REGIONAL CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF WA

Kitty has previously held the positions of Presidents of both the RCCIWA (2005 – 2010) and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder CCI (2003-2005) and has owned two small businesses in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the first one at the age of 21. Kitty’s involvement with a regional Chamber of Commerce began in 1991, and she is a strong and driven advocate for regional business communities.

EMERGENTFUTURES

For the last 20 years, Paul has worked as a futurist across a wide range of industries and organisations, assisting businesses with strategic thinking and planning using a futures perspective. Paul immerses himself to deliver a thought provoking and insightful view of what the future holds.

INVEST AND TRADE WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Krystal is a Principal Business Development Officer within the Client Services team of Invest and Trade Western Australia, Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation where she provides investment and trade facilitation and advisory services to international and domestic clients.

LA.ONE ECONOMICS & CONSULTING

Lucy Anderton combines her profound farming expertise with a keen understanding of economics to create empowering solutions for industry. After years working for government in agricultural economics and policy, Lucy founded LA.ONE Economics & Consulting and developed myFARMSMART, a groundbreaking decision support tool designed to streamline and enhance farm management processes.

WA SPACEPORT

Based in the City of Albany, WA Spaceport and Azimuth will attribute to Australia’s sovereign launch capability by delivering on the vision, ‘Space technology and exploration are possible for those who wish to pursue it’.
April’s professional career comprises of complex defence, infrastructure, health and commercial projects across Australia.

ORANJE TRACTOR WINE

Oranje Tractor is a diverse smallholding of wine grapes, over 170 fruit trees. Motivated by a desire to work with nature rather than against it, Murray Gomm and Pam Lincoln achieved organic certification for the farm in 2005. In more recent years Murray and Pam have introduced a range of regenerative farming practices that build soil carbon, a diverse soil microbiome, soil fertility and nutrient dense produce with minimal inputs.

TOURISM WA

With two decades of experience in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries, Kylie’s career journey has been nothing short of adventurous. From orchestrating expedition cruises is destinations like Antarctica, Libya and the Galapagos to leading national sales and marketing strategies for global hotel chains.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY WA

Michael brings a wealth of experience spanning more than 28 years, with a multifaceted background in International Engagement and Strategy, Business Development, and Government Liaison. Michael has been instrumental in guiding clients toward international trade success, facilitating ventures across Western Europe, The Middle East, North America, and Asia.

HMC GROUP incl. NEXUS AIRLINES

Kym’s background is focused on small business, tourism, and external relations. Kym has had a diverse career that includes being a qualified Dive Master, tour guide, business owner, board member, partnership manager and business advisor. Previous work experience includes Senior Manager Partnerships and Industry with Tourism Western Australia, Business Advisor for the Small Business Development Corporation, and Communications Manager for Destination Perth. Kym has also operated several tourism ventures. Kym now works with the HMC Group, including Nexus Airlines, as Group External Relations Manager.

RIO TINTO

After working in education and educational leadership for 10 years across the Northern Territory, Pilbara and Kimberley regions, Elyse joined Rio Tinto as a community engagement advisor in the Pilbara. Elyse is now based in the Peel region where she supports regional communities across Western Australia including Albany.

EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY

Professor Cobie Rudd is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Regional Futures) and Vice-President at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and is focused on increasing engagement opportunities in regional, rural, and remote Western Australia to better support the educational, research, community, and industry needs of the regions.

DECMIL

Matt is local to Albany with an extensive background in Civil Engineering and Management. Matt is the Project Manager with Decmil, most recently managing the final completion of the Albany Ring Road Stage 2, a significant economic development project set to leave a lasting legacy for transport logistics in the region and the Port of Albany.

RAINTREE GROUP

Stephen Birkbeck advocates supply chains joining forces to use their collective resources to improve regional communities’ socio-economic prospects worldwide. He has been invited to present in front of world leaders, which led to establishing The President’s Circle, supported by the United Nations Convention on Bio-Diversity.

GRANGE RESOURCES – SOUTHDOWN PROJECT

Glenda Stirling is a CPA and 30-year veteran of the WA Mining industry. Having grown up on a farm in Youngs Siding and obtaining an Accounting degree from Curtin University, Glenda has worked on St Georges Tce, the Pilbara, Gascoyne, Goldfields, and Great Southern in various commodities.

AUSTRALIA’S SOUTHWEST

With more than 19 years’ experience in the tourism industry, Catrin is the Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s South West, one of Western Australia’s five Regional Tourism Organisations. Catrin brings strong leadership, proven strategic implementation and effective stakeholder engagement skills to the organisation and region.

MILNE GROUP

Having worked in senior strategic roles across agribusiness, biotech and academia in Australia, NZ, Israel and Spain, Boaz has extensive experience in assessing business and technology feasibility, and using collaborative networks to solve complex problems.

VESTAS

Glen Wilson leads new wind farm prospects in Western Australia. Formerly a Service Manager for Vestas, he oversaw Service teams maintaining wind and solar farms nationwide. With a power generation background since 1996, Glen has provided professional guidance globally, emphasizing renewable energy.

BROOME CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

Sharni Foulkes is a dynamic and passionate advocate for the stunning Kimberley region. With over $1B worth of upcoming projects, her energy and enthusiasm know no bounds, and she's dedicated to showcasing the immense potential and opportunities that this extraordinary corner of the world offers. As the CEO of the Broome Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sharni is not just a leader but also a driving force behind the development and growth of the Kimberley.

