SENATOR THE HON KIM CARR

Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will open the Conference with an overview of the Federal Government’s policy and vision on Spatial Innovation for the 21st Century and beyond. All speakers have been selected from international and Australian business, government and research organisations for the 2 day Plenary and Themed sessions.

Senator Kim Carr was educated at New South Wales and Victorian state schools and at the University of Melbourne, where he completed a B.A. (Hons), M.A. and Dip.Ed.

Before entering parliament he worked as a school teacher and policy adviser. He was elected to the Senate in 1993 and to Labor’s front bench in 1996, serving first as a Parliamentary Secretary and Opposition spokesman on education in the Senate (1996-01), and then as a Shadow Minister (2001-07). Between 1993 and 2007 he also worked on more than twenty Senate committees.

His first shadow portfolio was science and research (2001-04), which was soon joined by industry and innovation (2003-04). After gaining valuable experience in several other portfolios, he returned to his original responsibilities in 2006. Following Labor’s election victory in 2007, he was sworn in as Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research on 3 December 2007.

This was the culmination of a thirty-year interest in these policy areas. The design of the portfolio reflects his longstanding belief that it is critical – as he said in his first speech to the Senate (5 May 1993) – “to maintain a strong, innovative and diverse industrial base” in Australia.

SENATOR KATE LUNDY

Kate Lundy was elected as the Labor Senator for the Australian Capital Territory in March 1996, at age 28.
Between 1998 and 2007 Kate Lundy was a Shadow Minister, covering various portfolios throughout this time including Sport, Health Promotion, Information Technology, Local Government, Manufacturing, Consumers Affairs and Youth.

As a government Senator, Kate is Chair of the Joint Standing Committee for the National Capital and External Territories and a member of the Public Accounts and Audit Committee and the Presiding Officers’ Information Technology Advisory Committee.

PETER WOODGATE
CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI)

Peter heads up the CRCSI which is a $95 million investment by over 70 partners from the industry, government and university sectors across Australia. He has a long-standing interest in forest management, salinity research, greenhouse and the use of remote sensing for monitoring natural resources. He recently completed a Doctorate of Business Administration at RMIT University on the identification of factors that operate to both promote and impede the development of early phase innovation in the business cycle of the information communication technologies industry.

KEN BAXTER
Chairman, TFG International Pty Ltd

Ken is a former Secretary of Victorian Department of Premier & Cabinet; Director-General of NSW Premier’s Department; and has been a senior Policy Adviser to the PNG Government. He has through his recent career been Chairman of the Australian Dairy Corporation and an Advisor to London 2012 Olympic Committee as well as a Director of the Hydro-Electric Corporation of Tasmania and Air Niugini Ltd.

PROF BRUCE CHAPMAN
Professor, Crawford School of Economics and Govt at the Australian National University.

Bruce was awarded the Order of Australia in 2001 for “contributions to the development of economics, labour market and social policy”. He was an economic advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating from 1994-1996 during which time he was largely responsible for the motivation and design of Australia’s income contingent charge system for higher education, HECS. His major academic work has been on the application of income contingent loans to a host of public policies, including for the financing of: tertiary student income support; elite athletes; low level criminal offences; white collar crime; drought relief; housing loans; paid maternity leave; and community investment projects.

DR NICHOLAS GRUEN
CEO of Lateral Economics, and Peaches (a discount finance broker)

Dr Gruen’s research interests include the economics and policy of information and of disclosure and transparency regimes. He writes a fortnightly column for the Australian Financial Review. He has served in senior positions as advisor to Senator John Button when he was Industry Minister and John Dawkins when he was Treasurer and was recently appointed by the Minister for Finance to advise the Government on deregulation. He is currently Chairman of www.onlineopinion.com.au, Australia’s 18th most popular internet site – and a substantial contributor to Australia’s thriving policy blog scene on Club Troppo. Dr Gruen is presently a member of the Panel reviewing Australia’s Innovation System.

ALAN SMART
Principal Consultant, ACIL Tasman, Canberra.
Director of ASIBA; Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.

Alan consults in the energy, water and infrastructure sectors. He has also undertaken projects in evaluation and prioritisation of research and development, and in economics and strategy in defence procurement, agriculture, geoscience and spatial information systems. Alan directed an economic assessment of the contribution of spatial information systems to the Australian economy in 2007 and has provided policy and economic advice to government and private sector clients in this field.

