Our Board

Maureen De Groot is the founder of the Best Restaurants programme and was publisher of one of Australia’s most well known hotel hospitality magazines, Top 10 distributed in Sydney and Melbourne.

In 2000 she established the first multi-restaurant website before launching one of the first restaurant gift certificates programmes in 2004.

Maureen remains one of Sydney’s most notable hospitality marketing leaders.

Damien Hodgkinson is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years as a specialist in building better restaurants having worked with hospitality and hotel providers both in Australia and overseas.

He is a lover of food and service and believes that we are more than just a gift company, we give the memories that happen from eating together enjoying each other’s company and expressing our personalities and individual cultures through food.

Damien is also the Chair of Sydney Worldpride 2023 which will relaunch Sydney’s opening to the world in March 2023 and one of the founders of Climate 200 Australia's leading independent electoral groups.

Peter Crinis is Executive Director of Public Hospitality Group one of Australia’s fastest growing boutique hotel groups.

Prior to 2022 he spent over 25 years at Crown resorts Limited in its non-gaming operations leading its hospitality and hotel operations.

Peter is one of Australia's leading food entrepreneurs having spear headed the introduction of some of the world’s leading chefs to Australia.

Kellie Hush is a fashion entrepreneur and journalist with more than 20 years experience in the Australian and international fashion industries. Kellie was the editor-in-chief of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia for 6 years, the editor-in-chief of GRAZIA Australia and fashion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. She is also a regular fashion commentator on television, radio, in print media and a published author.

Kellie is currently a Trustee of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Kellie is also a founding director of the Australian Fashion Council, a former Royal Hospital for Women Foundation Board Director and judge for the International Woolmark Prize and the VAMFF National Designer Award.

Rajneen has a wealth of experience and energy in the e-commerce space, with a deep understanding of transaction risk in both small and large e-commerce operations.

In 2019 she was appointed General Manager of content programmes for deGroots Media and in 2022 was appointed as CEO of Best Gifts Group to manage the roll out of its international operations.

In 2020 Rajneen completed her Masters in Supply Chain Management and Logistics from the University of Technology Sydney.

Prior to joining Best Gift Group Rajneen led a number of Randall Communications on-line health and med-care brands.