DUNE BEER CO

Kate Marwick, the owner of Emu Point Cafe, is also involved in an exciting venture called Dune Beer Co. This brewery aims to create a premium venue that seamlessly blends local produce, exceptional beer, and a deep respect for the land.

REIWA

Joe White is the current President of the Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) and the Director of JMW Real Estate in Dunsborough.
With over 30 years’ experience in the real estate industry, he has extensive knowledge of WA’s property market, particularly in the regions. Joe has a keen eye for statistics, town planning implications and housing trends and is passionate about housing supply and affordability.

AGRISTART/INNOVATION CLUSTER

Dr Teakle (Tash) is experienced in business strategy, commercialisation, innovation and investment. Coming from a WA farming family and having spent 8 years as an agricultural researcher and lecturer, Tash is the lead of AgriStart, helping hundreds of startups across regional Australia and is an active angel investor.

CBH GROUP

Nelson and his team consider CBH’s long term investment requirements looking at future challenges and opportunities and what we need to do as a business to keep up

MARINE ENERGY RESEARCH AUS.

Dr Ebeling is the Centre Manager for UWA Marine Energy Research Australia (MERA) (previously known as the Wave Energy Research Centre) based at the UWA regional campus in Albany, in the historic railway station. Dr Ebeling will join others on the Future in Sustainability and Projects panel.

ADVANCE HOUSING

John is the CEO of Advance Housing, the Great Southern’s largest dedicated community housing provider. With senior executive level experience in a number of service driven industries, John has a strong and diverse mix of senior strategic and operational business and leadership ability.

CURTIN UNIVERSITY

Chandra is a post-graduate engineer and entrepreneur who has worked on projects partnering with government, industry and higher education over the past decade, which has given him a deep understanding of the challenges and the opportunities in driving innovation in large organisations and jurisdictions. Previously, he has led industry-education partnerships with ECU and Murdoch University and worked on innovative approaches to economic development in the regional Western Australia by supporting the development and capacity building of innovation hubs in the Pilbara, Peel, Midwest and Southwest.

UWA ALBANY

Steve has 50 years as a conservation biologist and teacher, including 12 years leading Kings Park and Botanic Garden, and six years leading the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Steve’s research focuses on sustainable living with biodiversity, especially with Aboriginal Elders.

Manager Grand Challenges and United Nations Regional Centre for Expertise, UWA

Clare Senior is an experienced project manager with a history of managing strategic projects from conception through to completion and evaluation. Clare is passionate about social change, leadership, equity and volunteering and enjoys working with and connecting people with diverse expertise towards achieving a shared goal.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY WA

Ryan has 15 years of management and industrial relations experience, providing legal advice to businesses across a wide range of industries. Ryan provides workplace solutions that contribute to the strategic thinking and direction of the business, assisting them to meet their core objectives and values by effectively drafting and negotiating contractual agreements.

GHD

Jeff is a Technical Director with 23 years’ experience in the areas of business management, planning, engineering, climate change research and sustainability. Jeff’s involvement in infrastructure projects has ranged from policy, planning, permitting, concept design and modelling, through to detailed design, construction, commissioning, optimisation, and contract administration.

CITY OF ALBANY

Ruth is a Charted Civil Engineer with over 30 years delivering small and large scale projects both in private sector and Local Government. During that time she has worked in the Nuclear sector safely demolishing nuclear power stations. Ruth has a passion for managing waste effectively and sustainability.

SOUTHERN PORTS

Paul Mackey is the Environment Manager at Southern Ports, Albany and has a background in Environmental and Marine Science with First Class Honours in applied seagrass research. Paul has worked in a number of industries including construction, mining, logistics, defence and marine transport. Previous employers include the Edith Cowan University, CSIRO, (fmr) Western Australian Department of Environment, Albany Port Authority, Port Hedland Port Authority and Southern Ports.

SOUTHERN PORT AUTHORITY

Keith Wilks is Chief Executive Officer of Southern Ports, where he oversees the management of Western Australia’s three southern regional ports at Albany, Bunbury and Esperance. With almost three decades’ experience in the port and maritime sectors, including many years at sea and a Master Mariner certification, Keith offers valuable operational experience in leading complex port operations, backed by proven strategic and leadership expertise.

CBH

Kellie Todman is Manager of Government and Industry Relations at the CBH Group, liaising with local, state and federal Government and grain industry organisations to advocate for good outcomes for CBH and the grain growers of Western Australia. Before joining CBH, Kellie worked in local government for a number of years. In her current role at CBH Kellie looks after regulatory approvals in addition to managing the CBH Growers’ Advisory Council.

PARVATE ESG

As the Managing Director, Jim leads a team driving sustainable business growth through tailored Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) business advisory services. Their expertise spans various industries and with a WA origin we are a growing presence across Australia and in the vibrant market of India.

WAITOC

Briony, is a born and bred West Australian woman, a descendent of the Yamatji nation. She has a strong background in education, as a teacher for over 20 years across the state, then in education management roles in the Great Southern and Southwest region. Briony provides business support to Aboriginal tourism businesses in the Great Southern, Southwest, Wheatbelt and Goldfields regions for WAITOC.