Greg Johannes
Chairperson
Greg Johannes has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the Australian public, private, not-for-profit and research sectors. His roles have included being Head of the State Service and Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Tasmania.
In 2015 he was made a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia for his outstanding contribution to the public sector in Australia over many years. Greg has a deep interest in the marine science community and has previously been on the boards of both the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.
He now runs his own consulting company, helping boards, CEOs and senior managers and leaders address complex development and organisational issues. The son of a marine biologist, in his spare time Greg has been in or on the water since he was a young boy living in a remote village in Micronesia, and he snorkels and dives on the world’s coral reefs whenever he can.
Greg Vickery
Board Member
Greg Vickery AO FAICD is an experienced company lawyer and company director based in Brisbane. He is a member of the prestigious international Standing Commission of Red Cross & Red Crescent and chairs the Law Council of Australia’s Business and Human Rights Committee. He is a former President of the Queensland Law Society and the Australian Red Cross Society and was for ten years a member of the national Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee.
Dr Gunilla Burrowes
HonFIEAust
Dr Gunilla Burrowes has over 30 years of corporate experience across academia and industry and is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialisation and improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Gunilla is a pillar of the Newcastle innovation ecosystem, having co-founded her own tech company, BlueZone Group in 2000. She is the inaugural Chair of Eighteen04 (an inspirational co-working and incubator space for companies scaling in the clean tech and smart city area) and an instigator of Hunter iF project (an open consortium of leading organisations in the Hunter that supports the growing startup ecosystem in the region). She is a member of the Hunter Angels and has been an Angel Investor for over 10 years.
Along with Gunilla’s industrial expertise and her pro-active fostering of innovation across the region, she’s also co-founder of a consultancy, Gender Matters that advises organisations on gender equity and has a unique approach to mitigating cognitive bias in decision-making. She has graduated from the AICD Directors Course and is on numerous company boards including SwitchDin, the Blue Economy and SmartCrete CRC’s.
Dr Nick Elliott
Board Member
Dr Nick Elliott has extensive marine and aquaculture research and industry knowledge, experience and achievements built through his 33-year career at CSIRO. He is internationally recognised for his research leadership, education and management. A PhD graduate from the University of Tasmania his research experience has included biomonitoring of heavy metals, genetics applied to fisheries, and the application of genetics, physiology and innovative technologies to advance aquaculture production. His vision and leadership resulted in the internationally recognised selective breeding team at CSIRO, as well as collaborative innovative research in biotags and opportunities for industry expansion offshore. Nick has co-supervised over 15 post-graduate students and mentored many careers. His mission is to continue to see the transformation of the Australian aquaculture sector through collaborative research and education, and is committed to the use and integration of rapidly advancing technologies. Nick brings abundant knowledge of aquaculture and research management to the Board, including over 10 years on the Tasmanian Fisheries Research Advisory Board
Rhys Edwards
Board Member
Rhys Edwards is the principal of RDME Consulting a boutique consulting firm working with governments, universities and the private sector.
Rhys is an experienced organisational leader having worked at the highest levels of the public sector including six years as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Tasmania. He has a strong background in governance, leadership, economic development, innovation and major project facilitation.
Rhys is an honorary senior research fellow at Melbourne University, a moderator for the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Salzburg Global Fellow.
Rhys enjoys working with clients at the intersection of government, education, social enterprise and the private sector to create new models for change and growth.