RICHARD ALP
Director, Market Motion
Fuel for thought: delivering on the trade off between cost, customer and carbon.

Market Motion is a provider of industry-leading software solutions to some of Australia’s leading distribution intensive businesses. These solutions enable highly efficient order-to-delivery processes and include; street-level route optimization, territory planning, mobile delivery execution, real-time wireless dispatch and GPS tracking. Market Motion assists businesses across a wide range of industries to; counteract price increases, generate and report on tangible carbon emission benefits, and continue to deliver optimum customer service levels.

Nunzio Gambale
Locata Co-Founder and CEO

Nunzio spent 4 years as a Senior Finance Officer in the Australian Public Service (APS) after dropping out of his scholarship to the Australian National University studying Economics. He left the APS to tour as a professional rock musician for 4 years (he’s a bass player), and then founded one of Australia’s largest music retail/import/distribution businesses when the band split. He very successfully grew that business – Pro Audio – for 18 years. In parallel he invented and commercialized a radically new wireless microphone technology, and also co-founded Locata Corporation with his business partner (inventor David Small), providing funding for the start-up by selling Pro Audio.

Locata has developed a revolutionary new “local” radio-location technology which can provide exquisitely precise positioning in the many areas where satellite-based GPS fails. Locata provides this solution by being the first and only technology that can replicate GPS on the ground. This is an absolutely amazing technical accomplishment, and for years we were told repeatedly that it could NOT be done. Today we have 38 granted patents to prove that it can! Locata’s local positioning network (a LocataNet) can cover any area – from a large room to a campus to an entire city. The LocataNet’s combination of reliability, adaptability and precision overcomes the many serious limitations of GPS which are evident in multiple positioning markets. So… in the many environments where GPS clearly fails to meet market needs – for mining, engineering, emergency services, warehousing, transport, supply-chain management, and more – Locata supplies new and compelling solutions. Locata is a fundamental and disruptive advance in positioning technology. No other technology in the world can do this.

Nunzio has been responsible as the driving force for management, partnerships, funding, patents, financial control and strategic planning since Locata’s inception. He’s the founder and Director of 3 other companies. Nunzio unashamedly admits to being an incurable serial entrepreneur. He loves music, technology, reading, fast cars and travel. Life is good. For more information on Locata, visit www.locatacorp.com

GRAEME BROOK

Graeme Brooke is a surveyor by profession with a Bachelor of Surveying (1980) and a Master of Surveying and Mapping Science (1988) from the University of Queensland.

During the 90’s he spent his professional career in digital photogrammetry as the Technical Director in charge of development, sales and marketing of the VirtuoZo soft-photogrammetry package.

In 2000, he founded VizMAP drawing on his experience in high-end graphics computing, and especially, geospatial visualisation.

Beyond GIS, remote sensing and photogrammetry, VizMAP is in the business of graphically showing what geographically exists and/or what is proposed. It is the “out of window” experience which captures the imagination.

Today, VizMAP is one of Australia’s preeminent geospatial visualisation houses, performing ongoing projects for private industry, local, state and federal government and for the Australian defence industry. VizMAP’s largest clients are the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Queensland Government.

JASON CLARK
GIS Manager , Thiess Survey and Technology Applications Group
GIS Manager for Eastlink, a major road construction project in Melbourne’s East.

Thiess currently have $8.3 billion of work in-hand under way across the company in the Building, Civil, Mining, Process, Environmental services, Utilities services, and Facilities operations and maintenance sectors.Recently, Thiess have realised that virtually every aspect of its work is related to geography. It is developing spatial applications that support its core activities across all sectors in emergency response and safety, property and land management, environmental protection, community services, asset management, planning and engineering and transportation and logistics.

JOHN THOMSON
Patrick Container Ports

John is currently the General Manager Property for Patrick Container Ports. John has extensive experience in real estate management, encompassing various disciplines such as:

• Surveying
• Town planning
• Para-legal
• Engineering
• Property acquisition, disposal and management
• Essential services
• Facilities and asset management
• Project management and development

His career covers over 40 years at both government, corporate and private levels. He has traveled extensively in Australia and overseas on behalf of government agencies and large private corporations, using his property management and negotiating skills at various levels in those countries.

