2009 Alpine Resorts Sustainability Forum presenters

Forum presenters

Nick Rowley
Director of Sydney-based Kinesis and Strategic Director to the Copenhagen Climate Council

Nick specialises in advising on new policy and practice to achieve emissions reduction for business and government. He has a deep knowledge of the policy and other drivers required to achieve low emissions growth.

Over the past twelve years he has worked at the centre of government on sustainability, climate change and broader policy and political strategy in Australia and the UK.

From March 2004 to January 2006, Nick worked at 10 Downing Street as an advisor to Tony Blair. In this role he was part of a small team advising the Prime Minister on climate change prior to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July 2005 and worked closely with the likes of Nicholas Stern and the Prime Minister's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King.

From 1995 to 2004 Nick was advisor to Bob Carr, Premier of NSW, working primarily on policy on the environment, urban development and medical research.

Nick is also Strategic Director to the Copenhagen Climate Council working with senior global business CEOs and climate experts to help achieve a new global climate treaty at the crucial UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009.

He is a regular commentator on climate issues in the Australian and international media, is on the Advisory Board of The Climate Group and is a Fellow of the Australian New Zealand School of Government.

Grant Amon
Architect - Grant Amon Architects Pty Ltd

Grant Amon Architects involvement in design has spanned a variety of projects ranging from residential projects and commercial fit outs through to the hospitality industry with a range of restaurants, hotels, bars and cafes. Based in St.Kilda, Australia the practice actively pursues an ongoing interest in spatial manipulation, the crafting of objects and incorporation of local references and histories.

Recently expanding to include larger scale multi-use projects, including inner urban renewal, coastal and alpine resorts, tourism, landscape & retail projects, GAA capabilities are broad based, flexible and environmentally responsible. With a high emphasis on design particular to each project we aim to produce unique and efficient solutions for our clients.
Grant Amon Architects was established in 1993.

Maurice Beinat
Chief Technical Officer - ecoMaster Pty Ltd

Maurice has been a passionate environmentalist from a very young age.  Their increasing concern for the environment spurred Maurice and Lyn (his wife) to conduct extensive research and development into climate change solutions.  Their aim was to create a series of cost effective solutions to reduce emissions from Australian homes.  

Using their own home as a test case, they have reduced their home's energy consumption by 80% with solutions including lighting, draught proofing, effective insulation of ceiling, walls and under-floor, secondary glazing, passive solar systems, solar hot water and energy efficient appliances.  These solutions have made a dramatic improvement to the thermal performance of their home; and eliminated all emissions.
Their goal is now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Australian built environment.  To this end, they co-founded ecoMaster, a complete assessment and retrofit service to enable homes, schools and businesses to be comfortably green.

Dr Sue Briggs
Principal Research Scientist - NSW DECC

Sue's major interests and expertise are the science and practice of natural resources management, particularly providing scientific information and working with policy people, managers and landholders for improved natural resource management.  She operate at the interfaces of science, management, policy, law, rural cultures, and practical implementation.  Recent projects include:

• improving biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
• effects of grazing on vegetation condition
• landholders and biodiversity management
• methodologies and tools for assessing biodiversity
• priorities in threatened species recovery
• managing interactions between tourists and wildlife
• science for biodiversity policy and management.

Andrew Daff
Manager - Lane Cove River Tourist Park - DECC

Andrew Daff has almost 20 years’ hospitality management and consultancy experience. He believes passionately in sustainable environmental business strategies and under his leadership since 2005, the Lane Cove River Tourist Park has transformed into one of Australia's leading low cost ecotourism destinations. The Park is multi award winning:

• Australian Business Award for the Environment in 2006 and 2007
• United Nations World Environment Day Award in 2007
• HMAA Eco Tourism Award for Excellence in both 2007 and 2008
• NSW Tourism Best Tourism/Caravan Park in 2007 and 2008
• the inaugural QANTAS Award for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism in 2008.
• recently the Park is the only Australian finalist in the upcoming World Tourism and Travel Council's
• 'Tourism for Tomorrow' Awards, to be announced in May.

Ben Derrick
Natural Resource Manager  - Falls Creek Resort Management

Ben Derrick lives in Mt Beauty with his family and has worked at Falls Creek Resort Management as the Natural Resource Manager for the previous two and a half years. This diverse position is responsible for all environmental management at Falls Creek including biodiversity, waste, water, energy, fire management, walking and mountain bike trails and a range of capital projects. He also manages a range of environmental programs at the resort which includes FCRM’s continual involvement in the Green Globe 21 program. Prior to his professional career at FCRM Ben was a member of the Australian Cross Country Ski Team from 1991-2006.

Rocky Harvey
Owner & Developer of Alpine Habitats and Director Chapman Constructions Canberra Pty Ltd

Alpine Habitats was planned from its earliest stages as an ecotourism accommodation facility and was customised to ensure that it would obtain eco-tourism accreditation on completion.  Rocky Harvey, owner and developer of the resort, is a Canberra based builder and developer and developed the resort in response to perceived increased demand for low impact accommodation without loss of amenity.  A new building system was developed in parallel with the resort and Alpine Habitats became a pilot project for the system which has gone on to win a National Building Award for Innovation along with state level awards.

