ACF - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Lead Environmental Investigator. Subjects
: ACF's investigations, integrity of carbon offsets, methane emissions, government transparency, Freedom of Information. Before joining ACF Annica was a former public servant in the federal Environment Department. She and her team investigate unethical, illegal, polluting and damaging behaviour, and advocate for policy change.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Environmental Performance Analyst
Audrey van Herwaarden, Corporate Environmental Performance Analyst. Subjects: sustainable finance, banks, superannuation funds, climate risk, greenwashing. Audrey is an experienced professional with a passion for the nexus between business and the environment. With a background in environmental economics, Audrey previously worked in financial risk management and sustainable finance providing second-party opinions for a variety of green, social, and sustainable bond frameworks, as well as sustainability-linked loans.
Basha Stasak, Nature Program Manager. Subjects: Australia's extinction crisis, threatened species, environment law reform. Basha is passionate about influencing system change to create positive social and environmental outcomes. Before joining ACF, she worked in state and federal politics, social enterprises, and grassroots organisations.
Job Titles:
- National Biodiversity Policy Officer
Brendan Sydes, National Biodiversity Policy Officer. Subjects: nature policy, threatened species, wildlife, ecosystems, environment law, protected areas, World Heritage Areas, logging, land clearing. Brendan is an environmental lawyer with a background in not-for-profit management, policy advocacy and law reform. He was a principal lawyer and founding CEO of Environmental Justice Australia, a non-profit legal practice dedicated to environmental protection.
Working at ACF allows me to combine my love of fundraising and philanthropy with my yearning to leave the world a better place for future generations.
I was born and raised in Canada and have been fortunate to live in countries as diverse as Algeria, Panama, Chile and the USA before moving to Brisbane in 2012 with my husband and two kids.
Before joining ACF, I led fundraising and marketing teams at Variety - the Children's Charity of Queensland, and CauseForce, which enabled critical health and community services. Back in North America, after completing my studies in marketing, I worked in the corporate sector in international sales and marketing before deciding to change course and become a fundraiser over 12 years ago.
I'm proud to be a Certified Fundraising Executive and Executive Member of Fundraising Institute Australia. I'm a passionate advocate for ethical fundraising, lifelong learning, fundraising best practice and loving our donors.
Job Titles:
- Nuclear Free Campaigner. Subjects
: uranium mining and mine rehabilitation, nuclear reactors and energy, nuclear weapons, nuclear waste. Dave has been active on mining, resource and nuclear issues for three decades through his work in the media, trade unions and environment groups. He is a founding member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
David is a civil and environmental engineer and a trained climate leader with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project. David is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland, where he teaches Sustainability in Engineering Architecture and IT Faculty. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2013 in recognition of his contribution to engineering through industry and professional associations, and for lifting public awareness of sustainability.
Job Titles:
- Campaigns Director
- Campaigns Director at the Australian Conservation Foundation.
- Director of Campaigns -
Paul Sinclair, Campaigns Director. Subjects: ACF's campaigns, renewable energy and protecting nature, how climate change is affecting sport in Australia, fossil fuel sponsorship of sport. Paul has led campaigns that have put water back into rivers, saved and regenerated habitats and wildlife, stopped climate pollution, created renewable energy and drawn public attention to the impact global warming is having on sport. He is the author of The Murray: A river and its people.
For over a decade now I've been finding ways of working with others to get water back into rivers, pollution out of our skies and oceans, places we love protected, and power to people to make the changes we need.
I decided I wanted to put the world back together in a better way when I was a kid watching the forests and rivers around our family farm die.
Elizabeth Sullivan, Exports Campaigner. Subjects: replacing Australia's coal and gas exports with clean exports.
Over 50 years, ACF and our community have had some incredible wins. We advocated against polluting projects like the Jabiluka uranium lease. We won World Heritage listing for the Reef and Kakadu. We protected places we all love, like the Franklin River, Antarctica and the Murray-Darling. We stood with Traditional Owners to hand back country and farmers to pioneer Landcare. We won billions for clean energy and led Australia's biggest climate march, helping to win a global pollution agreement.
Gavan McFadzean, Climate & Energy Program Manager. Subjects: climate change, coal and gas mining and exports, renewable energy, the net zero transition. Gavan has been a social justice and environmental activist for 25 years. He has had high-profile roles in national climate and forests campaigns and worked on Jabiluka, the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree, Cape York, the Kimberley and more. He has been a recipient of Wild Magazine's Australian Conservationist of the Year Award.