John has been instrumental in developing the Global Property Management System (GPMS) with both Vision and Omni. The system is currently in use within the Asciano/Patrick Group.

RICHARD LEMON
Practice Leader for Aerial Survey, Sinclair Knight Merz

Richard has worked in both the public and private sectors in surveying, GIS, aerial survey and mapping. Initially with the Commonwealth surveying and mapping agency (AUSLIG), he gained experience in the fields of surveying, remote sensing, GIS and project management. His past 11 years experience with Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has included various management roles while also working on some of the nation’s largest infrastructure and nation building projects. He is the architect and ongoing manager of SKM’s very successful digital ortho-rectified aerial photography product series, AUSIMAGE.

BRENT STAFFORD

Mr Stafford is a Business Development Manager with Navteq (a Nokia Company) a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, internet-based mapping applications, and business solutions. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 1,900 employees located in 133 offices in 24 countries.

Most recently Mr Stafford was the Executive Director of Intelligent Transport Systems Australia, where he was responsible for managing ITS Australia and managing the implementation of the National strategy for ITS in Australia – e-transport for which he was the recipient of the Austroads Achievement Award . The new ITS position was generated from the increased interest in intelligent transport systems, particularly with the support from Australian Transport Ministers with their endorsement of e-transport. Under his leadership a World First National ITS Centre for Excellence in commercialising ITS technologies was conceived and realised. This involving significant financial contribution from governments and industry alike.

Mr Stafford was also responsible for projects of ITS demonstration such as SmartDemo and acting as a facilitator between government, business, and the network of global ITS organisations where he presented at many national and international congress’ and events, trade delegations and industry missions.

Mr Stafford had previously acted in an advisory capacity to the Australian Global Navigation Satellite Systems Co-ordination Committee, the National Transport Council Industry Advisory Group, the Australian Logistics Council Information Standards Working Group and Security Working Group, the National ITS Architecture Working Group, the National Electronic Tolling Committee, the National Telematics Coordination Committee, and other regional and international roles such as the Asia Pacific Telecommunications Advisory Panel and the ITS Asia Pacific Board of Directors and the ITS World Congress Board of Directors.

Mr Stafford has previously worked in various technology and executive positions in the fields of telematics, car navigation, m-commerce, geographic information systems, hydrographic services, and business development in companies such as Robert Bosch – Blaupunkt, The Rural Water Commission, and Pacific Access (Sensis). Mr Stafford also served in the Victoria Police for a decade.

TIM BARKER
Assistant Government Statistician and Director Queensland Spatial Information Office, Queensland Treasury

- B.Ap.Sc (QIT) , M.Sc.Eng (UNB)
- APSEA Professional of the Year 2006
- QSEA Eminence and Excellence Award 2008

MIKE BRADFORD
Acting Chief Executive, Landgate, Western Australia

Mike Bradford joined Landgate in 2006 and was appointed Executive Director, Information Access in February 2007. He has been Acting Chief Executive Landgate since August 2008. Mike has experience managing all aspects of the production and dissemination of land information products including topographic map production remote-sensing and geographic information systems. He has managed complex information technology projects including decision support systems within the Department of Defence. Mike has experience in strategic planning, capability and project development and technology management. He also has been responsible for delivery of development assistance projects in regional countries. Mike holds a Bachelor of Surveying Degree and a Masters in Management Studies (Project Management).

MARK DUNFORD
Geoscience Australia

NEXIS: Managing the Exposure of Infrastructure through Spatial Innovation

Mr Mark Dunford was a wildlife ecologist with Wildlife Research, Parks Conservation and Lands, ACT Govt for over 14 years where he contributed to research and monitoring on a number of threatened species and communities in the ACT and region. Mark’s work included identification and protection of endangered lowland grassland and grassy woodland communities and work on species such as the Striped Legless Lizard, Golden Sun Moth, Perunga Grasshopper, and the Spotted tailed Quoll. During this time Mark was also responsible for managing ACT Governments flora and fauna GIS information.

In October 2007 Mark joined Geoscience Australia, Risk and Impact Analysis Group as a Senior Spatial Analyst responsible for the production and deliver of the National Exposure Information System (NEXIS).

