ATA board members
Kate Allsopp
Kate has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a Masters of Environmental Engineering from Melbourne University. She has 10 years experience in manufacturing, the majority of which was managing teams and budgets, which has given her an excellent understanding of the requirements and practical considerations in managing people and finances – especially with limited resources.
Kate was CEO of the ATA from 2005-2007 so has a good understanding of the orgainisation and its operations.
Kate was appointed to the board in Setember 2009.
Chris Gillman
Chris has extensive experience at the senior management and Board level, both within Australia and internationally. His experience spans Australasia, Asia-Pacific, the UK, Europe and the US, executive roles and board appointments. He has a track record in successfully delivering leading-edge sustainability initiatives requiring both creativity and discipline.
Chris is currently the CEO of Griffith Hack – Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys and Lawyers. Prior to joining Griffith Hack his consulting work included an assignment as Director, Credit and Information Services of Dun and Bradstreet Australia, CEO of Reputation Qest and as Corporate Strategy Director – Andersen Business Consulting.
Prior to that Chris enjoyed a successful career with BP, both in Australia and at the international headquarters in London.
Dr. Usha Iyer-Raniga
Usha is the Assistant Director, Centre for Design and Senior Lecturer at the School of Property and Construction Management at RMIT University. Usha’s primary interest is in sustainability of the built environment, in achieving practical solutions to ensure sustainable outcomes for the users of the built environment. Usha brings a cross disciplinary and project management experiences to her work at RMIT.
Usha received her Doctorate in Environmental Planning from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1998. With Bachelors in Architecture from India and Masters in Environmental Efficiency and Conservation from Canada, Usha has a strong multidisciplinary approach to sustainability in the built environment. Usha has worked in architectural practices in India, Canada and Australia. More recently, Usha has worked in the public sector on developing and implementing sustainability policy and regulation in the built environment.
She continues to work in sustainability in teaching and research.
She became a Director of ATA in August 2009.
Amy Kean
Amy’s passionate about the role of renewables and energy efficiency in addressing climate change. Amy is General Manager of Pinpoint Earth is a subsidiary of Pinpoint Australia’s largest marketing service company. Amy has ten years experience in international clean energy and carbon markets in private industry and government, including establishing the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) in the region.
Amy has previously worked at Clean Energy Council, Hydro Tasmania, NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) and Accenture. She is also a member of the South Australian Government Renewable Energy Board, a strategic advisor to REEEP and undertaking a Sustainable Leadership Fellowship. Amy has a Bachelor of Science & Arts and Masters of Law.
Andrew Langdon
Andrew Langdon has 25 years experience in the sales, marketing and business management with suppliers of technical products to Australasian industry. He is currently the Managing Director of Hurll Nu-Way and Director of Nu-Way Energy (NZ), suppliers of process, heating and cooling equipment to industry in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.
He is passionate about transparency and accountability in all businesses and, as a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors course, Andrew is firmly committed to professionalism and the principles of director accountability and corporate responsibility.
Andrew was appointed to the ATA board in September 2007.
Blair Lindsay
Blair Lindsay is a qualified accountant (CPA) with over a decade of diverse human resource management experience in the public health, petrochemical, and automotive manufacturing sectors. Blair’s has developed an in-depth understanding of the complex work situation – the “human side of doing business”. Blair has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from La Trobe University and a Master of Management (Strategic Foresight) from Swinburne University.
Blair was appointed to the ATA board in May 2007.
Mark Lister
Mark Lister has a broad experience of sustainability, finance, water and energy policy issues gained from a wide ranging career in both the private and public sector. He is currently Group Manager of Strategy and Corporate Affairs for Szencorp, a specialist green building company also actively involved in demand side energy policy. Previous roles include time with the Victorian Government, the Victorian Water industry, as a corporate credit specialist and as a renewable energy project manager for small-scale solar installations in East Africa. Mark holds a Master of Social Science (Environmental Policy) from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide.
Mark was appointed to the ATA board in September 2008.
Rory Manchee
Rory Manchee is the Managing Director for Securities Services at Standard & Poor’s, he has spent most of his career building new businesses and developing products in professional, legal and financial publishing. Before joining Standard & Poor’s, he ran his own freelance editorial business, and previously spent 12 years with The Thomson Corporation in the UK, Asia and Australia, including six years based in Hong Kong.
Rory holds an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Leeds (England), and has also worked as a paralegal in the public and voluntary sectors, specializing in housing, employment and consumer debt counselling.
Rory Manchee was appointed to the ATA board in July 2008.
Richard Meredith
Richard Meredith has more than 25 years experience in communication. He advises client firms on national and international media and public relations issues and marketing communication strategy. Richard was previously corporate affairs manager with National Foods Limited. He founded and ran a boutique PR consultancy in Melbourne for 10 years and has been a newspaper reporter and editor, a theatre director and scriptwriter. He has been a contributing writer to Sustainability Matters, WME Magazine and to the book Sustainable Nation.
In addition to being a board member of ATA Richard has worked on the development of a business and marketing plan for the Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia (FECCA); been a mentor for the chief executive of a not for profit organisation; is on editorial committee of Leadership Magazine and was chair of Valley of the Arts Tourism Association Organising Committee. He is an associate of Leadership Victoria.
Richard was appointed to the ATA board in September 2008.
Ralf Thesing – Treasurer
Ralf Thesing grew up in Germany and holds an MBA equivalent from the Technical University of Darmstadt/Germany majoring in Environmental Economics. He currently works with software company SAP.
Ralf has always been passionate about our environment and an early adopter of sustainable features and practices and is a certified home sustainability assessor under the Federal Government’s Green Loans program. After completing a sustainable renovation of an Edwardian house in Prahran he now lives on a 30-acre farm which featured in the Sustainable House Day. He is also a committee member of the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group (MRSG).
Ralf was appointed to the ATA board in June 2009. The role of ATA Treasurer and Director brings together his financial back ground and acumen with his environmental and technical expertise.
Kane Thornton – President
Kane Thornton is passionate about the development of the renewable energy industry and addressing the challenge of climate change. Kane provides strategic advice in energy policy and national and international climate change policy and is currently Manager Climate Change Strategy with Hydro Tasmania.
Previous positions include Executive Officer of the Renewable Energy Generators Australia and Energy Policy Manager for ATA as well as working for IBM Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in North East Asia. Kane has a Masters in International Urban and Environmental Management and Bachelor of Information Technology.
Kane was appointed to the ATA board in March 2006 and was appointed President in October 2007.
