Our Board
John Poynton AO CitWa
Non-Executive Chairperson
John Poynton is a company director and philanthropist, and one of Perth’s most prominent and successful investment bankers and corporate advisors, with decades of advisory and capital markets experience across equity, debt, infrastructure and property.
In parallel with his career as an investment banker, John has also been an active non-executive director of ASX-listed companies, government and education bodies and not-for-profit organisations.
John is executive chair of Poynton Stavrianou Pty Ltd and non-executive chair of Strike Energy and Sapien Cyber Ltd. He is also a non-executive director of Perth Airport Pty Ltd.
John has served as a director on the boards of ASX, Multiplex, Alinta and Austal, and for the Federal Government he has been a director of EFIC, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board and the Higher Education Endowment Fund. He spent 10 years as a Guardian of Australia's sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund. In the not-for-profit arena, John has chaired the Council of Christ Church Grammar School and was a long-standing board member of the Business School at the University of WA. John has also served as chair of Celebrate WA, Giving West and the Foundation of the WA Museum.
In 2006 John was the recipient of the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in the Industry and Commerce category and in 2016 he was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
Aaron McDonald
Executive Director
Aaron McDonald is the founder and Managing Director of Pragma Lawyers, an award-winning Perth dispute resolution and litigation firm.
Aaron graduated from the University of Western Australia and completed his articles of clerkship with a commercial law firm before spending 5 years at a major international law firm in its Litigation and Dispute Resolution Division.
Aaron lectures to law and business students at a tertiary level. He also gives presentations to members of the legal profession on areas of law of interest to him (most recently including mediation and best practice dispute resolution).
Aaron holds a Masters of Laws from the University of Western Australia and sits on the Courts Committee of the Law Society of Western Australia.
In 2017, he founded the Subiaco Justice Centre and sits on its Board as Chair.
Sophia Kailis
Executive Director
Sophia is an experienced director, founder and commercial lawyer.
Sophia graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts, having spent a year abroad studying International Law at the University of Vienna. She has extensive experience in commercial litigation and business advisory, with a particular interest in intellectual property and technology.
Sophia sits on the Board of the Association of Litigation Funders of Australia. She is also the Deputy Chair of Sussex Street Community Law Service, an independent non-profit community service established in 1978 which provides legal services, advocacy and wrap-around services to persons in need. Through her various business operations, she provides further and regular support to the non-profit and communities sector in Western Australia.
John Bell
Director & Company Secretary
John Bell is a partner at accounting firm Hall Chadwick and responsible manager for Australian Financial Services License holder Pendragon Capital Limited. He is an experienced Chief Financial Officer having been CFO of a number of listed and unlisted entities, as well as having been advisor to numerous corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, IPO, RTO, capital raisings and debt funding. John brings a wealth of financial and operational knowledge from over 20 years as a Chartered Accountant and has extensive commercial experience across a range of industries both in Australia and internationally.