Board of Directors

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Earthwatch Institute (Australia) has a Board of Directors who are responsible for the governance of Earthwatch and overseeing its strategy and direction. The Board meets quarterly with members of Earthwatch Executive Team and other staff as required.

The following people generously donate their time as Earthwatch Australia Board Members:

Anthea Hancocks
Prof Mark Burgman
Dr Neil Byron
Heather Campbell
Andrew Grant
Colin Gomm
Charles Macek
Chris Schulz
Ed Wilson - CEO Earthwatch Institute (US)

Anthea Hancocks - Chairman

Anthea Hancocks joined the Board in 2005 bringing with her an extensive background in business development, education, communications, relationship marketing and strategy developed through a long career in academia and the corporate and not-for-profit sectors.

She is the Chief Marketing Officer for Herbert Geer Lawyers. Anthea has held senior strategy, management and operational roles with the National Australia Bank, the Melbourne Business School, Deloitte and Museum Victoria. Prior to returning to Australia, Anthea worked in the USA as Associate Professor for Museum Studies at the University of Arizona and consulting in education and Board development in the non-profit sector. Anthea has also worked in Australia for Taronga Park Zoo and the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences.

Anthea has a B.Sc in zoology and anthropology, an MA in anthropology and business, an MBA. She is an accredited mediator through the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators of Australia, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Deputy Chair of Trust for Nature (Victoria) and a Director of the Victorian YMCA’s Youth and Community Services.

Prof Mark Burgman

Prof. Mark A. Burgman joined the Board in 2006. He also chairs the Earthwatch Australia Scientific Advisory Committee, which he joined in 2002. He is also a Member of the Royal Botanical Gardens Board.

Mark is Managing Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis and is the Adrienne Clarke Chair of Botany in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne. He works on ecological modelling, conservation biology and risk assessment. His research has included models on a broad range of species including giant kelp, Orange-bellied parrots, Leadbeaters possums, bandicoots, and Banksias in a range of settings including marine fisheries, forestry, irrigation, electrical power utilities, mining and national park planning.

Mark received a BSc from the University of New South Wales (1974), an MSc from Macquarie University, Sydney (1981), and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York (1987). He worked as a consultant ecologist and research scientist in Australia, the United States and Switzerland during the 1980's before joining the University of Melbourne in 1990.

Mark has received research grants from the Australian Research Council, government agencies, industry and private foundations. He has published four authored books, two edited books, over 140 research papers, and more than 50 reviewed reports and commentaries. His most recent book is ‘Risks and decisions for conservation and environmental management', which appeared through Cambridge University Press in 2005. He was selected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2006.

Dr Neil Byron

Dr Neil Byron joined the Board in 2010. Neil is an environmental economist and policy analyst. Neil was the Commissioner responsible for environment, agriculture and natural resource management issues in the Productivity Commission from April 1998 to March 2010. He presided over ten public inquiries and directed the PC's environmental economics program.

Other appointments are:

The Bureau of Agricultural Economics in Canberra.
Teaching resource and environmental economics and development economics at ANU.
Chief Technical Adviser of an UN Project in Dhaka.
Founding Director of the graduate program in Environmental Management and Development at ANU.
Assistant Director General of the Centre for International Forestry Research, based in Indonesia.

Neil has a B.Sc (with first class Honours) in Forestry at the ANU, an M.A. (Economics) and Ph.D. (Resource Economics) from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.

Neil is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is now Adjunct Professor at the Murray Darling Basin Collaborative Research Network at the University of Canberra.

Heather Campbell

Heather Campbell joined the Board in 2007 and brings with her 18 years experience in leadership and management in the manufacturing sector including over ten years experience managing sustainability and non-financial risk issues at the senior management level for both Australian and international companies. She is currently Australian Risk Manager for Cheetham Salt and Ridley AgriProducts.

Heather is Chief Executive Officer of Landcare Australia Limited.

Heather's skills include problem analysis, strategy development, process simplification and finding innovative solutions. In addition Heather has international experience in negotiation and stakeholder relations, change management and team building with people from other cultures and walks of life.

Heather has a passion for environmental education and believes fully in the benefits of linking scientists with enthusiastic individuals. To this end she is the Chairman of The Gould Group and has participated as a private individual in an Earthwatch expedition. Heather also managed the Earthwatch Fellowships program over a number of years when she worked for Amcor Ltd.

