Our 2025 speakers include:
Guest Speakers
Yes, you can face multiple life-threatening diseases and still share your story with grace and humour in order to help others.
Hugo Toovey is an Army Major, the Founder of 25 STAY ALIVE – the charity benefiting from the 2025 Ball, a two-time Cancer Survivor and a Mental Health Advocate.
If you didn’t know Hugo, you would assume that he was your typical everyday young Australian. And yes, from the outside, he appears to be exactly that. However, the last 10 years of his life has been everything BUT normal. He is missing a testicle, part of his reproductive system, all of his abdominal lymph nodes, his large bowel, his rectum and part of his small bowel. Not only has Hugo survived both testicular cancer and bowel cancer, he continues to have ongoing battles with his health – physically and mentally. Yet despite all of this, he is more determined than ever to use what he has gone through to save lives.
Hugo is also a proud Ambassador for the Jodi Lee Foundation, Movember & Gotcha4Life, in addition his generous support to the Men’s Health Awareness Ball.
Master of Ceremonies
Mark Beretta OAM is Australia’s most watched sports presenter. Millions of Australians start their day with Mark and the Sunrise team on Channel 7. In his 30 years with the Chanel 7 Network, he has covered almost every major international sporting event, including 13 Olympic Games. Mark holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree and before entering the media, worked with BHP, Andersen Consulting and Honeywell. A dedicated family man, Mark was recognised as the 2019 Australian Father of the Year, is also an author, 10-time Australian water ski champion, holds the rank of Major in the Australian Army (Reserve), and is a gun cyclist.
Mark has regularly taken part in the 1,400 km (870 mi) Tour de Cure bike ride from Sydney to Mooloolaba over ten days, to raise money to help find a cure for cancer. Mark joined the board of Tour De Cure in 2011.
A hugely popular and vibrant personality, Mark works tirelessly to fundraise and promote his charity causes.
Auctioneer
Richard is an advisory board member of the Jodi Lee Foundation, is on the fundraising committee of Courage to Care NSW, is a Global Goodwill Ambassador (GGA) for Australia, a foundation member of Australasian Fundraising Auctions and is one of five co-founders of LInfluencers (L>) an organisation formed to increase the ability of others to broaden their reach through L> combined LinkedIn connections.