Sustainability Victoria Board

The Sustainability Victoria Board is:

• Dr Gillian Sparkes, Chair
  Gillian has extensive experience as a senior manager in the private and public sectors over a career spanning three decades in the manufacturing, waste management and water industries. Gillian has held senior management positions with BHP, Brambles, EPA Victoria and a Monash University subsidiary.  Prior to joining the Department of Sustainability and Environment as Deputy Secretary Corporate and Business Services in May 2010, Gillian was the establishing Centre Director for the Australian Government (DIISR), Clean Energy Innovation Centre. 
  
  Gillian is an experienced project and change Manager with technical specialisation in the area of environmental sustainability and has a solid record of developing and delivering programs to support policy implementation in that area, at both a State and national level.  Ministerial appointments include membership of the Reference Group for the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability in Victoria 2006 - 2010, the Independent Assessment Panel for the Smart Water Fund 2007 - 2010 and Director of the South Gippsland Water Corporation and chair of the Board Environment Committee for six years, 2004 - 2010.  Gillian chaired the Sustainable Energy Use - Water Industry Working Group to develop a framework for greenhouse gas reductions with the Victorian Water Industry (2006) and was chair of the Tullamarine Hazardous Waste Landfill Community Consultative Committee from 2005- 2008. Academic qualifications include a PhD in Applied Science (Chemistry) and an MBA. Gillian is a graduate of the AICD.

• Mike Hill, Deputy Chair
  Mike has three decades of close involvement with local governments including serving as an elected Councillor and Mayor and nine years as CEO of the Victorian Local Governance Association.  He is currently Director of the Victorian Local Sustainability Accord which aligns local and state government sustainability and climate change action.
  
  Mike chairs the Natural Resources Conservation League and ECO-Buy Limited; and is a member of the advisory committee of RMIT's Centre for Design. He is co-director of WestWyck, a company developing an eco-village on a former school site in Brunswick West.  Mike is a former chair of the Moreland Energy Foundation.

• Cheryl Batagol
  Cheryl is the Chairman of the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and is a member of the Victorian Catchment Management Council.  She serves as Acting Chair on the Victorian Government's Sustainability Fund. She is a former Chairman of Melbourne Water and board member of City West Water and Southern Rural Water. Cheryl has 30 years' experience in the waste management industry, including commercial, industrial and trade waste management and treatment. Cheryl served as the former Chairperson of EcoRecycle Victoria from 2003-2005.

• Carolyn Lloyd
  Carolyn has a long involvement in the building and construction industry and in particular initiatives that promote and support sustainable urban communities which demonstrate innovation and commercial success. She is currently a member of the Building Practitioners' Board and is the former Deputy Chair of VicUrban. She is also the former Chief Executive Officer of the Housing Industry Association and has held Board positions on the Sustainable Energy Authority of Victoria, EcoRecycle Victoria, the Victorian Building Industry Training Board and the Building Industry Advisory Council. She has also led several international tours of builders and developers who specialise in environmentally sound higher density urban communities.

• Tanya Ha
  Tanya is an award-winning science journalist, author, and environmental campaigner. She has specialised in communicating sustainability to a broad audience through mainstream media, particularly television and lifestyle print media. She has written several sustainability-related books, including the children's book Green Stuff for Kids and the best-selling Greeniology. She has a strong background in the environment not-for-profit sector and established the Melbourne office for the Planet Ark Environmental Foundation. Tanya is a former board member of Keep Australia Beautiful (National Association).

• Dr Tony Marxsen
  Tony has extensive senior executive experience in the energy sector and other industries, after a 30-year career in the State Electricity Commission, accountable for the development and security of Victoria's power grid and incorporating it into the national grid. He was also senior Chief Information Officer at the SECV, ICI Australia and TAC. For many years, Tony was a Principal with The Nous Group advising major corporations and governments and he now operates his own consulting business and is a director of the Australian Energy Market Operator.

• Dr Nicholas Gruen
  Nicholas Gruen has worked in economics and public policy at senior levels in both the public and private sectors. He was economic advisor to two cabinet ministers and was appointed to the Productivity Commission (then Industry Commission) in 1993 and later Director of the Business Council's New Directions program from 1997. Leading Lateral Economics since 2000, he has consulted widely to both private sector and government clients specialising recently in innovation in government. 
  
  In 2009 he chaired the Federal Government's Government 2.0 Taskforce which was widely acclaimed by leading global commentators in the field.
  
  
• Suzanne Evans
  Suzanne is a partner in a horticultural enterprise in central Victoria. She is also a non-executive director of North East Water Corporation and Austin Health. She is a past member of the Osteopaths' Registration Board of Victoria, the Medical Practitioners' Board of Victoria's Customer Consultative Committee and is on the Minister for Health's list of panel members for hearing complaints against health practitioners. Suzanne sits on the accreditation committee for the Australian and New Zealand Osteopathic Council. She has executive experience in the water industry, at State Treasury, as principal of a public accounting practice and in academia.

• Ross McCann
  Ross is the Executive Chairman of Qenos and President of the Plastics and Chemicals Industry Association. He spent 25 years in management based roles at ICI Australia across operations, business development, projects and also in leading business units. He has also been a member of the Executive Committee of WMC Resources Ltd.

Top | Last updated 25/01/2012