Jo Hearne
Executive Officer - Tourism Snowy Mountains

Jo has a Bachelor of Business in marketing and is the Executive Officer of Tourism Snowy Mountains. Jo has a depth of experience in the tourism industry and is an executive member of the Australian Alps National Landscape Committee. Jo has a passion for the Snowy Mountains and to encourage more sustainable visitation through building stronger cooperative partnerships with conservation and tourism.

Bob Heatley
Managing Director - Selwyn Snowfields

Bob Heatley has over 30 years experience in the snow industry and is the Managing Director of Selwyn Snowfields, a small family operated snow resort in NSW.  He is also a noteworthy apple orchardist in the Riverina district, with a degree in Horticulture from Lincoln University NZ.  His knowledge and experience in these two fields, coupled with his innate understanding of mechanics and electronics, has enabled Bob to succeed in operating a small Australian snow resort in a sub-alpine environment.  He has achieved this through remarkable innovation, forward thinking, and a strong passion to obtain a sustainable future for his resort.

Peter Jacobs
District Chief Ranger - Alps: Parks Victoria

Peter Jacobs has spent most of his 30 year park management career in and around the Australian Alps and is now Chief Ranger for the Alpine District with Parks Victoria.  Nature based tourism has been a major focus for Peter who was the inaugural chair of the Australian Alps National Landscapes Committee which was successful in establishing the Australian Alps as one of Australia’s eight National Landscapes.  Peter is also convenor of the Australian Alps Liaison Committee which manages a very successful and innovative cross border co-operative management program between Victoria, NSW, ACT and the Federal Government under which visitor experience and tourism is significant and the achievement of National Heritage status being a recent success. Peter is also a keen traveller having been immersed in the nature and culture of many of the world’s mountainous areas.

Lincoln Kern
Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council Governor in Council Appointee and Ecological Consultant

Lincoln is a trained botanist and ecologist with a keen interest in natural history, nature conservation, ecological restoration and land use planning.  Lincoln has worked for Greening Australia, the National Trust’s Save the Bush Program and the Shire of Wellington in Victoria. He started his own company, Practical Ecology P/L in 1993, and is currently the manager and principal consultant. Lincoln grew up in the American Midwest where few mountains exist but acquired an affinity for the mountains through travels in the Western USA and the Himalayas. After almost 20 years as a Victorian, he now spends time in the Victorian Alps in all seasons.

Lincoln has worked with the Victorian Native Vegetation Framework and Net Gain policy since it became a requirement in 2003 and will provide of the policy as an 'ecological offset' tool in development as well as a practical perspective on its implementation over time.

Liz MacPhee
Rehabilitation Officer - DECC

Liz MacPhee has over 20 years experience in high altitude rehabilitation of the Australian Alps. Her current position is Rehabilitation Officer for NPWS – DECC, with her primary focus on the rehabilitation of the former Snowy Scheme sites across Kosciuszko National Park. As a professional horticulturist and committed ecologist, Liz has developed plant production methods and rehabilitation techniques for the Australian Alps with a long association with the Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology and its associated research. Formally based in Victoria, her range of rehabilitation work involved walking tracks, grazing damage, sphagnum peatlands, snow patches and ski resorts. In 2006 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate high altitude rehabilitation techniques used in Finland, France, USA, Chile and Argentina.

Murray Neilson
Managing Director - Neilson Electronic Systems P/L

Murray is an electronic engineer with extensive experience in electronic, power, thermal and electro-acoustic applications. He has managed Neilson Electronic Systems P/L for more than 25 years, designed over 100 locally manufactured electronic products and has been recognised for innovative solutions on key projects such as the MCG, Crown Casino and the Melbourne City Council's 6-star green star Council House 2 building. He has been a passionate Hotham skier for 33 years and is a foundation member of Brush Ski Club. The recent geothermal project combined his engineering skills and commitment to sustainability objectives.

Tom Pelly
Manager - Technical Service and Environment, Mt Hotham Resort Management Board

A keen skier who lives in Bright with his family, Tom was appointed to his current position in November 2005, and was previously Manager Resort Operations from 1998, originally starting with the Mt Hotham Resort Management in 1989. He has an in depth knowledge in all aspects of the Resort’s infrastructure systems. He possesses a strong technical background equipping him with the necessary skills to manage key infrastructure systems. Tom is an experienced project manager and has undertaken environmental studies that complement his role in the organisation. He is responsible for environmental management, utility services, solid waste disposal, road management, land stability programs, horticultural services and capital works including the Victorian Watertrust Project.

Loredana Warren
SPERP Senior Operations Controller - Snowy Hydro

Loredana began working on Snowy Hydro’s Snowy Precipitation Enhancement Research Project in 2004. As the project’s Senior Operations Controller, she is responsible for the operational supervision of cloud seeding experiments; providing meteorological forecasts; and data analysis and reporting. Loredana has worked in the field of meteorology since 1995, originally with the Atmospheric Science section of the NSW EPA (now known as the Department of Environment and Climate Change). In the role of Senior Atmospheric Scientist (Meteorology), she was responsible for the EPA’s meteorological network and data; and the provision of air pollution forecasts.