, retail and financial organisations after graduating from CAE, now Canberra University in 1981 (Bachelor of Arts, Economics major). Nicola is a director of the Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) which is one of Australia’s preeminent community-based research organisations, dedicated to the fields of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Medicine. WIRF has a close working relationship with King Edward Memorial Hospital which is the sole tertiary level prenatal centre for Western Australia, and the School of Women’s and Infants’ Health of the University of Western Australia. Nicola also supports young performing artists and serves as a director of Sculpture by the Sea, the not for profit organisation which brings free to the public the international sculpture exhibition to Bondi and Cottesloe beaches each year.