Patron and Board Members

Mr Blanch joined WA Police in 2018 as an Assistant Commissioner after serving with Victoria Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

Mr Blanch has served as a Deputy Commissioner in the WA Police Force for the past three years, overseeing key portfolios including Gang Crime, Homicide, Organised Crime, and State Intelligence. Over almost 30 years of law enforcement, Mr Blanch has held several high-profile roles including Chair of the WA State Emergency Coordination Group, Former Executive Director of Intelligence for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and Australian Crime Commission State Manager for Victoria.

Mr Blanch has a drive to make life safer for every member of our community, a dedication to duty and a commitment to frontline Police Officers. He possesses a wealth of experience and a fierce work ethic.

Geoffrey Stooke AM CitWA was endorsed as the new Chair of WA PCYC at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting held on 7 November 2018. He succeeded outgoing President, Dr Sue Gordon AM, who provided distinguished service to the organisation from 2012.

Geoffrey is the Managing Director of Standard Wool Investments Pty Ltd (previously Standard Wool Australia Pty Ltd) and has held this position since 1996. He has previously held senior positions in the fishing, food and resources industries and his early career was as a commissioned officer in the Australian Regular Army, which included service in Australia and overseas.

He currently holds several directorships - a number as Chair. Previous directorships include Chairman of RugbyWA (23 years), Director of the Australian Rugby Union (five years), Director of the Australian Sports Commission (three years) and Director of the Australian Wool Exchange (nine years).

Outside of work his main interests are sport related. He plays golf and tennis all year round and played representative and grade rugby from 1966 to 2019. He was a grinder on ‘Kookaburra’ in the 1987 America’s Cup Defence.

Geoffrey was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1999, the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, the Centenary Medal in 2003 and the WA Citizen of the Year in the category of Sport in 2006. In 2022 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Originally from Guernsey, in the British Channel Islands, Denise has held significant leadership roles working with high-profile organisations in dynamic branding environments.

In 2004, Denise joined Crown Perth as General Manager of Public Relations - a role she held for 12 years, using her extensive experience in marketing, communications, community engagement, commercial negotiation and corporate governance.

In 2018 she joined the Foundation for the WA Museum as Executive Manager, Business & Communications and in 2021, joined the Perron Medical Research Institute as Director, Marketing & Fundraising, a role she still holds.

She also holds a non-executive Board Director role with the Dogs’ Refuge Home and previously with Ronald McDonald House Charities WA and Variety WA. She has chaired Fundraising and Brand Advisory Boards, been a member of the Capital Fundraising Committee for St Vincent de Paul Society and held Advisory Board memberships for Crown Resorts Foundation, Foodbank WA and Brightwater Care Group.

Denise enjoys a strong and influential media network, is an astute businesswoman and mentor, a broker of ideas and a focused and solutions-based negotiator. Denise believes in combining innovation and collaboration to deliver meaningful brand impact for community benefit.

Mr Newton is one of Perth’s most experienced journalists and now works as a partner in boutique public relations and communications business Newton Ganska Communications.

He is well connected in the media world with roles that have included founding editor for The Sunday Times website PerthNow and Managing Editor of The Sunday Times and PerthNow and Editor-in-Chief for Fairfax Media’s WAtoday.

Gary joined Western Australia Police Force in 1983. During this time, he led Broome PCYC and was recognised for his contribution to the Broome community.

He was appointed to a Commissioned rank in 2001 and, in 2003, led the Operational Skills Training Faculty. He was promoted to Superintendent in 2004 and Metropolitan Regional Coordinator in 2007. In 2008, he became Assistant Commissioner, Professional Development and was a member of the Board of Studies of the Australian Institute of Police Management and the ANZPAA Police Professionalization Forum. He completed an MBA in 2002, was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2010 and was Adjunct Associate Professor at UWA in 2011.

In 2012 Gary was appointed as Assistant Commissioner, Regional WA and Deputy Commissioner, Specialist Services in 2014. He represented WA Police on the Australian New Zealand Counter Terrorism Committee and the National Deputy Commissioners Operational Forum and was Chair of the State Emergency Capability and Preparedness Committee. He became a PCYC Board Director at this time.

In 2017 Gary moved to Operations Command and led Metropolitan & Regional WA, Operations Support and Professional Development.

During COVID-19 he was instrumental in the implementation of Operation Tide, WA Police’s emergency response to the pandemic, providing safety and security to West Australians. He was part of the Premier’s Emergency Management Team and, in early 2022, was the State’s Vaccine Commander.

In July 2022 Gary joined the private sector as Head of Strategic Partnerships of Genvis, with whom he had collaborated to implement WA’s G2G pass.

Peter Morrison has been in the property and financial services industry since 1980. He was CFO of the Armstrong Jones group, an ASX listed funds management group with over $4billion in funds under management. He was with Armstrong Jones for 17 years until the business was sold to ING in 1997. In addition to his role as CFO, he was the CEO of Armstrong Jones Life Assurance Ltd, a wholly owned life insurance subsidiary of Armstrong Jones.

After leaving Armstrong Jones he worked as an executive director and provided financial and management services to various companies in the funds management, financial services, risk management and retirement village sectors. Peter founded Macro Capital Ltd in 2004 with a business partner. Macro has an Australian Financial Service Licence and manages funds on behalf of investors across a range of investment classes including property, equities and agriculture.

Peter has also had extensive involvement with community based sporting clubs (Australian rules and tennis) both as a player and as a committee member.

Assistant Commissioner Darryl Gaunt joined the Western Australia Police Force in 1982 as a Cadet. Promoted to Superintendent in 2010, he was appointed to the South East Metropolitan District and later the Goldfields-Esperance District.

Darryl has served extensively throughout Western Australia, including the Goldfields, Pilbara and Mid West Gascoyne regions. From 2005 to 2010 he led the establishment of Multi-Functional Police Facilities and services into remote Aboriginal communities, as part of the response to the Inquiry into the Response by Government Agencies to Complaints of Family Violence and Child abuse in Aboriginal Communities (Gordon Inquiry).

In 2013 he was awarded the Australian Police Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and in 2014 commanded the WA Police contingent of over 200 officers deployed to the G20 Summit in Brisbane.

During COVID-19, Darryl held numerous positions within the WA Police operations team, including Police Commander, coordinating the Police response to the pandemic.

He is currently performing the role of Assistant Commissioner for Regional Western Australia.

Ron Alexander was the former Director General of the Department of Sport and Recreation and inaugural Coach of the West Coast Eagles.

Ron’s extensive experience across Government, commercial and not-for-profit sectors as well as his involvement in the at-risk space aligns closely with PCYC and he will be invaluable to our future operations and strategy.