Professor Ian Lowe AO is emeritus professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University in Brisbane, an adjunct professor at Sunshine Coast University and QUT, and an honorary research fellow at the University of Adelaide.

Professor Lowe was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2001 for services to science and technology, especially in the area of environmental studies.

He was Director of the Commission for the Future in 1988, and chaired the advisory council that produced the first independent national report on the state of the environment in 1996. He is deputy chair of the Queensland Sustainable Energy Innovation Group, which advises the State government on energy innovations.

Rod Oram

Rod Oram has 30 years' experience as an international financial journalist. Mr Oram has worked in Europe and North America for leading publications such as the Financial Times of London. Mr Oram and his family emigrated from the UK to New Zealand in 1997.

Mr Oram is currently contributing editor at Unlimited, a New Zealand monthly business magazine; a columnist for the Sunday Star-Times; a regular broadcaster on radio and television; a frequent public speaker; and an occasional correspondent for the Financial Times.

He is also Adjunct Professor in the Business Faculty at Unitec, the country's technology tertiary institution.

Professor Peter Newman, Murdoch University

Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University.
In 2001/3, Peter directed the production of WA’s Sustainability Strategy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. It was the first state sustainability strategy in the world.

He was Chair of the Western Australian Sustainability Roundtable advising the state government on how to implement the State Sustainability Strategy from 2003 to 2006.

Peter is well known in Perth for his work in reviving and extending the city’s rail system. He has worked in all levels of government and was an elected councillor in the City of Fremantle from 1976 to 1980. 

In 2004/5 he was a Sustainability Commissioner in NSW advising the government on planning issues. In 2006/7 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Virginia Charlottesville.

Jason Clarke, Minds at Work

In 1977, Jason Clarke achieved the lowest Year 12 score in the history of his school.

Today he is one of the most sought after creative minds in the country, consulting on issues of leadership and innovation to some of Australia’s biggest companies and institutions.

He’s developed and taught courses in Innovation, Logic and Problem Solving for two of Australia’s most prestigious Business Schools and the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.

He is part of a commercial collective of professional thinkers dedicated to nurturing independent and free thought among those with the passion, the power and/or the position to re-invent the world, or at least some part of it.

Gavin Murray, ANZ

Gavin Murray is Head of Sustainability – Institutional & Corporate at ANZ (Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited) based in Sydney, Australia.

He is responsible for ensuring the more effective integration of environmental, social and economic (sustainability) considerations into ANZ’s wholesale lending and investment banking businesses.  He also retains a leadership role for ANZ’s overall environment strategy and policy framework. Gavin is currently a member of the Board of the Center for Science in Public Participation, based in the USA.

Prior to her commencement as Managing Director of Sydney Water, Dr Kerry Schott was Deputy Secretary of New South Wales Treasury.

Before this she spent 15 years as an investment banker working in the infrastructure area, with roles as Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and Executive Vice President at Bankers Trust Australia. Ms Schott has also worked as an economic policy adviser at the Reserve Bank of Australia and for the Commonwealth Government.

She has also been the Chairman of the Environment Protection Authority in New South Wales, a Director of Sydney Water, Chair of the NSW Film and Television Office, Director of the Film Finance Corporation Limited and Director of Australian Airlines Limited until their merger with Qantas. She has been a member of the Corporations and Securities Panel and a Trade Practices Commissioner.

Fiona Wain has been the CEO of Environment Business Australia for 8 years.  Her passion for raising awareness about the scale and relevance of sustainability issues is balanced with her determination to champion solutions to key challenges - many of which are provided by EBA members.  Fiona is a national and international spokesperson for the environment and sustainability industry, has authored many articles, is a frequent conference speaker and is the chairperson of the annual Business and Sustainability Summit.  Fiona has worked in Britain, France and Canada as a sports-broker and head of a public relations and marketing company

After 16 years of working within councils and with the local government at the Municipal Association of Victoria, Sarah decided to change her career and joined the (then) Australian Wind Energy Association (Auswind), now Clean Energy Council in July 2006.

