Date:     Friday 28 November 2025

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Time:     10.00am – 11.00am (AEDT)

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Place:    Parkinson’s NSW, 51 Wicks Road, Building 17, North Ryde NSW
Members may choose to attend online and can register their attendance by clicking the button below. If you are attending the AGM in person please call Parkinson’s NSW (02) 8051 1900 to register. 

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Stephen Schiemer

Stephen Schiemer was member elected to the Board of Parkinson’s NSW in October 2018.

I have sat on the Board of Parkinson’s NSW for the last six years and would like the opportunity to again sit on the Board as a Director for another three-year term. I continue to have a strong and personal belief in Parkinson’s NSW purpose and mission. I have helped and watched this organisation grow in this time due to the forward-thinking management team.

Having Parkinson’s and have benefited from the services provided by Parkinson’s NSW through lnfoline, the Education team and the PD Fit exercise initiative. I will continue to advocate for those people living with Parkinson’s and their carers to use these valuable and expanding services, and continue to help fundraise for these services to continue as we continue to raise our awareness and get some continued funding from government bodies.

During my term on the Board, I have been an active member of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee as well as a Director of the Australian Parkinson’s Alliance (The Trust) of which I have attended all meetings.

Both of these committees evaluate the financial and risks of the Charity and the Trust which I have witnessed their continued growth over the last three years.

I am a natural leader who is also happy to work as part of a team to achieve the targets set as part of the role as Director of Parkinson’s NSW. I would have no hesitation in undertaking continued professional development in my role as a Director in knowing that the professionalism of Parkinson’s NSW continues.

I graduated from Charles Sturt University in 1989 with a BA in Business and held the position of Managing Director my own lucrative business for nine years in the UK before deciding to return to Australia following my Parkinson’s diagnosis. Our business required a large amount of strategic planning and dealing with large corporations.

Finance, risk and process were part of my everyday business, ensuring my business remained safeguarded and a quality-controlled organisation. My strategic planning and implementation of processes enabled my business to survive and increase sales through the GFC whilst in the UK. Stakeholder management was a key that led to the success of my business and is also the key to my success here in Australia since returning and running my Personal Training business, PD Boxfit.

I have a comprehensive understanding of the requirements and essential needs for an organisation to be digitally skilled. I have built websites, digital advertisements, marketing campaigns, and policies relating to all aspects of business together with marketing through multiple mediums required for complex marketing strategies.

For the last 7 years I have dedicated myself to helping people with Parkinson’s to reap the benefits of exercise to help them better cope with their condition and perhaps even reverse some of their symptoms.

I have previously managed multiple staff in various roles and capacities to ensure each part of the business was performing to its best.

My passion is being able to make a real difference to a clients’ life and have that client walk away from their interaction with me, and the organisation that I represent, feeling that their expectations have not only been met, but also exceeded.

Martin Ostrowski

Martin is renominating for his 2^nd term as a director of Parkinson’s NSW.

Martin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and has a long family history with the disease.   He has first-hand experience of the positive impact that education and integrated care can have on the long term outcomes for people living with Parkinson’s and their families. Martin is an active participant in several support groups enabled by Parkinson’s NSW (Belrose, Inner West and Young Onset online meetings). He is a regular speaker at the Parkinson’sNSW ‘newly diagnosed’ workshops and recently initiated a support group on Norfolk Island. Martin Lives on the northern fringe of Sydney and has ample access to health services. He recognizes the importance of peer support is committed to ensuring that people living in rural and remote areas have the same level of access to care.

Martin Ostrowski is an accomplished Marine scientist with over 20 years of experience working in the Tertiary Education sector. He has supervised more than 20 Masters by Research or Doctorate students. He is an effective and experienced educator and science communicator capable of sharing his skills and knowledge with students, colleagues and the general public. His research has been published in more than 80 peer-reviewed articles in esteemed international journals. He has highly developed advocacy and collaboration skills and is adept at coordinating regional interests for national benefit. Over the past decade he has held numerous leadership and governance roles which attest to his practical skills and experience covering the core competencies listed above.

Around the time he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Martin was the co-founder and Deputy Director of a multidisciplinary Marine Research Centre spanning five disciplines. The centre created a critical mass in marine science at Macquarie University by enabling a large population of early career researchers to share their ideas and skills and to collaborate. This bottom-up approach successfully generated momentum, innovation and recognition at the National level. Martin has served on the National Marine Science Committee representing one of three Tertiary Education Institutions invited to this peak body.

Martin has some limited experience with philanthropic funding but does have extensive experience writing proposals for competitive funding programs. During his research career Martin has secured over $3 million of funding for research from funding agencies in Australia and the UK and over $7 million to support oceanographic expeditions and national infrastructure projects. Over the past decade he has held several key governance roles and taken proactive roles in planning, implementation, quality control and delivery of projects for broad national benefit on behalf of non-Profit agencies. For example, in 2012 he co-founded and led the development a national microbial observatory. Over the past decade he has served on various working groups and committees overseeing the sustained development and delivery of the resource to a broad audience.

Martin has a good understanding of AICD principles and is willing to apply for a scholarship to attend an AICD NFP accredited course. Martin has sustained strong links and cultivated mutual benefits with several science NFPs over the past decade, including key science infrastructure agencies (Bioplatforms Australia, the Integrated Marine Observing System and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science). On behalf of these organisations Martin has presented to national and international audiences, served in governance roles for national collaborative programs and helped the develop and implement strategies to broaden engagement in line with the values of national research infrastructure.