12 Fraternal and Service Club Leaders in Queensland

Queensland runs on volunteers who show up when nobody is watching. Behind every meal delivered, every scholarship funded and every veteran supported sits a structure of clubs, districts and lodges that someone has agreed to lead. Those roles rarely attract attention, yet they shape how a whole state gives.

This is a compiled guide to twelve people holding senior positions in Queensland fraternal and service organisations in August 2026. It reaches across veterans support, Lions, Rotary, Freemasonry, a historic Brisbane club and the country women of Queensland. Each entry names the office the person holds and something specific about the work behind it.

The list is not a ranking and it does not try to name everyone who matters. Service years in these organisations turn over on set dates, so the people below reflect the offices currently held. Read it as a map of where responsibility sits right now.

Why these leaders matter

Fraternal and service organisations carry a shared purpose across long distances and many small groups. A state president, a district governor and a grand master each hold a different part of that job. One sets direction for a whole membership, another connects dozens of clubs to a common plan, and a third protects tradition while keeping a community open to new people.

Understanding that structure helps anyone who wants to work with these groups. Councils, charities and businesses often approach a single club when the useful conversation sits one level up. The people below are usually where that conversation begins.

1. Stephen Day

State President, RSL Queensland

Major General Stephen Day DSC AM is State President of RSL Queensland, the organisation supporting veterans and their families across the state. He chairs a board that RSL Queensland describes as guiding the strategic direction of the organisation.

The office sits above a large service operation covering claims and advocacy, emergency financial support, housing and accommodation, bereavement support and employment help. It also sits above a district and sub branch network reaching from the Gold Coast to the Far North. Holding the strategy and the network together is the practical work of the role.

2. Cherisa Pearce

State Deputy President, RSL Queensland

Cherisa Pearce was elected State Deputy President of RSL Queensland at the 2026 State Congress and Annual General Meeting on 20 June 2026. She succeeded Wendy Taylor, who stepped down after her tenure in the role.

Her background is closely matched to the work. RSL Queensland records more than 20 years of Army experience spanning command, training, operational and strategic logistics appointments, including three deployments to Timor-Leste. She transitioned from military service in 2016.

That matters for an organisation whose members are moving through the same change. Someone who has made the transition herself brings a different kind of listening to the role.

3. Johnson Chen

District Governor, Lions District 201Q1

Johnson Chen is District Governor of Lions District 201Q1 for 2026 and 2027. He comes to the office from the Lions Club of Brisbane Chinese.

District 201Q1 covers clubs from Sunnybank, Capalaba and Redland City out to Stanthorpe and Tamborine Village. The district governor coordinates their service work, supports club membership and chairs a cabinet that includes a youth cabinet run by younger members with its own chair, treasurer and service portfolios.

A district leader drawn from a culturally specific club is a useful signal for any service organisation thinking about where its next generation of volunteers will come from.

4. Ed Morris

District Governor, Lions District 201Q2

Ed Morris of Ingham is District Governor of Lions District 201Q2 for 2026 and 2027. He also carries the district Global Action Team Leader role, which ties membership growth, service delivery and leadership development into a single plan.

District 201Q2 runs from Cairns and the Atherton Tableland down through Townsville, Mackay and the Whitsundays, then west to Mount Isa, Richmond and Hughenden. Eleven zones and dozens of clubs sit under that structure.

Leading a district of that size means much of the job is travel, phone calls and keeping small clubs connected to something larger than themselves.

5. Stuart Matthews

District Governor, Lions District 201Q3

Stuart Matthews is District Governor of Lions District 201Q3, the Brisbane based Lions district. His stated theme for the year is Growing Our Service, Shaping Our Future.

He has set four priorities behind that theme, covering growing clubs and service, empowering service, innovating to meet challenges and welcoming diversity. His own framing is that good service projects directed at the right groups of people are essential for future growth and success.

It is a clear statement of cause and effect. Service first and membership second, rather than the other way around.

6. Murray Wegner

District Governor, Lions District 201Q4

Murray Wegner is District Governor of Lions District 201Q4 for 2026 and 2027. He began his term after returning from the Lions International Convention in Hong Kong, succeeding Kerrie McMahon.

His district covers the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay, Burnett, central Queensland and central west communities. The district points to his long involvement in district projects and cabinet development, and to a commitment to empowering volunteers and building a resilient future for Lions.

Cabinet development is the least visible part of that record and often the most useful. It is how a volunteer organisation makes sure someone is ready for the next term.

7. Rita Zappulla

District Governor, Rotary District 9560

Rita Zappulla is District Governor of Rotary District 9560 for 2026 and 2027. She took the office from Greg Marlow, who now serves as Immediate Past District Governor.