Her educational qualifications are in Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Occupational Hygiene and Business.

Andrew Grant

Andrew joined the Board in 2009. Andrew is Chief Executive Officer, CO2 Group Limited (ASX Listed) and Managing Director, CO2 Australia. Andrew joined CO2 Group in 2004. Andrew was previously the National Head of Ernst and Young's environmental advisory division (and prior to this held the same role with Andersen) and was the lead advisor to the New South Wales Government in relation to implementing its Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme.

Just prior to joining CO2 Group, Andrew was the Executive Manager, Sustainable Packaging, at Visy Industrial Packaging. Andrew has extensive experience in broad acre land management and has managed extensive areas of public land (National Parks, State Forest and Coastal Parks) in Victoria. He is a widely recognised authority on climate change and business risk management. Andrew has advised many of the major corporations across Australia and Internationally on climate change and emissions management and has performed design and audit roles in many carbon trades.

Colin Gomm

Colin Gomm joined the Board in 2008 after having been responsible for managing the Earthwatch partnership in BP Australia from 2002 until 2005, during which time BP sponsored 15 employees to undertake Earthwatch fellowships.

After a 19 year employment history with BP Australia Ltd in a variety of senior Health, Safety and Environment functional roles which included stints in the UK from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2008, Colin joined BHP Billiton Ltd as the Vice President Health, Safety, Environment and Community Governance in February 2009.

Colin was also a member of the Board of Environment Business Australia from 2003 to 2004 and completed the Institute of Company Directors course in 1985. He was a board member of L'Ouverture (louverture.co.uk) a small arts and education company while he was living in the UK. He also served 5 years on the Council of the Chatham Primary School in Melbourne.

Colin has a Bachelor of Engineering (1975) and a Masters of Business Administration (1984) both from Monash University.

Charles Macek

Charles holds a Bachelor of Economics degree and a Master of Administration from Monash University. The other listed companies of which he is or was a director in the last three years are Telstra Corporation Limited (appointed November 2001 - retired November 2009), Orchard Funds Limited (appointed October 2007 - resigned April 2011) and Orchard Capital Investments Limited (appointed May 2008 - resigned April 2011).

Charles is a director of Westfarmers Ltd, Chairman of the Sustainable Investment Research Institute Pty Ltd, Racing Information Services Australia Pty Ltd and the Vice-Chairman of the IFRS Advisory Council. He is a director of Thoroughbred Trainers Service Centre Ltd and Earthwatch Institute Australia. He is also a member of the investment committee of Unisuper Limited, AICD Corporate Governance Committee, MMC Advisory Board and the ASIC External Advisory Panel. He was formerly the Chairman of the Centre for Eye Research Australia Limited, IOOF Holdings Ltd and the Financial Reporting Council and a member of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Review Board.

Chris Schulz

Chris joined the Board in 2010.
Chris has been a partner at Allens Arthur Robinson for more than 25 years and works in the Planning and Environmental area, with an emphasis on Water Law.

In that role, he has had extensive experience in Resource and Infrastructure projects as well as assisting a range of clients in the petroleum, manufacturing and chemical industries.
More recently, he has been involved in a number of renewable energy projects.

Chris has a B.Comm/LLB from Melbourne University.

Ed Wilson - CEO Earthwatch Institute (US)

Edward Wilson is a graduate of Kings College London, where he specialized in African Studies and Third World Development. Ed has over 15 years management experience mainly in the non-profit sector. Early in his career he worked for a number of game reserves and eco-tourism operations in Southern and East Africa including The Wilderness Foundation and Conservation Direct. He is a former UK trustee of Rhino Ark, a not-for-profit organisation partnering with the Kenya Wildlife Service in fencing the Abedares National Park.

Ed joined the European office of Earthwatch as a volunteer in 1993 and quickly moved into the position of Marketing and Events Manager. In 1998 he was appointed Vice President Marketing and Communications for Earthwatch US and in 2005 he took up the reins as CEO.

Prior to joining Earthwatch, Ed was an officer in the British Army and was mentioned in dispatches for service in Northern Ireland. Ed has lived in Pakistan, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom and has travelled in Africa, Asia, South America and throughout Europe. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he has been a member of several research expeditions, the most recent being to Central Asia and Inner Mongolia.