Meet the Team
BNI Adelaide North Regional team
Directors
Simone Douglas is the Executive Director for BNI Adelaide North, Publican & Licensee of the Duke of Brunswick Hotel, Co Founder of the Hospo Owners Collective and CEO of Social Media AOK.
A bestselling author with her first book “Seriously Social – turning your online game into real-world gain” and now her second book “The Confident Networker”
She is also Deputy President of the State Chapter Committee of the Franchise Council of Australia and serves on the franchise advisory council and the marketing advisory group for BNI Australia.
In her role on BNI Adelaide North’s member support team she is committed to ensuring that every member has the full support of the entire BNI Adelaide North Family so that their BNI Membership forms a successful element of their business growth strategy.
She does this in a number of ways not least of which by making meaningful connections within her network that create mutually beneficial outcomes for both the members and her wider community.
Consultants
Maria started Conveyancing while working at Hindmarsh Building Society after many years in the Banking industry and a short stint being self-employed. Throughout her 30+ years experience either in banking or conveyancing, Maria has gained a vast working knowledge and thorough understanding of many aspects of the conveyancing industry. This knowledge includes residential conveyancing, family transfers, deceased estates, business and commercial transactions, property division and community title applications. Maria also has extensive knowledge in Leasing and drafting Contracts for private sales.
Along with her understanding of conveyancing, Maria has a commitment to maintaining attention to detail, is consistently thorough, and always works to ensure her clients best interests are paramount. Maria enjoys meeting her clients and making sure their settlements are met on time. Maria speaks Italian (her dialect anyway).
Maria is a member of the Institute of Conveyancers and retains the accreditation of Certified Practicing Conveyancer (CPC). This accreditation is renewed annually and can only be renewed with continued professional development throughout the preceding year.
She is a member of BNI Elite
Michael Eid has been a Chiropractor since March 2012 and partner at The Chiropractic Works, Norwood since November 2016. He is passionate about helping optimise their health and performance, reduce injury risk and improve recovery.
He has been involved with BNI over the last 5 years holding various leadership team roles, and is always willing to lend a helping hand
He is a member of BNI Elite
Tom Hendrick is a Director of Talent Academy, a multi-award winning communication coaching business. Talent Academy provides coaching and multi-media services.
We help individuals and organisations achieve outcomes in every presentation or conversation.
Our clients include schools, universities, publicly listed companies, politicians, business owners and professionals. We are the in-house pitch consultants for Adelaide Uni ThincLab (Australia’s most successful business incubator), and have helped Australian entrepreneurs acquire more than $10million in funding.
We also use the latest technology for coaching and preparing presentations, including an artificial intelligence program that detects speaking habits (pacing, pauses, umm & ahhs, etc).
He is a member of BNI Elite
Michelle Forte is the Director of Eye Dropper Designs and a member of BNI Achievers, Adelaide North since 2017.
Michelle has a passion for creativity. This complements her role within Eye Dropper Designs – providing web design, graphic design, photography and video services to her clients.
Michelle enjoys living and breathing the givers gain philosophy and as a result, often finds herself as a role model and support for others within her BNI and broader networks. Within BNI, Michelle has enjoyed helping others through the Visitor Host Coordinator, Education Coordinator, Marketing Coordinator, Membership Committee member and President roles.
She is a member of BNI Elite
Bob Gloyn Photography has been providing Australian businesses with full time photography and videography services for the past five years. Based in Adelaide, Bob Gloyn Photography does not limit itself to just one city. Bob Gloyn Photography have customers across the country, from Brisbane to Melbourne and across to Perth.
Providing clients with a professional service using the latest in high-quality equipment, it’s common for Bobs customers to use his services again and again. Bobs customers realise the benefits his services, skills and the passion he provides them.
Bob Gloyn Photography provides its clients with Corporate, Commercial, Event Photography and Videography as well as live video streaming services. Bob is driven by his passion for all things photography. Producing results that exceed client expectations is his constant goal.
Bob Gloyn Photography moto is… “Your image is my focus”.