The district is one of the largest in the Rotary world by area. Its Queensland clubs run from Maryborough in the south to Bamaga at the tip of Cape York, and the district also reaches west to Darwin and north to Timor-Leste, covering some 2.1 million square kilometres.

Under her year the district is running a monthly information webinar to help clubs with the practical side of running themselves. For clubs separated by thousands of kilometres, that is a sensible answer to a real problem.

8. David Gray

Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of Queensland

David Gray is Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland, which presides over Freemasonry in the state. He was initiated in Pine Rivers Lodge 511 in 1990 and served as its Worshipful Master in 1996.

He is a foundation member of the City of Logan Lodge 529 and served two terms as its Worshipful Master. Before becoming Grand Master he spent 12 years as a Grand Officer, from Grand Standard Bearer through to Assistant Grand Master, including four years as Grand Director of Ceremonies.

His working life ran through the steel industry, local government, manufacturing and healthcare. He also has more than 50 years in the pipe band fraternity as a competitive player, an accredited tutor and an adjudicator.

9. David Melville

Deputy Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of Queensland

David Melville APM ASM is Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland. He joined Freemasonry in Sir Wylie Norman Lodge No 79 in 1979 and progressed to Master in 1996.

His public service record is substantial. He joined the Commonwealth Police Force in 1976, moved to the Queensland Police Service in 1978 and rose to Assistant Commissioner of the South Eastern Police Region in 2003. He then served as Commissioner of the Queensland Ambulance Service from 2008 until his retirement in 2011.

He holds the Australian Police Medal and the Ambulance Service Medal, awarded in 1998 and 2011. Few fraternal leaders bring that depth of emergency services governance into the role.

10. Darryl Low Choy

Club President, United Service Club Queensland

Major General Darryl Low Choy AM MBE RFD is President of the United Service Club Queensland, a Brisbane club founded in 1892 and now on Wickham Terrace. His military career began as an Army school cadet and reached command of the 7th Brigade.

Outside the club he is a Board Member and Director of the Society of Australian Genealogists and President of the Chinese Australian Historical Society. He is also Patron of the Queensland Military Historical Society.

He chairs the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation Land and Sea Management Committee. That is work which connects a heritage service club to contemporary land and sea management.

11. Michael Bond

Vice President, United Service Club Queensland

Brigadier Michael Bond CSC and Bar is Vice President of the United Service Club Queensland. He is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland whose public sector career included senior positions in the Commission for Children and Young People, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, and the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services.

He served 38 years in the Australian Army as a part time member, with four operational tours. He was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 2012 for his leadership of the 9th Battalion, The Royal Queensland Regiment, and a Bar to that award in 2017 for enhancing the operational outcomes of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. He retired in 2022 as Director General Reserves.

He is also a Director on the board of Queensland Water and Land Carers and a Fellow of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group.

12. Tamara Stephensen

State President, Queensland Country Women's Association

Tamara Stephensen is State President of the Queensland Country Women's Association, which describes itself as a strong voice for rural and regional women. She has been a member since 2000.

The association works across advocacy, its Country Kitchens health programme, a crisis relief fund, student bursaries and international activities. Its branch network reaches into towns where it is often the most organised community group in the district.

Her own case for membership is about connection as much as service. She describes the association as a network of women from all walks of life, bound together by a shared commitment to improving their communities.

Conclusion

Three things stand out across this group. The first is scale. A Lions or Rotary district in Queensland can be larger than most European countries, and the people leading them spend their year holding together clubs that may never meet each other.

The second is turnover by design. Service years end, offices pass on and immediate past leaders stay close enough to help. That constant handover is a feature rather than a weakness, and it explains why cabinet development and succession planning keep appearing in the way these leaders describe their own priorities.

The third is the crossover between public service and voluntary service. Police commissioners, army officers, solicitors and teachers keep turning up in these roles. People who have spent a career in duty tend to keep going, and the organisations they join are better for it.

If you lead a team that depends on volunteers, members or partners rather than direct reports, the same lessons apply. Clarity about purpose travels further than authority.

About the Author

Jonno White is a keynote speaker, leadership consultant and author of Step Up or Step Out. He is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, a framework created by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. Jonno is based in Brisbane and works with schools, organisations and leadership teams around the world.

Related Reading

If you want a wider view of how leadership works across public service organisations, our guide to 34 Outstanding Emergency Services Leaders in ANZ covers the people running fire, ambulance and emergency management across the region. For a different sector view of the same theme, see our list of Key Nursing Leaders in Australia and New Zealand.

I work with leadership teams who are trying to hold a shared purpose together across many locations and many volunteers. If that is the problem in front of you, email jonno@consultclarity.org or visit Consult Clarity and tell me what your team is wrestling with.