Our Board

Barbara King

Chair and Non-Executive Director

Barbara brings a diverse range of people leadership, legal, governance and operational skills and experience to Can Too, having had nearly 30 years in senior legal and management roles in a variety of global organisations. After qualifying at Clifford Chance London as an environmental then project finance lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright and King & Wood Mallesons, and following several years at Rothschild Australia (including as a merchant banker), she has worked inhouse in highly regulated industries, including mining and aged care. Barbara is currently a senior lawyer for a dual-listed biotechnology company based in Australia and the USA.  

Prior to becoming Can Too’s Board Chair, she was Can Too’s Deputy Chair, Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, and also Company Secretary from 2016-19. As a member of the Board Research Investment Committee, in 2021 she worked with Cancer Australia on a grant funding review.  

Having worked with boards for over 12 years and completed the AICD Company Directors course (with an Order of Merit). she is passionate about the role good governance and leadership plays in setting up organisations, people and communities for success. Her pro bono leadership experience includes as Deputy Chair and Head of Governance for an award winning NFP management consultancy, a Director for May Gibbs’ Nutcote Trust, mentoring young lawyers for the NSW Law Society, in Scouts and schools and currently as a patrolling member of Elouera Surf Life Saving Club. She advocates for diversity & inclusion for its own sake, as well as helping to optimise decision-making. 

Barbara was drawn to Can Too by the tremendous energy and good will of its inspirational people, and the amazing success it has had in transforming lives. She is inspired by the brilliance of the early-career cancer researchers supported by Can Too, and by the every-day bravery of pod participants taking themselves outside their limits.  Barbara is a keen ocean swimmer with the Mighty Souths pod and is loving the new surf ski program. 

Jeffrey Cohn

Non-Executive Director

Jeffrey has thirty-five years experience in the medical research of nutrition and cardiovascular disease.  He was an Assistant Professor at Tufts University in Boston and an Associate Professor at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal.  Most recently he was Group Head of the Nutrition Group at the Heart Research Institute at Sydney University.  His research focussed on nutraceuticals and their ability to protect against coronary artery disease.  He has many years of experience sitting on grant review committees for government bodies in Canada and Australia. 

Jeffrey is interested in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians. He is passionate about sustaining the role that Can Too plays in encouraging individuals to attain their full physical and mental potential.  He fully supports the funding of early career cancer researchers, who work long and hard with little recognition to provide beneficial outcomes for society.   

Jeffrey has been a Can Too participant for over six years. and has enjoyed the many challenges of running, trekking, cycling and swimming events.  He is also very enthusiastic about the role that the Can Too Circle can play in supporting the sustainability of the Can Too Foundation. 

 

Sarv Girn

Non-Executive Director

Sarv is a senior executive and non-executive director with a career spanning more than 30 years in the financial services sector in Australia, the UK and Asia. He has a proven track record in driving business change enabled by digital platforms for service, productivity, innovation and revenue goals. 

He is currently the Chief Information Officer at the I-MED Radiology Network. Previously, he was the Chief Information Officer of the Reserve Bank of Australia between 2012 and 2018; and has also undertaken senior strategic and transformational roles at Cuscal Payments, MLC Life Insurance, Westpac, and the Commonwealth Bank. 

Sarv holds a Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) degree from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Reserve Bank Health Society. 

Sarv has a passion for helping people to transform their careers by guiding them to achieve more than they thought they could through self-development, mentoring, coaching and sponsorship.?? He aims to use this expertise to increase the impact Can Too has in the lives of Australians through a focus on health and wellbeing in the community and broader corporate world. 

Andrea Tustin

Non-Executive Director

Andrea noticed the happy, supportive orange people at many running events so decided to join the Can Too Swim Program in 2009 as an alternative to long distance running. Following her own brush with cancer in 2013 (stage 2 melanoma), she became a Can Too Swim Mentor and later Team Captain. 

The qualified accountant is a graduate of the Institute of Company Directors.  Her experience includes accountancy roles at Deloitte followed by commercial finance roles in South Africa and London. In Sydney, Andrea was Group Accountant for Dymocks Book Stores, Finance Director for Gambro, a multinational medical devices company,and Chief Financial Officer at  Business NSW, Corum Group (Software Development), Southern Cross Care (Aged Care), and Nextt Group (Disability Provider) . Andrea is currently Chief Financial Officer Of Uniting Synod of NSW/ACT. She also served as a Non Executive Director and Company Secretary of Take 3, a NFP aiming to reduce plastic pollution on our beaches and waterways, and is currently a Non Executive Director of Aruma, a large Disability Provider 

Andrea is a specialist in business transformation to leverage commercial opportunities, whilst ensuring best practice corporate governance. 

Due to her love of sport including long distance running and swimming (thanks to Can Too), soccer, skiing and diving, Andrea also qualified as a fitness professional, with a special interest in training older people and those managing injuries.  

Anke Timm

Non-Executive Director

As a philanthropic Executive, Board Director and Facilitator, Anke has empowered and connected individuals, teams, organisations and causes for collective impact for more than 25 years across social impact projects in Europe and Australia, including the not-for-profit sector, creative industries, venture philanthropy and impact investment. 

As part of her portfolio, Anke  provides bespoke consultancy services through her company Askoholics Pty Ltd to the not-for-profit sector, recently worked with Human Rights Watch in an Australian and global context, and was  the Chief Executive for Bridging Hope Charity Foundation with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Sydney, providing leadership and direction across strategic, fundraising and investment outcomes in mental health and the arts. A graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Oxford Executive Leadership Program, Anke describes herself as a curious learner, with a strong interest in human rights advocacy. She is passionate about social innovation and inclusion, and major societal change by creating sustainable social cohesion programs and enterprises, leaning on the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

As a breast cancer survivor, Anke believes in "prevention before intervention", and in engaging with diverse communities to activate participation with attention to individual needs. Can Too’s success in connecting participants deeply on a human level, and in energising their environments, resonates strongly with Anke. She joined Can Too’s Board in 2021 with the aim to support  sustainable growth initiatives and embrace current complexities and challenges with knowledge, resilience and compassion. 

 

Ben Buckingham

Non-Executive Director

Ben has been doing Can Too programs for the last 15 years as a participant and Can Too mentor, completing marathons, half-marathons and swims. Whilst Ben is a keen runner, doing the Big Swim program was the first time that he really lived the Can Too ethos and pushed himself out of his (psychological!) comfort zone. 

Ben is the founder of Primary, a software company focused on helping companies manage payments and treasury. Ben started his career as a banking and finance lawyer at Allens and worked at McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant, before joining a start up - Identitii - as their Chief Product Officer to help reduce financial crime and promote inclusion in financial services. 

Ben is passionate about supporting early-stage cancer research and the impact Can Too has on reducing the need for talented researchers to leave Australia to get funding. Ben is also passionate about bringing practical problem solving to help grow Can Too's impact on the community by driving positive health outcomes.