Last week, founding member and CEO since 2010 of community foundation Hands Across Canberra, (HAC), Peter Gordon handed the CEO baton to former founding Region Group Editor and former ABC presenter, Genevieve Jacobs.
“It was time,” Mr Gordon said. “Organisations always have a group of people that start it, but the people who take it to the next level and beyond are normally not the founders. It’s the right time for me to hand over.
“Genevieve is a very smart, very well known, well connected and very hard-working human being. She will do a great job.”
Asked to share how he came to be CEO and what has been behind his formidable commitment to help make Hands Across Canberra what it is today, Mr Gordon said, “I don’t want this to be a hard luck story about me. It’s not the thing I want people to focus on.”
This sentiment is hardly surprising as Mr Gordon has spent most of his life focused on the needs of others.
His highly productive office has been the kitchen table of his Narrabundah home. A place where laptops, phones, the occasional coffee mug, paperwork and both necessary and hospitable meals compete for time, space, and attention. And they get it. There have been eight committees, three boards and Peter’s employment that have depended on this office functioning at full capacity. And delivered it did.
Mr Gordon’s discomfort, however, with being the subject of enquiry for longer than a few minutes is evident in his expert deflection. At times he pauses to take a deep breath before quietly conceding, “I really don’t like talking about myself.” But he had already said ‘yes’ to this interview, and a ‘yes’ is important to him.
Mr Gordon completed year 12 at St Edmunds College, married at 19, and had four much-loved children. He was at Executive Level 2 in the Australian Public Service by his mid-20s and became the first and only CEO of an independent training authority in WA at age 34.
What drove him? “I’ve never been ambitious in that regard. I’ve always just gone on because I’ve seen something, and I thought that I could do better,” he says.
Mr Gordon has occupied many roles in the public and private sectors, yet his role as CEO of the Hands Across Canberra (HAC) Foundation, has given him the most satisfaction. “I know that outside my family, what I am most proud of is what I have done whilst at Hands Across Canberra.”
Long-time friend and supporter of HAC, Brand Hoff AM, once said, “I call him Big Pete with a big heart. Peter’s network is huge. He knows everybody and has great support from within the business community. You just can’t say no to Peter. I think because everyone knows that he is helping people out, they think, well, we should help too.”
Mr Gordon’s humble acknowledgement that people think kindly of him also inspires him to keep finding ways to ask more people the right questions.
“It’s the power of getting to ‘yes’. I’ve got to find a way of turning good thoughts and good wishes into action,” he says.
Mr Gordon firmly believes that the transformation of Canberra is as close as everyone’s willingness to give just $10 each year. Canberra is his home, where he feels intense belonging. But he has not always felt this way.
In 1970, this ‘boy from Wollongong’, arrived, aged 14, with his six siblings to live with a maternal uncle. The move wasn’t planned. That same year the Beatles’ hit song ‘Let It Be’ topped the charts. In retrospect it was an apt soundtrack.
Mr Gordon’s mother had died of breast cancer a few years after the birth of his twin brothers. His father died unexpectedly shortly afterward. Mr Gordon recalls enormous kindness in those early years. “There was an awful lot of generosity. Legacy is one that stands out. There was a man who used to come and visit us and bring gifts. That was meaningful.”
Mr Gordon’s daughter Aerin describes her father as one of the most consistent people she has ever known.
“He is always there for us. He is an unpretentious man who doesn’t need much and whose goal is to live a life of meaning,” she says. “One of the things most important to Dad is that people should know that they are loved. He wants this for his family, for himself and for everyone.”
Aerin believes that the combined impact of her father not having a true sense of home as a child, and working in the Public Service assessing people’s needs, was profound. “Someone living on the street is not just another homeless person. They actually mean something to Dad.”
Aerin adds, “At some point Dad realised that he was in a position because of his networks and reputation, to pull all this together to make a difference. It’s not about the work to Dad. It’s about the impact that the giving has, as he was on the receiving end of that as a young person.”
Is there anything her father doesn’t have time for? “Shouting, adults behaving badly, and people being late,” says Aerin. “Oh, and the Raiders losing games.”
And Mr Gordon’s pet peeves? “Negative people who don’t realise just how good their life can be,” he says.
Hands Across Canberra’s new CEO Genevieve Jacobs is aware of the big shoes she has to fill.
“I am excited but nervous about the challenge. Peter has laid such strong, deep foundations with the work he’s done since the inception of Hands Across Canberra, so I think any transition is always a moment for reflection and I’m really honoured to have worked with Peter over the years in the media,” she says.
Hands Across Canberra Board Chair, Greg Boorer says, “There aren’t enough good words that can be used to describe Peter Gordon and his contribution to both HAC and the Canberra community, who are so much better for it. We wish him all that he deserves during this next chapter of his life.”
In 1970, a boy from Wollongong started to call Canberra home. And learned to say ‘yes’, against the odds. Since HAC’s inception in 2010, he has helped to raise $20 million for vulnerable Canberrans. “That’s 20 million that pretty much would have gone out of Canberra if it wasn’t for the work of HAC,” he says.
And there is no doubt that Canberra will always owe him a debt of gratitude for the part he has played.
As Mr Gordon prepares for the next chapter of his life, he reflects on what he leaves behind and what he is most proud of.
“We started Hands Across Canberra knowing that something like a community foundation was needed, but we didn’t know what that meant. We also didn’t know whether us thinking we were doing good would be appreciated by the organisations we were established to support. But in the end, we now have 360 community organisations that are in our network,” he says.
“They all know us and many of them rely on us and have great faith in what we’re doing. I think that’s what I’m most proud of, that we’ve got an organisation that sits legitimately in the middle of our community, and it is valued by the 360 organisations that were created to assist. And because of that, we convince Canberrans that they need to be kind at home. So, the platform that allows Canberrans to be kind at home is an incredible legacy that we all share.”
It’s clear that this sentiment is not lost on incoming CEO, Ms Jacobs. “What I’m looking forward to is being able to work with the many, many different causes, many of whom I know well already, to do the work that builds our future with our own hands, so that the generosity of Canberrans remains here in Canberra,” she says. “The funds that we can raise and the work that we can do here together truly builds a more equitable city for all.”
And what now for Mr Gordon, knowing he has left the Foundation in the capable hands of Ms Jacobs, the board and the HAC team?
“I honestly don’t know, I’ve got a few things that I still do, I live in Canberra, I come from Canberra and so I‘ll never forget the work that HAC does. I’ll be part of the work that HAC does forever,” he says. “What that means I’m not really sure, but I’ve told my children that there are five children in my will – the four of them, and HAC!”
A challenge Mr Gordon issues to all Canberrans.
“The next wave of HAC activity will be in the wills and bequests area, and the money that’s available will be immense. There is no shortage of money in Canberra, so what we have to convince people of is to leave some of their will back inside HAC.”
And personally? “I don’t have anything particular in mind. I might just do nothing for a while and let the dust settle. I have a beautiful partner and four beautiful children, plus a brand-new grandson to add to my four other beautiful grandchildren. So, I’ve got some grandfathering to do!”
And the legacy that Mr Gordon also leaves is issued in yet another challenge from this committed, large-hearted humanitarian and all round ‘good bloke’ whom Canberra is proud to have claimed as their own.
The challenge to act. To say in Mr Gordon’s own words, “Yes, I have done something. Not just ‘I have thought a good thought’ but that ‘I have done something,’ for then, as a community, we will be home and hosed.”
Thank you, Peter Gordon.
May Canberra live up to your example and your faith in it.