DR. KEN LYONS

LEE BLACKLOCK
Qld RGC Spatial Coordinator:
"Queensland initiatives to enable land managers to Manage - Capacity Building for all Land Managers"

Lee has 30 years experience in the public service beginning my career as a Cartographic Draftsman with the Queensland Department of Geographic Information now Dept Of Natural Resources and Water. Lee was involved in the construction of the Digital Cadastral Data Base (DCDB) within Qld in the days when personal computers were a thing of the future.

In 1993 Lee accepted a transfer to Mackay where he learnt about the real world and this is where my interest in GIS developed. Lee worked as the GIS project officer for the SEQ Regional Vegetation Management Planning team meeting a variety of industry and community representatives. Lee later joined a team (IM01) which was a project jointly funded by NHT2 and NAPSWQ. Our task was to build capacity within the NAPSWQ funded regional bodies in Qld focusing on Information Management, GPS and GIS functions. Lee is currently coordinating the Qld NRM Regional Groups Collective (RGC) Spatial Imagery Capture Project.

MATT HIGGINS

Matt Higgins is Principal Survey Advisor with the Department of Natural Resources and Water in the Queensland Government. He holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Surveying. From 2007 to 2010, Matt is a Vice President of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). He is also the FIG representative on the UN mandated International Committee on GNSS where he Co-Chairs Working Group D on "Interaction with national and regional authorities and relevant international organizations".

In 2008, Matt was elected President of the IGNSS Society. Matt is a past member of the Editorial Advisory Board of GPS World Magazine and a Fellow of both the Institution of Surveyors and the Spatial Sciences Institute in Australia. At the 2005 Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards, Matt received the award for "Professional Eminence and Excellence in the Spatial Sciences". The award is the SSI's highest form of recognition for professional eminence.

BRETT BUNDOCK
CEO of ESRI Australia
Location Intelligence Innovation: Solving Tomorrow’s Issues Today

Brett Bundock has been Managing Director of ESRI Australia since December 2006 after four and a half years as the company’s CEO. Brett holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Geography, Cartography & Government Administration) and a Graduate Diploma in Mapping and Surveying Studies from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Brett started his Geographic Information Systems (GIS) career at the Department of Geographic Information in Brisbane (which later became the Department of Lands, and is now part of the Department of Natural Resources and Water), before joining ESRI Australia in 1988. Since then, Brett has worked in a number of ESRI Australia offices, as well as working in management positions for ESRI South Asia in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Since his appointment as CEO, and now Managing Director, Brett has doubled the company’s turnover, seen ESRI Australia grow to be ranked the 9th largest software supplier to the Australian Commonwealth government and positioned the business to be acknowledged as arguably the best-selling location intelligence solutions company in the country.

Brett’s vision is to have location intelligence recognised in non-traditional markets and accepted as a critical success factor for all businesses.

CHRIS CLARK
Director of Operations, Loopt – Social Networking

Chris manages the company’s relationships with wireless carriers such as Verizon, Sprint, and MetroPCS and oversees Loopt’s customer service operations for all carriers and devices. He is also a candidate for Mountain View City Council and will be on the November 4th ballot. Prior to joining Loopt, Chris was one of a few dozen members of AT&T’s flagship Leadership Development Program. While rotating through three cities across the U.S., he managed union and non-union employees, developed short and long term targeted advertising strategy for company’s IPTV platform, and helped launch the iPhone in June 2007. Before joining AT&T, Chris also rotated through several assignments with the U.S. State Department in Germany. Chris was born and raised on a family farm in rural Illinois. At age 16, he moved to Washington, DC to serve as a Page for the U.S. House of Representatives and later attended Stanford University. He graduated with a B.A. in Political Science, secondary major in International Relations, and a minor in Economics. He currently resides in Mountain View, California.

MICHAEL DIGBY
Regional Mapping Services Coordinator - Northern Gulf Resource Management Group : “Mapping of Real World Remote Country by Real World People - Never under estimate the abilities of remote communities to pick up and run with spatial technology."

Michael Digby is the Regional Mapping Services Coordinator for the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group. In this role, he has developed and implimented GIS and GPS training and methods to map natural resources and property infrastructure to support and aid sustainable planning and management practises. He is also working closely with the Northern Gulf Indigenous Savannah Group by providing technical support to indigenous heritage mapping projects.

