Thomas Yates Benyon O.B.E
CEO ZANE International
Tom Benyon lives and works in Oxford, England. He was educated at RMS Sandhurst and for some years served as an officer in the British army. Tom was involved in local and national politics for thirteen years, serving as an MP at Westminster.
He founded ZANE in 2002, having by chance discovered the extent of the acute problems facing Zimbabwe. Since then, ZANE has raised millions of dollars to assist the most impoverished communities in Zimbabwe.
In 2010 Tom received an OBE – Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from HM The Queen – for services to charity.
The Board of ZANE Australia comprises:
- Mr Charles Lenegan – (Chair)
- Mr Tony Passaportis – (Company Secretary)
- Mr Bryan Thorn – (Financial Director)
- Mr Tom Benyon – (Director and ZANE UK Representative and CEO of ZANE International)
- Mr Mark Johnson – (Director)
- Mr Matthew Neuhaus – (Director)
- Mr John Hayns – (Director and ZANE UK Representative)
Administrators
- Mrs Nicky Passaportis – (CEO)
- Mr Richard Redman – (Treasurer)
- Mrs Beverley Redman – (Administrator)
The Board:
Mr Charles Lenegan – (Chair)
Charlie grew up in Zimbabwe and, after periods in England and Abu Dhabi, migrated with his family to Perth, Australia in 1980. Charlie joined the CRA at the Argyle Diamond Project in 1981 and had a distinguished 27 year career with CRA / Rio Tinto where he held various senior management positions across a range of commodities and geographies. Charlie lives in Perth and is married with two adult children.
Mr Tony Passaportis – (Company Secretary)
Tony was born, raised and educated in Zimbabwe, where he practised law with Honey and Blanckenberg, the oldest legal firm in the country, for his entire career.
He specialised in commercial work and retired as senior partner in 2015, when he moved to Australia. Tony and Nicky have three sons, two of whom live in Melbourne.
Mr Bryan Thorn – (Financial Director)
Bryan Thorn is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of both Zimbabwe and South Africa.He practised professionally with Deloitte for over thirty years – twenty-two as a partner and five as senior partner of the Zimbabwe and Malawi firms. On retiring from the profession in 2004, he became the Financial Director of the Meikles Group and then Financial Executive of the TA Group, both high-profile listed companies in Zimbabwe. Bryan was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe in 2000 and is life Vice President of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. In 2015 he retired and moved with his wife, Wendy to Perth – they have two adult children and two grandchildren.
Mr Tom Benyon – (Director and ZANE UK Representative and CEO of ZANE International)
Tom has served on the ZANE Australia Board since its inception in 2012.
Mr Mark Johnson – (Director)
Mark Johnson was born in London in 1960. He emigrated to Zimbabwe with his family and was educated at Ellis Robins School and was apprenticed to David Brown Gear Inds. He qualifies as an engineer and worked as such for National Breweries, Schweppes, and Agricura before starting his own business, Topshaft Engineering in 1990. Mark is married to Sue and has two adult children and five grandchildren all of whom live on the Sunshine Coast having emigrated to Australia in 2004. Mark continues to take a great interest in Zimbabwe and still has business connections there. He has been part of the Old Legs Tour group from its early days and has participated in the Kilimanjaro, Skeleton Coast, New Zealand and Angolan Tours as well as kayaking from Milibizi to Kariba. Having learnt to swim at the age of 34 in order to take part in triathlon and ironman events, Mark continues to keep fit in the gym and by riding, swimming, walking and playing golf as well as using all those talents to raise money for the disadvantaged people of Zimbabwe. He joined the board of ZANE Australia in 2025.
Mr Matthew Neuhaus – (Director)
Having studied as an undergraduate at Sydney University, and as a post graduate at Cambridge University, Mathew joined DFAT in 1983 when he was posted to Kenya, followed by Papua New Guinea and then New York. He was appointed as the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1997-2000. In 2002 he became the Director of the Political Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. In 2011 he began his service as Ambassador to Zimbabwe leaving there in 2015. His final posting as Ambassador was to the Netherlands from 2018-2022. Having held multiple senior postings, and, with a wealth of experience in international law, especially African and Middle Eastern affairs, Matthew is now Honorary Professor of International Law at the Australian National University College of Law. He also serves in senior positions of the Royal Commonwealth Society, the UN Association of Australia, the Commonwealth Round Table and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Matthew is married with an adult daughter and lives mostly in New South Wales.
Mr John Hayns – (Director and ZANE UK Representative)
John is Deputy CEO of ZANE UK. Alongside this he is a professional magician, juggler and fire-eater. He is Deputy Chairman and Honorary Chaplain of The Magic Circle and an Engineering graduate of Oxford University. He is married to an Anglican priest and has three teenage boys.
Administrators:
Mrs Nicky Passaportis – (CEO)
Nicky grew up in Zimbabwe where she taught for most of her professional life before heading up the work of ZANE in Zimbabwe for eleven years. In 2015 she moved with her husband, Tony to Melbourne. Her work with the elderly was recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2015 when she received an MBE.
Mr Richard Redman – (Administrator)
Richard was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. On leaving school, Richard worked for many years in the cattle industry and ran a successful thatching company. For three years before he emigrated to Australia in 2015, he became chairman and a trustee of the Coronation Cottages and Flatlets Trust in Bulawayo which houses vulnerable pensioners. Richard and Bev live in Geelong and have two adult children.
Mrs Beverley Redman – (Administrator)
Bev was born in Zambia and moved to Zimbabwe at the age of 11. After completing her secretarial studies, Bev worked for the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe and then, having raised her children, she joined her husband in the family thatching business.