About The Chamber
The Chamber is a non-profit association which represents the Hawkesbury’s business and industrial communities and provides a wide range of benefits and services to help improve your business.
Networking
The Chamber gives members the opportunity to network with other businesses in the Hawkesbury. Get to know the people who work around you on a personal basis, exchange ideas and promote your business.
Informative Speakers
Our monthly breakfast meetings host informative guest speakers with advice on a broad range of topics aimed at helping your business.
Advice
The Chamber offers advice on issues important to your business including industrial relations, employment awards and OH&S issues via the NSW Business Chamber.
Community Links
Have your say in what’s happening in your community. The Chamber is your direct link to Council and your local Members of Parliament. By joining with other members we have a strong, united voice in issues that affect Hawkesbury businesses.
Chamber Staff
The friendly and professional Chamber Executives are available to help you use the combined experience, knowledge and networks of other members of the Hawkesbury business community.
Workshops
We often host workshops and seminars for our Members aimed at specific areas of Business with experts in their field presenting to our audience.
Meet our Executive Committee
Our friendly and professional Chamber Executive Team are available to help you use the combined experience, knowledge and networks of other members of the Hawkesbury business community.
Gabrielle Benkovich – President
As president of the Hawkesbury Valley Chamber of Commerce I see Hawkesbury as a tight-knit community that is supportive and passionate about small business.
My vision for our town is to empower, educate and advocate for the vibrant small business community that makes Hawkesbury unique. This will enable business owners to flourish and for the Chamber to provide them with the resources they need to grow. We also will assist them in navigating the challenges but leveraging their strengths. By facilitating connections between businesses, forging partnerships, and offering valuable educational resources, the Chamber will become a catalyst for innovation and prosperity.
Together with the Executive team we can ensure that small businesses not only survive but thrive and as a result, become the backbone of a vibrant and resilient economy.
Personal information:
I am a Director, a wife to a wonderful and supportive husband and a mother to two beautiful children (Luke and Hayley). I savour family time and we always prioritise spending time together, creating amazing memories.
Like my husband I am also a motorsport fanatic, love cars and tearing up the Motokhana racetrack. There is nothing like navigating a circuit – a challenge for the mind and an adrenaline rush at the same time!
Trent McMillen – Vice President
Born and bred in the beautiful Hawkesbury, I got involved in the Chamber to give back to the area I grew up in, and still reside at, with my extended family.
With a goal to expand the Chamber by improving its capacity to help local businesses learn, network, advocate and grow, I stood for election with our President Gabrielle to hopefully make life that little bit easier for Hawkesbury businesses.
Practising my whole career of 20+ years exclusively in insolvency and business rescue, I’ve assisted over 1,000+ businesses in all levels of debt distress across all manner of industries. Seeing struggling businesses turn around and thrive again is the most rewarding part of our work.
And with such services being located almost exclusively in capital city CBDs, I am particularly proud to have established MaC Insolvency’s practice locally at Windsor and Penrith. We also have a strong culture of educating businesses and business advisors how best to help their clients, so joining the Chamber and being able to put back into my local business community was a no brainer.
Outside of work I’m a 30+ year golfing member at Richmond GC and keenly await the Parramatta Eels to win another NRL premiership.
Angela Gauci – Secretary
I have lived in the Hawkesbury all my life and love our region. I am especially interested in ways to support local producers and small businesses in our community, so I am glad to take on the role of Secretary of the Hawkesbury Chamber.
I see Chamber’s position to provide opportunities, support, education and advocacy to help businesses become more resilient, build connections and grow.
Together with the others on the Executive team, I look forward to bringing this to our members and expand the Chamber itself to support even more business and champion all that makes Hawkesbury great!
My own business Aster HR operates from the Hawkesbury, supporting other businesses in their journey of employing staff by providing personalised guidance to overcome challenges, provide clarity and assurance.
Deborah Shepherd – Executive Committee
Deborah Shepherd CEO, Cancer Wellness Support, which provides affordable and accessible complementary care for individuals and their families living with cancer. Being a community-led, purpose driven not for profit organisation, it is self-funded and covers the Blue Mountains, Nepean and Hawkesbury area.
Prior to this appointment, she held global executive leadership roles, built organisations within the wealth management industry, and headed up businesses focussed on access, education and the advancement of the wellness industry.
As a qualified wellness practitioner, she has personally supported many people through her services of energy healing, Reiki and aromatherapy. While also creating a purpose-driven community, who educated the general public on the benefits of complementary health through their experiential and innovative events.
She is widely known across the industry and broader community for her commitment to developing the professionalism and accessibility of the wellness sector.
Having spent her first years of married life in the Hawkesbury, there is a sense of nostalgia reconnecting via the Chamber and looks forward to contributing and being part of the community.
When not working and driving, spends time with her husband. Be it working in the garden, grabbing a bite to eat at a beach café or spending a lazy afternoon with a glass of bubbles in front of a fire.
Tracey Graham – Executive Committee & Administration
I am excited to take on the Administration role for The Chamber so I can assist in providing opportunities for support. Education and growth, by building connections for small businesses.
Although I am new to the Hawkesbury and have fallen in love with the region, I love the support and passion that our local community shares.
I run my own Virtual Assistant business “Admin With Ease” from within the Hawkesbury with the purpose of assisting the small to medium business owner by supporting, sorting and simplifying the growth of their business.
Robert McMaster – Executive Committee
Currently Chairperson for the BlueTongue Cooperative Development Network, which promotes and advocates for more employee-owned cooperatives. My other role within Hawkesbury is that of a business chaplain, supported by Greater West for Christ.
I am actively involved in Hawkesbury Valley Baptist Church and Scouting, which has always been part of my life. I am currently a member of the Hawkesbury Blackhorse Scout Fellowship.
A toolmaker tradesman, a production engineer, then employed in the family business as General Manager for 27 years. I retrained in Chaplaincy Pastoral Care before transitioning the family business to all our employees to retire. Lived and raised a family in Glossodia over the past 44 years.
Looking forward to continuing with my voluntary chaplaincy work by being present to listen, providing support and encouragement, care and assistance, praying if requested and empowering business owners.
My support of the Chamber as a Welfare Officer is based on my biblical understanding of humanity.
Nick Belgrove – Executive Committee
Bio not yet available
Shai Kowalski – Executive Committee
Shai is an accomplished sales, learning and development professional and Business Relationships Manager for The Epiphany Group and The Change Network.
With The Epiphany Group, Shai has managed the operations and advisory of ‘Business Connect’, a government-funded programme that provides tailored and trusted advice to help start, adapt, grow, and manage small to medium sized businesses across NSW. Shai collaborates closely with clients to understand their unique challenges, tailor support to their specific requirements, and manage the delivery of programmes, group and executive coaching, HR and marketing services.
Shai is dedicated to assisting clients in achieving their objectives by focusing on performance improvement, delivering tangible results, and fostering long-term business revenue growth and efficiencies.
The Change Network is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO No: 90299) helping people and businesses make positive career and development changes. The Change Network works with but is not limited to industries such as council, construction, engineering and hospitality, with fee-for-service programs and government-subsidised courses across Greater Sydney and regional NSW delivering qualifications in Leadership & Management, Workplace Health & Safety, Business, HR, Project Management and Hospitality Management.