Michael is a foundation member of the Spatial Science Institute of Australia and has an extensive background in community, industry and Government involvement in spatial information systems. Michael has worked for Qld EPA as Spatial Analyst on the South East Queensland Forest Agreement and the Wet Tropics Forest Transfer, the AMSA Oil Spill Response Atlas and the Qld Marine Protected Area Strategy.

Michael also undertook the initial Physical Classification Scheme for Australian Estuaries. Michael has also had an active consultant career as environmental consultant to Australian Department of Defence contributing to the environmental management plan for RAAF Air Weapons Range at Evans Head, northern NSW. He also was an environmental consultant/adviser to Evans Head Fisherman’s Co-operative which dealt with a habitat protection issue instigated by the ocean-trawl operators which included the gazettal of a closure to all forms of trawling in and adjacent to the Evans Reef region.

JOSH FORNER

Josh is 1/3 of Where It's At - a blog and podcast about the popular aspects of spatial. He is passionate about the use of spatial technology within the general community and innovative ways of communicating the business of working in the spatial industry.

In 2001, Josh co-founded a spatial company, GecOz, which serviced the Northern Territory spatial community. Through GecOz Josh gained extensive experience working with local government, NGO's and Aboriginal community organisations.

He was awarded a Bachelor of Science (Ecology and Spatial Science) with Honours from the Northern Territory University and is currently completing a PhD examining the didjeridu production industry in northern Australia. Josh is currently employed as the GIS Coordinator at Darwin City Council and is an active SSI Young Professional.

MICHAEL KROME

Michael is the founder & Managing Director of GeoSolutions Australia based in Brisbane Australia. While Michael is a qualified Surveyor he has a broad range of skills including drafting, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Data management and System Integration. Over the past 12 months GeoSolutions Australia has exponentially grown in size, offering holistic spatial services to numerous industries sectors.

Starting off as a cadet surveyor with the Department of Main Roads, Michael now has over 15 years experience in surveying, GPS, data management and GIS consulting, including being a founding director of the GIS Consultancy MCG Associates in the United Kingdom.

Over the past 4 years Michael has held numerous roles on the SSI Queensland Young Professionals committee including Chairing the Queensland Committee in 2006-2007. Michael has also fulfilled the role of Young Professional representative on the ASIBA Queensland committee and Queensland Spatial Information Council (QSIC), providing a conduit between the youth of our profession with the industries private and government organisations.

ED PARSONS
Geospatial Technologist, Google, UK – Google Earth

Ed Parsons has the responsibility for evangelising Google’s mission to organise the world’s information using geography, and tools including Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile. He was the first Chief Technology Officer in the 200-year-old history of Ordnance Survey, UK, and was instrumental in moving the focus of the organisation from mapping to Geographical information. Earlier in his career, Ed was a Senior Lecturer at Kingston University, where he helped establish Europe’s first undergraduate course in GIS. Parsons earned a Masters Degree in Applied Remote Sensing from Cranfield Institute of Technology and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London. He has developed one of the most popular Weblogs in the Geospatial Industry, www.edparsons.com

PAUL BARNETT
Business Manager, Water Resources Observation Network (WRON), CSIRO

Paul was awarded a BSc (Resource and Environmental Management) from the Australian National University in 2000, graduating with Honours in the study of ecosystem function degradation due to dryland salinisation. Paul has worked for the CSIRO Division of Forestry and Forest Products, Integrated Catchment Assessment & Management (ICAM ANU), Natural Resource Intelligence, and founded a spatial information services business, Spatial Solutions in 2000. Paul was the Inaugural Chair of the SSI Young Professionals which he co-founded in April 2004 with Dr James Moody and helped to recruit and mobilise a large group of younger spatial professionals across Australia and New Zealand. He served as a Director on the SSI board between 2004 and 2006 and again from 2008 as SSI Treasurer. In his volunteer capacities Paul is passionate about positive change in the Spatial Industry and the development of a strong and innovative young spatial professional community. For these activities he was awarded as a Fellow of the Spatial Sciences Institute.