As General Manager, Industry Development with the Council, Sarah works with the renewable and clean energy sector on initiatives focused on improvements to best practice, industry accreditation, project development and general advocacy for Council members.

Rob is the General Manager - Policy with the Clean Energy Council. He has worked in the electricity industry for 30 years, the last 10 of those in renewable and clean energy businesses and associations. In his role with the Clean Energy Council he is responsible for developing the Council’s policy positions on supply and demand side technologies, including Solar PV, coordinating research and representing the clean energy and energy efficiency industry in government and industry forums.

Wayne Wescott is the Chief Executive Officer of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – Oceania and serves as the Regional Director in Oceania for ICLEI International.

Wayne has worked in not-for-profit organisations, local and state governments and as a consultant in the area of telecommunications, environmental management and local governance.

Wayne's approach to local sustainability action is focused on building capacity through measurable programs. He is a strong advocate of taking action through sustainable frameworks and of combining the need for short-term gains and long-term structural change.

Tony Maher’s principal position is President of the CFMEU Mining & Energy Division, a position to which he has been elected three times since 1998.

Tony is also National President of the entire CFMEU, which is one of Australia’s largest unions.

At the COP13 meeting Tony was trade union advisor to the Australian Government delegation and representing the Australian Council of Trade Unions in addition to the CFMEU. He was selected to speak on behalf of 170 million unionists affiliated to the International Trade Union Council (ITUC) at the Bali meeting.

Tom Mollenkopf is the Chief Executive of the Australian Water Association, a role he commenced in May 2007.

Prior to joining the Australian Water Association, Tom occupied strategic roles in the water sector over some 12 years.  Between 2005 and 2007 he was based in London where he has served as Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the International Water Association.  From 1995 to 2005 Tom was an executive at South East Water Limited in Melbourne, Australia.

Tom commenced his professional life as a lawyer, spending several years in private legal practice before moving to the corporate arena where, over a period of seven years, he held corporate legal and management positions including as Head of Legal at Australian Airlines.

Dr Tom Hatton directs the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Research Program on behalf of CSIRO and over 140 R&D partners. The Flagship is Australia’s largest water R&D effort, with an annual budget of $87M employing 400 scientists across the nation.

Hatton has 25 years of research experience in ecohydrology and catchment hydrology, and has led major research projects for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, the Grains R&D Corporation, Land & Water Australia and the State Governments of South Australia and Western Australia. Dr Hatton also serves on numerous State Commissions, Foundations and Committees. He is author of more than 150 technical papers and an invited keynote speaker at 11 international and national conferences. He has addressed the Parliaments of Australia, South Australia and Western Australia.

Ken Matthews is the Chair and Chief Executive of the National Water Commission. Mr Matthews was previously the Secretary of the Department of Transport and Regional Services and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Mr Matthews is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration and the Australian Institute of Management.

In 2001, he received a Centenary Medal for services to public administration and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2005.

Cheryl has 30 years operational and management experience in the waste management industry in both family companies and publicly listed multi-national companies. She is currently the Chairman of the Melbourne Water Corporation and the Deputy Chair of Sustainability Victoria, member of the State Government Sustainability Advisory Council and Advisory Panel Member of the Victorian Government’s Sustainability Fund, Reference Group Member for the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Trustee of the Sustainable Melbourne Fund and Member of the Victorian Catchment Management Council.

She has been involved in community-industry liaison as a practitioner since 1987, running training programs about business and environmental issues for industry and regulators about “Business and the Environment Agenda”.

Dick trained as a lawyer and has a background in consumer and corporate law with the National Companies and Securities commission.
 
He was a co-founder and the first coordinator of the Consumer Credit Legal Service, a free legal service for low-income consumers. He served on a number of government law reform committees dealing with consumer and debt recovery issues.

Dick is also a broadcaster and author. He has appeared on various Australian television and radio networks, has written for a number of newspapers and authored a number of books.

John Gertsakis is the executive officer of Product Stewardship Australia Ltd, a producer responsibility organisation developing a national take-back scheme for end-of-life televisions. He is also a director of Sustainable Development Consultants (SDC), a firm focused on product and building sustainability, product stewardship strategy and environmental communications.