He is a member of BNI A-Team
Garry and his wife Mishi founded GESA Electrical in 2005, one of only 13 Gold Master Electricians and the only one in the northern suburbs.
Simon Latta is Director of Gilberts Accounting Pty Ltd, which he has owned and operated for 15 years, but prior to this he worked with the same firm as a Senior Accountant, all up for over 30 years.
Being with the same firm shows his commitment to tasks that he believes in. As a registered tax agent, application to rules in place is paramount.
For 9 years Simon filled most leadership roles within his previous chapter, which he co-founded. He also contributes further to BNI through his role as an Director Consultant to multiple chapters.
He always looks to apply a pro-active approach to ensure beneficial connections are made within his network.
He is a member of BNI Apex
Ambassadors
British born April Hobbs, has the type of lived experience of a thoroughly modern world traveller. April has lived and worked in the major economic powerhouses of London, Barcelona, Istanbul, Dubai and everywhere in between. With 25 years corporate sales and marketing experience, she is accustomed to leading high performance teams and is passionate about elevating brands.
Since arriving in South Australia in 2016, April has been determined to find a way to shine the spotlight on the city that recently claimed the fame of one of the world’s most liveable cities with the launch of INNOVATE™ Adelaide, a publishing ‘first’ which will showcase the innovation and entrepreneurship of the city she calls home and is on a mission to celebrate Australia’s innovation ecosystems – one city at a time.
April is also passionate about the NDIS sector and consults in the SDA (specialised disability accommodation space.
She is a member of BNI Storm
Alice founded Paliant Design, a graphic design studio based in Adelaide in 2008. She loves design and all the creative challenges it provides and has been honing her skills for over 20 years. Through this she has been fortunate to develop some incredible long-term relationships with her clients, ultimately becoming an extension of their team.
She is passionate about branding, the personality, functionality and how consistency plays a pivotal role. As we are surrounded by everything design, inspiration is everywhere.
Alice has been involved with BNI for a year and has served as visitor host, and currently is part of the membership committee for BNI A-Team.
Betty is the Owner of Beltana Conveyancing and is passionate in her role as a Registered and Certified Practising Conveyancer. She is also an active user of E-conveyancing and a PEXA certified user.
Betty specialises in all aspects of conveyancing including residential and commercial property transactions, various land divisions, family transfers, deceased estates, commercial leasing and private sale contracts.
Betty has over 25 years’ experience and active within the property industry and is a Quantum member of a professional real estate educational group.
Regular professional development training ensures Betty provides the most up-to-date expert advice for her clients in a professional and reliable manner ensuring a smooth and stress-free process. This is her number one priority to ensure her clients have all their property concerns addressed right up to settlement.
She is a member of BNI A-Team
Diala has been an Arbonne independent consultant since 2019,
After working as a radiographer in the medical field for 16 years, consulting as a holistic Ayurvedic consultant for 6 years, she finally found the perfect opportunity for her interest and skill sets.
Through her Arbonne business and primarily the monthly health program, she is able to help people flourish and discover a new level of well-being.
She’s passionate about empowering people with the right tools, techniques and products so they can feel confident in their bodies, have abundant energy, ageless glowing skin and be part of an uplifting community.
Her goal is to help as many people as possible have a healthy mind, strong body, beautiful skin & live well in a holistic manner
She is a member of BNI United
Mark Ferdinands – We all know him as Fonz!
Mark is the Managing Director of Cinderella’s Commercial Cleaning, a B2B cleaning company he started in 1990. A former sailor in Her Majesty’s Royal Australian Navy. Fonz also worked in Hotel Management for 13 years, but always had a burning desire to own his own business.
He was the Inaugural President of BNI A-Team and was the first BNI member in South Australia to be thanked for over $1 Million dollars of Closed Business to fellow BNI members.
Mark is the drummer in Adelaide party bands Planet Square and The Beach House Boys and once played to over 26,600 people at AAMI Stadium. He has an Australian Defence Medal and served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1992 to 2020.
He loves coffee so much, he has a café inside his cleaning supplies shop! So feel free to drop in anytime for a coffee, cake and a 1:2:1!
He is a member of A-Team.