ASSOCIATE PROF KEVIN McDOUGALL
Head, Faculty of Engineering & Surveying, Surveying & Spatial Science Uni of Southern Queensland
Spatial data sharing, through participation of citizen spatial information through open portals.

Kevin is the immediate Past President of the Australiasian Spatial Information Education and Research Association. His recent academic work has been in the area of building spatial data infrastructures through data sharing and measuring progress within Australian local and state government jurisdictions. His research interests include Spatial Data Infrastructure, property and water rights and data sharing.

PETER ULM
Business Development Manager (BDM) for Microsoft Virtual Earth across the Australia and New Zealand Region.

He is currently based in Sydney, Australia, where has over 20 years experience in enterprise sales. He has been with Microsoft Australia since September 2007 working in the Enterprise and Partner Group managing some of Australia’s most well known companies. Most recently he served as the strategic account manager for one of Australia’s largest banks where he oversaw involvement and investment in one of the industry’s biggest and most successful IT projects. Prior to this, he was with Dow Jones for seven years in a sales and marketing capacity.

DR RENEE BARTOLO
President Spatial Sciences Institute, Spatial Scientist ERISS, Dept of the Environment,
Water, Heritage and the Arts
Imagery and climate change in a North Australia Context

Renee has been working within the spatial profession for the past 9 years. She has worked in the academic, private industry and more recently government sectors. She co-founded a radar application development company, GecOz, in 2001 and was Chair of the Board from 2002-2006. As a spatial scientist, Renee has done time in the lowland swamps of southern New Guinea and the wetlands of the Top End. Renee completed her PhD in remote sensing methods and application in 2005. She is still in touch with the academic world through supervision of postgraduate students and holds an Adjunct Senior Lecturer position with the University of the Sunshine Coast. Renee completed the Company Director’s Diploma in 2002 through the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

DR MATTHEW BEATY
Research Scientist
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and
CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship

Spatial data integration to understand complex problems of urban sustainability and climate adaptation

Matthew is a geographer with broad interests in understanding relationships between people and the environment in urban areas. He and his research group use spatial analytical approaches coupled with field-based studies, and social surveys to understand complex dimensions of urban sustainability at local, neighbourhood, and city scales. This includes research on urban landcover dynamics and ecosystem services, the built environment and human health, and adaptation options for cities in the face of climate change. His work is international in scope, including projects in Australia, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SAMANTHA HEPBURN
ANU College of Law
Australian National University

Associate Professor Samantha Hepburn teaches and researches in Property, Land Law, Native Title and Equity and Trusts. She has completed her Masters and PhD at the University of Melbourne. Her doctorate examined the continuing suitability of the feudal doctrine of tenure as the framework for Australian land law within a pluralist property framework.

Samantha has written various books including: Australian Property Law: Cases and Analysis, 2008; Principles of Property Law (4th edition) and Principles of Equity and Trusts (4th edition).

Samantha has just completed a research paper examining the proprietary nature of carbon sequestration interests in forested land due to be published shortly.

DR JOHN GALLANT
CSIRO Land and Water

John leads the Terrain Analysis Research Team working on improved analysis methods and data sources for terrain analysis in Australia. The team develops and applies quantitative methods to study the relationships between landform, water movement, soils and landscape evolution.

John started his career as an electronics engineer before moving into environmental modelling and terrain analysis through post-graduate study at ANU in the 1990s. He has since made his mark as co-editor of the book “Terrain Analysis: Principles and Applications”, as a keynote speaker at the first International Symposium on Terrain Analysis and Digital Terrain Modelling conference in Nanjing in 2006, and through development of the MrVBF algorithm for delineating and characterising depositional valley floors.

John’s team is working with the ANU and Geoscience Australia to produce the next generation 30 m resolution DEM of Australia from the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission), and is assembling a seamless 2 m resolution elevation and bathymetry model for the South Australian section of the Murray River, the lower lakes and the Coorong. The team is also engaged in developing new and improved methods for extracting meaningful information from DEMs for hydrological and geomorphic applications and particularly suitable analysis methods for high resolution data in low relief landscapes.

