Our Team

The key players involved in White Lotus Catering and Events are:

CHRIS GRIFFIN
As Executive Chef of White Lotus Catering and Events, Chris brings over ten years of experience in cooking, catering and food preparation to the Company.

Beginning at Pier 9 in Brisbane, Chris later went on to become Executive Chef of Shuck Restaurant and Oyster bar. During his tenure, Shuck was voted as the best fine dining restaurant on Queensland’s Gold Coast, amongst other food and beverage accolades that were awarded to the restaurant.

Chris has since travelled through Asia, researching Asian foods and cooking techniques. His experience in the kitchen is invaluable, allowing for great variety in our tailored menus.
 

JOHN GU
John Gu, Our Senior Sous Chef, has over ten years experience cooking in 5 Star hotels and another 5 years experience in fine dining restaurants throughout Shanghai. He has a passion for European cuisine, but is comfortable providing most worldwide food styles. John gained his early experience in clubs and hotels, most particularly with the Sun Island Golf Club, the Nikko and the Le Meridian Hotel Group, culminating with his appointment as the Executive Chef of the Shanghai Tiziano Club. He has also worked at Shanghai’s well-known De Marco Restaurant, and his most recent position prior to joining White Lotus was as the Head Chef at A Future Perfect Restaurant.

 


MARK MITCHELL
As a Non Executive Director of White Lotus Holdings Limited, Mark Mitchell brings over 15 years of relevant operational, logistics, IT and business experience to the Company.

Mark was Group General Manager for Stix Catering and a Director of Stix Holdings, a well-known Australian Catering firm from 2004 to 2009. Stix holds many large catering contracts, as well as an established private and corporate catering division and wholesale products division. During Mark’s time at Stix Group, he developed and implemented a business plan that underwrote the Organisation’s growth into one of Sydney’s most awarded and respected Caterers.  Awards won during his time working with the Group included National Event Caterer, as well as Caterer, and Corporate Caterer of the Year.

Prior to joining the Stix Group, Mark was a Business Manager with Baker & McKenzie, the world’s largest global law firm. He commenced his business career with the Australian National Law firm of Blake Dawson, where he became Gartner Certified in Project and Business Management.
 

PETER JAMES HARPER
Peter Harper is the Non Executive Chairman of White Lotus Holdings Limited, with special responsibility for strategic development.

Peter has been directly involved in the finance and securities industries since 1973, and during that time has gained extensive experience in Banking and Merchant Banking with the ANZ Banking Group, BA Australia Limited and Hill Samuel Australia Limited (now Macquarie Bank Limited). He has been involved with Stock broking since 1984, running Bain & Company’s (now Deutsche Bank) worldwide Equities division, with responsibility for their London, New York, Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australian Operations. Subsequent to that, Peter became the Managing Partner of MacDougall and Company Limited, a member firm of the Sydney Stock Exchange, which he and his partners sold to the Bank of Singapore in the early 1990’s.

Peter is currently the Executive Chairman of Harper Bernays Limited, a Private Investment Manager established in 1988 to provide premium Investment Management and Family Office support to high net worth individuals and their families. In recent years he has also spent considerable time managing and acting as Co-Trustee, in conjunction with the ANZ Bank, of the Harper Bernays Charitable Trust, which supports a range of Charitable Activities in the Arts, Medical Research, Poverty Relief and the Environment, both in Australia and the wider Asian region.

Peter has an MBA from Melbourne University and was, until it’s listing, a Member of the Australian Stock Exchange.


JEFF HESELWOOD
As a non-executive director of White Lotus Holdings Limited, Jeff Heselwood is a highly experienced and well-respected writer, particularly in sports and leisure. He is based out of Hong Kong, and provides the company with strategic direction on communications and advertising throughout China.

Amongst many other noted publications, Jeff provides articles for the South China Morning Post, The Peak and the International Herald Tribune.