Together with his colleagues at RMIT University he co-developed the EcoReDesign™ methodology and industry manual. He is a regular writer and contributor on sustainability and EcoDesign for InDesign (interiors/product) and Curve (product/form/packaging).

Ken Kanofski was appointed six and a half years ago as CEO of WSN Environmental Solutions (formerly Waste Service NSW), its first CEO as a corporation.

Prior to his appointment, Ken had extensive experience in property and venue management, water supply, telecommunications, electricity and Local Government.

During Ken’s tenure he has led the transformation of WSN Environmental Solutions from a waste disposer of last resort to an environmental service provider of choice. This has included a genuine commitment to triple bottom line outcomes and a key role in bringing world leading sustainable resource recovery technologies to Sydney.

Joe is an Executive Director of The Natural Step, where he has been developing a model of engagement with business that brings out the strategic and innovative potential of sustainability. He has over 30 years industrial R&D and general management experience in Australia, England and Canada. Joe worked for many years with BHP, where he held the positions of General Manager Research for BHP Steel and Director of the Central Research Laboratories in Newcastle.
 
Joe initiated the Sustainable Resource Processing project that resulted in a new CRC being established to focus on mineral processing and metal production. Joe is an Independent Director of the CRC and Chairman of the Industry Steering Committee. He is a Conjoint Professor of Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, where he is Co-Director of "The Crucible,” which takes a fundamental approach to both metallurgy and sustainability issues.

Kathy joined the GBCA as Education Manager in 2006. She manages the development and delivery of the Green Star and Green Building education program across Australia. In 2008 GBCA is developing training for Site Managers and Project Managers. Since 2004, GBCA has trained over 6,000 architectural and construction industry professionals.

The Green Star Faculty team was established by Kathy in 2007. The Faculty is a group of highly recognised Industry practitioners who teach Green Star courses across Australia. Additionally Kathy manages Research Initiatives within the GBCA and will be programming the Green Cities 09 conference in Brisbane (March 2009).

In 2007, Darren Bilsborough was appointed by PB as its Director of Sustainability, Australia-Pacific. His task is to develop and manage sustainable project outcomes across Australia and New Zealand.

Darren is a building services engineer who has been at the forefront of sustainable development issues in the built environment. He serves as the inaugural chair of the Sustainable Development (SD) Committee for the South Australian Division of the Property Council of Australia. In 2003, he was appointed to the SA Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability and was also chair of both the Sustainable Settlements sub-committee of the round table, and the building sector working group for the South Australian Greenhouse Strategy ‘Tackling Climate Change’.

Darren currently serves on the Development Assessment Commission (DAC) in South Australia as a specialist member with expertise in the environment and sustainability.

He has over 30 years’ of experience in the fertiliser, chemical, transport and energy industries. Since 2001 he has had responsibility for Origin Energy’s relationships with Governments, their agencies, the media and the community. He was previously General Manager, Retail with responsibility for marketing natural gas, LPG and electricity throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Tony is a Board Member of the Committee for Melbourne and represents Origin on a range of Government and industry bodies.
 
In his current role, Tony has responsibility for Origin’s contribution to the debate on Climate Change, an issue of critical importance to the energy sector. He has regularly contributed to conferences, industry and government working groups and media commentary on this important topic.

Chris Wallbank has 30 years experience in the design, construction, commissioning and maintenance of building services, with the last 15 years focussed on building performance improvements with new and existing property. He is the National Director of Sustainability and Engineering Services, Australia.

Appointed in 2005 to setup and run Jones Lang LaSalle’s Sustainability Group, Chris has used his engineering expertise and experience to unify and focus Jones Lang LaSalle’s initiatives and operatives. In the last 10 years, Chris has worked in a National practice that designed  numerous landmark commercial, retail, hotel, education and health care developments throughout Australia.