Grace (she/they) is a 22-year-old woman-of-colour fighting for climate, economic & racial justice on stolen Dharug, Gundungurra and Tharawal land across Western Sydney. She is pioneering an intersectional portfolio as the Climate & Racial Justice Director for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. She sits on the Boards of the Foundation for Young Australians and the Australian Conservation Foundation, and volunteers for Democracy in Colour.
Grace is passionate about working in the intersections of climate justice to build grassroots power in culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse and climate-affected communities in Australia to forge transformational solutions to the climate crisis.
Jaclyn McCosker, Gladstone-based Energy Transition Campaigner. Subjects: the clean energy transition, especially as it applies to regions that have traditionally relied on fossil fuel industries. Jaclyn is a Gladstone local whose primary aim is to support the central Queensland community through the energy transition. By bringing communities together and amplifying local voices, Jaclyn works to create a community-led transition that favours real, lasting climate solutions.
I believe that despite our differences, we all want the same thing: clean air, a safe and healthy environment for our loved ones, the soothing balm of nature and freedom to enjoy Australia's unique and beautiful big backyard.
From reporting from the epicentre of the world's largest refugee camp, to running snap press conferences from disaster zones, to coaching the next generation of young climate activists, I have enjoyed an interesting career as a journalist and climate communications leader and have many tales to tell.
I was lucky enough to grow up in regional Queensland surrounded by bushland and pristine beaches, with tree frogs and birdsong the soundtrack of my childhood.
But it was living through lockdown in Melbourne that helped me fully appreciate just how intrinsically connected nature is to our wellbeing. I discovered many hidden treasure troves on daily nature walks with my young son.
Jess Abrahams, National Nature Campaigner. Subjects: threatened species, wildlife, ecosystems, environment law, the Platy-project, protected areas, World Heritage Areas, logging, land clearing. Jess is a former Ranger with more than 20 years' experience campaigning for the protection of forests, rivers, wildlife and marine environments. Jess has worked with local communities and Traditional Owners to create new national parks, stop dangerous mines and restore degraded bushland.
Jonathan Moylan, Corporate Campaigner. Subjects: sustainable finance, banks, superannuation funds, climate risk, nature risk. Jonathan has been involved in environmental campaigning for more than 15 years. He is dedicated to promoting solutions to tackle the climate and nature crises. As a resident of the Hunter Valley, he has worked with communities to protect ecosystems and people from the impacts of coal and gas expansion. He previously worked at Greenpeace Australia Pacific on campaigns to shift bank policies on forests and fossil fuels, and corporate campaigns to accelerate the transition of big emitters. He has also led research on the health benefits of the energy transition.
Joshua is a Worimi man, farmer, and academic who shares the narration of Indigenous identity through agricultural truths in light of modern contexts. Each day, Josh's work seeks to connect the oldest living culture in the world with modernity, promoting the relevance of culture and Indigenous practices through today's lens.
Josie Alec, First Nations Lead. Subjects: First Nations action to protect Country, Songlines, water, air, rock art and connection to place. Josie is a teacher, artist and singer-songwriter. She is a Traditional Owner of Murujuga on the Burrup Peninsula and a co-founder of Save Our Songlines, which works to pass on lore and culture and protect Murujuga from industries that will damage Songlines, rock art, health and the climate.
Kelly O'Shanassy, Chief Executive Officer. Subjects: climate change, the clean energy transition, nature protection, people power to protect the environment. A leader with a record of transformative outcomes on climate, water and business sustainability, Kelly has been ACF's CEO since 2014. She has advised business leaders and represented ACF at the historic Paris climate talks, but it's the power of people to advocate for a better future that she is most passionate about.
Advocacy is about changing what is into what should be. This one, incredible idea has shaped my life and led me to ACF.
Long before I fell in love with our rivers and forests, I grew up in a fairly tough neighbourhood where people had little money but were rich in courage and community spirit. This taught me the value of working for the greater good. As a teenager, we lived in a caravan in the country with no running water - this taught me about our reliance on nature for life. And then I moved to the big smoke and went to university and studied the science of nature.
I've been incredibly lucky to have worked in business, in government and now in the community sector, all which are crucial to creating positive change.
In my roles I've established world-first environment protection policies, saved water, boosted recycling, safeguarded fragile rivers from overuse and pollution, stopped coal mines and kick-started renewable energy. I've advised business CEOs on their journey towards sustainability and chaired environment and community committees for government. But it's the community work that I love.
