Dwane joined the Gema Group as Chief Operating Officer in 2020, bringing with him 28 years’ experience in event delivery, catering and kitchen operation. Dwane is a graduate of the Venue Management School as well as holding a Diploma in Commercial Cookery. Dwane has worked in some of the world’s best hotels, stadiums and venues with stints in London, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as a major presence here in Australia. Working for chains like Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Emirates, Intercontinental Hotels and the Savoy Group. Working his way up through the kitchen to become the Group Executive Chef before making the switch to food and beverage operations and management. Dwane is part of the executive management team and oversees Gema’s group day to day operations in all 3 functional areas of the groups venue management, major event delivery and aviation lounges. Managing a national workforce in excess of 5000 staff members across events like the Melbourne F1, Moto GP, V8 Supercars, APT cup tennis as well as venues like GIO stadium, Brookvale oval, Cbus Super stadium, Queensland County Bank stadium, Central Coast stadium and Pointsbets stadium, to name a few.
Dwane joined the Gema Group following eight years at the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW and Sydney Showground as the head of Catering & Customer Service. In his previous role Dwane managed the day to day operations of all event and non-event day catering and held the sites liquor licence. He has delivered 14 Sydney Royal Easter Shows, large scale music festivals and gala dinners for 2,500 people.