DR NICK FLEMING
Chief Sustainability Officer (Global),Sinclair Knight Merz

Nick directs activities to embed sustainability thinking in the firm’s professional services and business operations. His current role leverages over 15 years local and international experience in consulting and applied research, leading complex multi-disciplinary projects that aspire to sustainability outcomes. Nick’s track record includes projects in the water, mining, infrastructure, defence and natural resources sectors, with all levels of government, principally acting as an integrator of technical, market and commercial information for organisational and project strategy development. Prior to taking on his current role he was the strategic director of Technology & Innovation for the Water & Environment business unit of SKM, which included the firm’s spatial and business systems capabilities

ALAN KELLER
Energreen
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Civil Engineering Contractor and Project Manager

A certified practising engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia, Alan is the principal of a successful civil engineering and property development corporation in the Hunter Valley. In recent years Alan has also led development and implementation of several environmental and technology solutions.

Alan is the Managing Director of Geodata Information Systems which was established in 2000 to commercialise several innovative breakthroughs in survey and cadastral software. The technology has been used by the Geodata development team to improve land information for government, service utility and property development projects.

JASON ALEXANDER
Director Water Policy Coordination MDBC

Jason Alexandra is the Director Water Policy Coordination for the Murray Darling Basin Commission in Canberra. In this role he is responsible for a diverse range of water policy programs including water trade, water accounting, climate change, risks to shared waters and the Northern Basin program. Jason has over 25 years experience in agriculture, environmental research and policy, sustainable land-use and natural resources management.

Prior to joining the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Jason was the Executive Director of the Earthwatch Institute Australia, an international NGO focused on sustainability research and education. Between 1996 and 2006 Jason was the principal of Alexandra & Associates, a specialist research and consulting business, servicing non-government, government and private sector organisations on over 80 diverse projects, including: the evaluation of the NHT; and the establishment of national Vegetation and Biodiversity R&D Program for Land and Water Australia; the design of catchment and biodiversity conservation incentive programs. He undertook national reviews, including on water and rivers programs, climate change impacts, farm forestry policy, regional sustainability reporting, environmental management systems, and indigenous enterprise development. He has advised catchment management authorities and governments on how to align planning, policy, and investment regimes to accelerate reforestation. In recent research he outlined how public-private partnerships can be used for large scale ecosystem repair. He worked for the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) from 1988 to 1996 on natural resources policy and from 1996 to 2002 he was a Director of Land & Water Australia.

Jason has written extensively and had numerous papers, reports and articles published. Jason also has had hands-on involvement in sawmilling, farming, reforestation and horticultural businesses. He continues to have an interest in a farming and orchard business.

JOHN SHEEHAN
Chair of the NSW and Queensland joint Carbon Property Rights Committee.
Water Rights: the spatial dimension

John’s academic qualifications are in the areas of land economics (valuation), land use planning and environmental law. He was Chair of the Steering Committee for the Water Property Titles Research Project in 2003, which is now recognised as a fundamental plank of the National Water Initiative. He is a Commissioner of the Bench of the Land and Environment Court of NSW which exercises the jurisdiction of the Court under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW), valuation appeals and compensation.

TOM ROONEY
CEO/Managing Director of Waterfind
Maturing Australia’s water market, educating irrigators, facilitating trades
and creating market transparency and liquidity

Tom Rooney, has been involved with the water trading industry since 1989. He founded and became CEO of Waterfind in 2003. His extensive industry knowledge, practical experience and empathy with the rural community were instrumental in the initial development and continual enhancements of Waterfind’s trading systems. Tom’s automated Waterfind trading system was recognised in 2006 when it won the Australian Water Association sponsored ‘Innovation Award’. He is an active and strategic contributor to water policy discussions at both national and state levels, and presents key addresses at conferences on the issues surrounding water trading in Australia. Tom is also founder and now a committee member of the Waterfind Environment Fund; a not for profit association dedicated to improving the health of Australian River Systems.

DR ROB VERTESSY
Deputy Director (Water), Bureau of Meteorology
Spatially enabling the Australian Government’s national water plan

Rob joined the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in May 2007as Deputy Director (Water) and is responsible for establishing a new Water Information Division, arising out of the Australian Govt’s national water plan. Between 2004 and 2007, Rob was Chief of CSIRO Land and Water (Australia’s premier land and water R&D enterprise) with over 550 staff located in ten locations across Australia. In late 2006, Rob was seconded to the Office of Water Resources in the Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to advise the Australian government on a national water information strategy.