Leon has worked in policy roles in energy, climate change and sustainability. Currently working at Tesla across VPP and DER policy and programs, Leon has extensive knowledge of energy systems, economics and finance. Prior to joining Tesla, Leon worked in various ministerial, policy and political roles across state and federal government. Leon is passionate about ensuring that the transition to sustainable energy is socially equitable and that Australia leads the world in supporting nature. Leon has been an ACF Councillor since 2018, is a BA (Public Policy), MBA, GCM and AICD graduate. He lives and works on Kaurna land.
Job Titles:
- President
- Senior Leader and Board Member
Liana Downey (GAICD) is an experienced senior leader and board member with experience in the corporate, government and for-purpose sector. Former roles include Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Delivery for NSW Department of Education, Special Advisor to Prime Minister and Cabinet and CEO of a boutique strategic advisory firm with offices in Sydney and New York. Liana led the development of Australia's first Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost curve, was a leader of McKinsey & Company's sustainability practice, and recently established and led Common Ground on Climate-a national multidisciplinary research project to identify pragmatic opportunities to safeguard Australia's environment and economy.
Liana holds an MBA (Public Policy) from Stanford (Arjay Miller Scholar), has co-authored white papers on effective approaches for managing Australia's energy transition, and is the author of Mission Control: How Nonprofits and Governments Can Focus, Achieve More and Change the World (Taylor and Rutledge, 2016).
Melanie has worked in diverse areas of Ecology for over 20 years. Amongst this, Melanie completed a PhD in landscape-scale flowering ecology based on observational (qualitative and quantitative) data. Melanie is a consultant, providing professional mentoring and development services for ecologists and biodiversity planners as well as consulting on threatened species conservation. She has extensive experience in research; professional development training and facilitation; consulting; education; biodiversity planning; and community engagement, and is a recognised leader in environmental advocacy. Melanie is passionate about connecting people and place, and in systems change that increases communities' ability to be effective changemakers. Melanie joined the ACF Council in 2021, representing Victoria.
Nathaniel Pelle, Business & Nature Campaigner. Subjects: land clearing, deforestation, beef industry, carbon border adjustment schemes, nature risks, TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures). Nat leads ACF's work pushing business to better measure and manage its impact on biodiversity. He knows about marine issues from his previous job leading Greenpeace Australia Pacific's Oceans and Oil campaigns. Nat is an Honorary Associate of the Sydney Environment Institute.
Ros is an entrepreneur and experienced global technology leader. She is the CEO and Founder of The Yield, which uses AI to help its customers grow sell and distribute food more profitably with less environmental impact. Ros has a commitment to creating public good with private effort using innovative technology. She founded the multi-stakeholder global Better Work initiative in apparel and co-founded the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre. She has worked around the world for the UN and World Bank Group. Named in 2018 as one of the Australian Financial Reviews 100 Most Influential Women. Ros is an Australian Institute of Company Directors graduate.
Shar has over 25 years' experience working in environmental organisations and her qualifications are in finance, management, governance, mediation and campaigning. Shar led the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory from 2017 to 2022 and has served on the board of the Environmental Defenders Office (NT) and the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN). Shar designed and delivered the 10GW Vision in collaboration with Beyond Zero Emissions, and the successful and award-winning Repower NT campaign in 2020, which changed the conversation about renewable energy in the Northern Territory.
Stephen is a doctor who brings to the Board a medical perspective on the importance of nature for our physical and mental health. Stephen combines his medical expertise with a strong interest in sustainable healthcare, experience in NGO governance, including previous terms on ACF Council, and extensive community engagement. Stephen is passionate about protecting our natural places and a healthy environment, ensuring that both nature and Australian communities can thrive.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Partner
- Member of the Auditing and Assurance
Terence is a Partner and APAC Leader of EY's Climate Change and Sustainability team based in Melbourne. He is an environmental and sustainability advisory and assurance specialist with over 25 years' experience in advising governments and corporations on sustainability issues. Until its acquisition by EY in 2014, Terence was Founder/Executive Director of Net Balance, Australia's largest standalone sustainability and climate change practice at the time, one of Australia's first B Corporations.
Terence is a member of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board of Australia and is a non-executive director of Amnesty International Australia, Fairtrade Australia/New Zealand, Food Frontier and Global Citizen Australia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Queensland and Technical Working Group member of ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board).