Our People

President of the DIA and Director for the Australian Capital Territory

Mark is a fourth generation drycleaner from the Ryan family who have a long history of owning and operating drycleaning stores in Canberra. The Ryan family own R & R Drycleaners and Launderers and it was started by his great-grandfather Herb. Herb's son Alan worked in the business along with Mark's father Peter and Uncles Brendan and Lynton. R & R Drycleaners have two plants and six agencies in Canberra.

The Ryan family has been dedicated to the drycleaning industry and have been members of the association since 1985.

Mark is a family man at heart and spending quality time with his wife Angela and three boys aged 11 - 16 is important.

Rugby Union as well as drycleaning is in the family blood - they are all avid Brumbies fans and Mark's dad Peter played rep footy and for the Wallabys in the 1960s. Mark's son Lucas is carrying on the family tradition and is a rep player for the ACT.

Mitchell is the first external to the industry Director of the DIA and recently appointed Vice President.

Mitchell brings over 10 years’ expertise as a respected business executive, leader, communications and public relations professional with significant experience in complex policy development and stakeholder management. As Co-Founder and Managing Director of MK The Agency, Mitchell has established a boutique strategy and communications firm specialising in international companies entering and operating in the Australian market. Mitchell has held senior executive roles with US technology companies including publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Treasurer of DIA and Director for Victoria

Nick is the fourth generation of the Bancroft family to be in dry cleaning. Nick runs the family business in one location - Bancrofts Dry Cleaning - in Melbourne’s stylish South Yarra.

He worked in the family business during school holidays and weekends from an early age.  Having made the decision that the family business and the dry cleaning industry was his main interest, he attended the dry cleaning school at RMIT and attained the qualifications needed back in the mid 1990s.

In 1999 Nick won the industry peak award - The DIA Dry Cleaner of The Year and travelled to Europe on a study tour, reporting his findings to an international convention in Yokohama, Japan and subsequently the Twin Clean conference is Melbourne in 2000.

Working closely with his father - Roger Bancroft - Nick learned the importance of a strong industry benefiting us all and gained the desire to serve the industry. Following in his father’s footsteps, Nick has been on the DIA (Vic) committee since 2007 and currently serves at President of DIA (Victoria). Nick is currently a board member of DIA National.

Nick is married to Elana and has two sons - Justin & Adam who may one day be the 5th generation of the Bancroft family to be in this great industry.

James is the second generation of the Ratcliffe family to be involved in dry cleaning. James runs the family business from one central location in Geelong, Victoria.

The business has several stores. He worked in the family business growing up, helping during the school holidays. James lived in the UK for a period time, upon returning home worked in Recruitment for several years in Melbourne.

He then made the easy decision to head home and help his father run the family business. 10 years later the business has grown, and so has James’ family getting married and having two young boys.

Director for Queensland

Cameron grew up in the 70’s and 80’s in Cairns and has nothing but wonderful memories of being part of a drycleaning and laundry family, where all the family were involved in getting things done.

Cameron moved to Brisbane in the late 80’s, after not learning too much at Uni, and then worked in numerous sales, marketing and event management roles before re-establishing in 2000 his family drycleaning and laundry business.

He commenced with the purchase of a Brisbane based nappy service and re-branded the business as Gateway Laundry and Plus Drycleaners. The business has since grown into one that processes 50-ton of laundry and 5000 pieces of drycleaning per week, employing 70 staff.

Cameron is the president of the DIA Queensland and a past President of DIA Australia. He commented that “belonging to the DIA is a no brainer for anyone in the industry who genuinely committed to growing and improving their business”

Marcus Walker is the General Manager of Upton Dry Cleaners, a well-established business on the Gold Coast.

Marcus is dedicated to dry cleaning and textile care, with extensive knowledge in the best cleaning, finishing, and automated systems in the industry. He is a firm believer in creating a strong, positive culture within his team, which contributes to the high-quality service Upton Dry Cleaners provides for all garments.

The business has been a continual member of the Drycleaning Institute of Australia (DIA) since 1992 and values the support and resources the DIA offers to its members.

Catherine comes from a corporate administration back ground having worked in property valuation and top tier accounting firms in Melbourne and most recently as an Executive Assistant at Crown Casino in Melbourne.  She has a strong knowledge of administration systems and the importance of customer service plus a marketing focus.  

Kimberley McGrath became a member of the DIA staff in 2017 and has proven to be a valuable member of our team. With over 16 years’ experience in the Financial Industry as well as other administration roles Kimberley has been able to use these skills effectively in her role within the DIA office.

With growing enthusiasm for how the Financial side of the DIA operates she is taking on more responsibility with the learning of the Financial reporting after completing her Certificate 4 in Accounting and Bookkeeping.