Peter Shmigel is one of Australia's sustainability leaders. Through end-to-end counsel on strategic, operational and communications issues, he creates value through client environmental and social performance. Peter specialises in strategy development, policy analysis and stakeholder engagement. Past roles include Chief of Staff to a Minister for Environment, Corporate Environmental Affairs Manager for Telstra, CEO of an environmental management association and consultant to corporate, government and NGO clients.

Peter Gleick is co-founder and President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland, California. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatisation and globalisation and international conflicts over water resources.

Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognised water expert and was named a MacArthur Fellow in October 2003 for his work. In 2001, Gleick was dubbed a "visionary on the environment" by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1999, Gleick was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy, in Oslo, Norway and in 2006 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.

As Research Director and Associate Professor, Cynthia’s goal is to create change towards sustainable futures. Her experience in the water and building sectors ranges from visioning and strategic analysis to concept design. Because solving the sustainability problems we face requires insights from many disciplines, Cynthia takes a trans-disciplinary approach, adapting principles from her engineering and science training; futures and systems thinking; economics; and learning. In 2007, Cynthia was awarded an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University in Sweden for her interdisciplinary work in the environment.

Sue graduated as a Civil Engineer from the University of Western Australia in 1979. After winning a Clough Scholarship as an undergraduate, she joined Clough Engineering in 1980 commencing what would be a 25-year career in that organisation. Twelve years in the field as a site engineer and project manager led to corporate roles with a focus on human resources, safety and engineering design management and her appointment in 1998 as the first woman on the board of the Clough Engineering Ltd.

In 2004 Sue joined the Water Corporation of Western Australia. She is the General Manager of Planning and Infrastructure Division.

She was the 2000 national winner of the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year in the private sector category.

A Strategic Futurist and Human Values specialist, Marcus assists clients in building a more effective and realistic understanding of their current and future operating environment. He works with Government and Corporate clients of all sizes in almost all industry sectors at an Advanced Strategic level uncovering emerging signals of change and opportunities for innovation. He is the founder of the Australian Strategic Planning Institute and director of strategic futures firm Looking Up Feeling Good Pty Ltd.

Marcus has authored a number of books and articles for various journals, and has been a presenter at numerous conferences.

Grant Kearney is the co-founder of one of the world’s most revolutionary innovation models, the InnovationXchange (IXC), which has been widely acclaimed particularly in the writings of Henry Chesbrough, the father of ‘open innovation’.

IXC is an international knowledge exchange that identifies and creates external business and research connections for companies and public institutes through the deployment of its network of IXC Intermediaries®.

Grant combines a personal record of accomplishment in private enterprise with a commitment to social responsibility and the not-for-profit sector.

Based in Brisbane, Mike is a well known consultant, author and commentator on strategic futures. His focus is on how we navigate in a fast changing world. He is a co-founder, and managing partner of the Global Foresight Network which specialises in ‘futures design’ that has robustness in a world of paradigm shifts, convergence and new mental models.

Mike’s clients are from a broad spectrum of private and public sector organisations in Australia, NZ, Asia and the USA.

Kevin Hurst joined Veolia Environmental Services in 1999 and is UK Director of Marketing and Communications.

Kevin's previous experience includes sales and marketing management in a variety of industry sectors from retail to construction.

In his current role Kevin oversees all the marketing and communications activities of Veolia Environmental Services' UK operations with responsibility for media relations, employee communications, event management, market analysis and intelligence.

He is an active member of Veolia Environmental Services' Social Responsibility Strategic Committee, is the London Panel Chairman for the Veolia Environmental Trust and works with the Business Commitment to the Environment organisation as a Vice President member.

Garth Hickle is the product stewardship team leader with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). He has been with the MPCA since 1996 working on product stewardship for various goods including packaging, electronics and carpet. Prior to the MPCA he worked as a lobbyist on energy and environmental issues and at the Minnesota State Senate. He sits on the board of directors for the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and the board of advisors for the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). He is an adjunct faculty member at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

He was named a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow in 2001 and a research grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation in 2003, both to pursue research on product policy in Western Europe.

David Perchard began his career with the Food Manufacturers Federation and spent eight years with Cadbury Schweppes before co-founding his own independent consultancy, Perchards, in 1987. He has been involved with waste management policy ever since the European Commission started taking an interest in the environmental impact of packaging in 1974.

