About Us

Partners For Equity was established in 2015 to provide aid to communities (predominantly in developing countries) that are disadvantaged or in poverty. We enter into partnerships based on equality and mutual respect with non-government, community-based, local organisations to implement and sustain such aid.

Our Directors

Mark Cubit

Mark resigned as Managing Director, Australian Equities at Merrill Lynch Equities after 15 years’ service and entered the not for profit world in 2003.  He volunteered at The Smith Family for three years and served on the boards of Good Beginnings Australia and Beacon Foundation. In 2005 he, and his wife Amanda, established Cubit Family Foundation, initially with a focus on support of the education sector but now more broadly focused on offshore projects. In 2008 he assisted Maureen and Tony Wheeler in the establishment of Planet Wheeler Foundation and has served as a trustee to this day.

Mark now spends six to eight weeks a year visiting projects offshore projects for both his family’s foundation and Planet Wheeler Foundation.

In 2008 Mark helped form the board of The East African Fund (EAF), the Australian support arm of The School of St Jude Tanzania. Today he is chair of that board and a member of the Tanzanian board of The School of St Jude.

From 2014 to 2018 Mark was a member of Monash University Council and he continues as Chair of its Investment Advisory Committee. His other roles include membership of the board of The Australian International Donors Network.

Mark volunteers a substantial amount of his time for the work of Partners For Equity.

Marcus Fazio

Marcus Fazio is a business and strategic consultant with a background in investment banking in Australia and overseas.  Since leaving investment banking Marcus has advised companies, organizations and individuals in respect of strategy, transactions, social impact and philanthropy.

Marcus has been a Trustee of the Planet Wheeler Foundation since its inception in 2008. As a trustee and advisor, he wants to maximise the benefits of donations in alleviating poverty in developing countries over the long term by supporting well targeted, sustainable projects. Marcus has visited Planet Wheeler projects in East and West Africa and South East Asia.

Marcus is also interested in social impact investment and provides advice to Small Giants, a company which has invested in local and international projects focused on creating a more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable world.

Marcus is a director of Fitted for Work, a not for profit committed to assisting disadvantaged women find work. He is a director of Text Publishing (book publisher), Chemical Media (independent TV production) and a medical equipment distributor in Japan. He is a graduate of the Australia Institute of Company Directors’ course.

Marcus volunteers a substantial amount of his time for the work of Partners For Equity.

Angus Grinham

Angus has been a Director of Boronia Capital for over 25 years. Boronia ran as a Hedge Fund until 2018 and as a Family Office since then. Together with his wife Catherine they established The Ripple Foundation in 2014. The foundation is focussed on the alleviation of poverty. Its name refers to the ripple effect whereby a small positive change can ripple out from the source resulting in a magnified effect. This reflects the significant impact they believe can be achieved through well considered funding to international projects.

The foundation directs over 95% of funding to organisations operating outside Australia, predominantly across Africa and South-East Asia. They support a diverse range of areas including health, education, community development and people trafficking. The foundation takes the view that the most important determinant in the success of an organisation is its people. For this reason the Ripple Foundation back people by generally providing multi-year untied funding, allowing the organisations they support to decide where the funds should be spent.

Angus has a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University and an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Anubha Rawat

Anubha Rawat has over 20 years of experience working in the international development sector, in the areas of program and strategy development, project management and implementation, fundraising and communications, and grant making. She has worked in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, specialising in women’s health and MNCH (maternal, newborn and child health).

Growing up in India, it was through her experience of volunteering and working across a range of non-profit organisations, during the time the Indian economy was transforming, that Anubha recognised the powerful role philanthropy has to play in development.

Anubha is the Projects Director at the DAK Foundation, a private foundation based in Australia. DAK primarily focuses on sub-saharan Africa and Asia in three areas – women’s health programmes, focussed on birth injury repair and family planning, restorative eyesight surgery and the distribution of medical equipment with a special focus on oxygen systems. Anubha brings her experience and insights to a wide range of programmes supported by the DAK Foundation and is passionate about program development and initiatives that are championed at the local level.

Anubha also sits on the Board of Advisors for the Gould Family Foundation, USA to improve health outcomes for the poor and underserved in sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a Masters in Child Development from Delhi University and a Graduate Diploma in International Studies from the University of Sydney. She is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Marnie Rickards

Marnie Rickards has worked for the DAK Foundation since it was established in 2010. The DAK Foundation supports practical, efficient and cost-effective solutions in healthcare delivery. Marnie oversees the DAK Foundation’s medical equipment programs, partnering with health networks across Asia and Africa to help increase their efficiency and quality of service through provision of basic medical equipment and biomedical program support. Marnie volunteers with Rotary Australia (RAWCS) to manage this program and other international health initiatives.

Prior to the DAK Foundation, Marnie worked in the commercial sector, starting in offset printing then moving into media sales and administration with Southern Cross Media in 2002. Marnie spent around 7 years in print and television media administration before moving to Uncle Bills Australia, a general goods import and wholesale company, where she built cross-department experience managing Graphics and HR, and learning about logistics and program management.

Marnie has a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University and sits on the Board of Advisors for the Gould Family Foundation (USA). She is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Our Staff

Linda Fox, Chief Executive Officer

Linda worked with the Directors of PFE to establish the organisation, and she is now responsible for its governance and administration. Prior to the establishment of PFE, Linda worked for 14 years (since its inception) for fund manager, Cooper Investors Pty Limited, as General Counsel and Company Secretary, with overall responsibility for legal, compliance and risk management functions.

Linda established the Cooper Investors Philanthropy Fund in 2008 and was responsible for the administration of grants, as well as Chair of the grant-making Committee. Together with the Ryan Cooper Family Foundation (the family PAF of Peter Cooper), the two organisations made grants to more than 50 NGOs in Australia and overseas. Linda personally visited a significant number of the overseas projects.

Prior to Cooper Investors, Linda had over 12 years’ experience as a commercial and finance lawyer at Allens and Freehills, both in Sydney, and Herbert Smith in London. She has a BA/LLB from the University of New South Wales and a Diploma in International Law from the University of Vienna.

Linda is a Director of Igniting Change, a purposely small organisation that’s passionate about sparking big, positive change with people doing it tough in our communities.

Eve Omala, African Portfolio Manager

Eve is responsible for managing Partners For Equity’s African portfolio of International Partners. She has spent the last 10 years working in the philanthropy sector and implementing programs in grassroots organisations in Africa and the US.

Prior to joining PFE, Eve worked as the Director of Operations at the Segal Family Foundation, overseeing the foundation’s grant-making activities to over 200 grantee partners across 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eve previously worked as the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Reach Out Mbuya HIV/AIDS Initiative and was also a Global Health Corps Fellow at HIPS in Washington D.C., where she worked as an HIV Prevention Programs Assistant.

Eve manages the Segal Family Foundation’s impact investing portfolio on a consultancy basis, and also serves on the boards of the Segal Family Foundation, Fundi Bots and Elohim Development Organisation. She has an MBA from Griffith University.

Emily Umbers – Portfolio Marketing & Development Manager

Emily has around 15 years of experience in marketing and fundraising for not-for-profits. She has worked for a range of organisations across the international development, education, welfare and disability sectors. Emily spent two and half years living in Arusha, Tanzania as the Marketing Manager for The School of St Jude and now works alongside for-purpose organisations to amplify their causes.

She holds a Bachelor of International Development and is currently completing postgraduate study in Community Leadership and Resilience.