In 2004-5 David Perchard led a study on the implementation and impact of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive on the functioning of the Internal Market. Recently, Perchards completed a peer review of the McLennan Magasanik Associates and BDA report on complementary economic mechanisms for the National Packaging Covenant Jurisdictional Working Group.

Dexter Dunphy is Visiting Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, having recently retired from his position as Distinguished Professor.

Dexter has consulted to over 160 private and public sector organisations in Australia and abroad. His consulting includes advising on major organisational transitions, corporate sustainability, design of human resource strategies, the management of organisational change and implementing sustainability practices. He also has 35 years experience working with senior executives, managers and other professionals in enhancing their managerial skills through executive workshops, consulting and counseling/mentoring.

His research is published in over 90 articles and 24 books.

Les was formerly Social Marketing Director at Social Change Media in Sydney. Currently, he is a facilitator and trainer specialising in the design of behaviour change programs in fields like sustainability, natural resource management, health promotion, road safety and emergency management.

Les is the author of CoCreate, a facilitators' guide to collaborative community processes, and Enabling Eco-Action, a popular guide to involving the public in conservation.

Dr Colin Hocking, Victoria University & President, VAEE

Colin Hocking researches ecology and management of native grassy ecosystems, as well as methods for learning and change for sustainability, approaches to formulating professional development for sustainability facilitators, and ways to effectively evaluate sustainability programs. He founded, and is currently convenor, of the Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre at St Albans, outer Western Melbourne. Colin is Vice President (Communities) for the Victorian Association for Environmental Education, was a foundation member of the Working Group of the Victorian Roundtable on Sustainability Education, and is on the National Task Force for Chilean Needle Grass. He has published and presented papers widely across ecology, learning and change, and professional development for environmental sustainability.

Rebekah Brown leads the National Urban Water Governance Program at Monash University, and is an Associate Professor within the School of Geography and Environmental Science.

Over the last 15 years, Rebekah has specialised as a civil engineer and social scientist in environmental and sustainability issues, focusing on institutional development and organisational change for advancing sustainable urban water futures. Her research involves working closely with industry to provide a credible knowledge base for urban water strategists with developing institutional capacity, improving water governance and ultimately delivering more sustainable forms of water management.

Rupert Posner has almost 15 years experience in industry, government and the environment movement developing environmental policies and working in communications.

Prior to joining The Climate Group he was Communications Manager for the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. Rupert also played a critical role in the establishment and development of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and took a leading role in promoting Australia’s sustainable energy industry to government, industry and the wider community.

Previous roles include working with Greenpeace, ensuring Olympic sponsors and organisers complied with the Environmental Guidelines for the 2000 Olympic Games.

Chris Mitchell is the Foundation Director of The Centre for Australian Climate and Weather Research — a partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

His appointment follows a 17 year involvement in Australian and international climate research, most recently as CSIRO Theme Leader for Climate, Weather and Ocean Prediction based at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research.

He has advised government and business leaders of new developments in the science of climate change and has been a member of an international consultative group of experts established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Adjunct Professor Alan Pears is widely known for his contribution to policy, program development and education on sustainable energy and climate change issues.

Alan provides policy and strategy advice to governments, business and community groups. He has been a key contributor to the development of many programs including appliance energy labelling, building energy regulations, the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme, and Energy Efficiency Opportunities. Alan also teaches at RMIT University, runs environmental consultancy Sustainable Solutions, and writes a regular policy column in ReNew magazine.

Allan Preiss is an experienced senior manager, human resources consultant and educator with specialist expertise in:

• The development of organisational human resource strategies
• Performance management
• Change management
• Organisation review
• Skill profiling and development
• Facilitation

Throughout his working life as a senior manager, consultant and educator in the public and private sectors, Allan has taken a leading role in designing and implementing strategies aimed at attracting, motivating and retaining the best people in organisations. He has undertaken consulting assignments in Australia and a number of Asia-Pacific countries.
Allan has also coached athletes who have competed at local, national and international levels.