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Mr Len Foster AO
Independent Chairman
Mr Foster is the Independent Chairman of the
Bushfire CRC Governing Board. He was appointed to this position in
April 2007.
He is formerly the Chief Executive Officer of the Australasian Fire
Authorities Council, the peak body representing Australia’s
fire agencies, including bushfire and structural fire
services. Mr Foster was also Chairman of the Country Fire
Authority of Victoria (CFA), Chairman of the Australian
Government’s Bushfire Advisory Committee and a Director of
the Australian National Aerial Fire Fighting Centre (NAFC).
Prior to his association with the fire industry Mr Foster was
Director General of the Department Conservation, Forest and Lands
in Victoria, which encompassed all firefighting activities in State
Forests and National Parks. He was responsible for the amalgamation
of formerly independent areas of forestry, the National Parks
Service, Lands Department, Soil Conservation Commission and
Department of Fisheries.
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Ms Naomi Brown
Chief Executive Officer
Australasian Fire Authorities Council
Naomi Brown has been the Chief Executive Officer
of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) since December
2006 and is also a Board member of the National Aerial Firefighting
Centre (NAFC).
Prior to being appointed CEO, Naomi Brown was an active AFAC
member, having been heavily involved as a member of the
organisation’s Community Safety Group.
She took up the role of Director Community Safety at the Country
Fire Authority (CFA) of Victoria in 2003 having previously worked
in Western Australia with the Fire and Emergency Services (FESA)
for five years. She spent time there as Executive Director
Community Safety and also Executive Director State Emergency
Service and Volunteer Marine Rescue.
During her time at FESA and CFA she worked extensively with all of
the Australasian Fire Services, the Bushfire CRC and Emergency
Management Australia.
Ms Brown has also worked in Human Resource Management and Education
and started her working life teaching children with intellectual
disabilities and behavioural problems. She has also worked in the
water industry, welfare, unions and health.
She has a Diploma in Teaching, Graduate Diplomas in Special
Education and Business and has completed the Australian Institute
of Company Directors course.
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Professor Mark Adams
Dean
of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
University of Sydney
Mark has held Professorial appointments at UWA,
the University of Melbourne, and most recently at UNSW. In
2006 he finished a six-year term as a member of the Board of
Trustees for the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya and
has served in an honorary capacity with other international
research organizations focused on helping the world’s poor.
Mark publishes widely with a focus on sustainability and
biogeochemistry of natural and managed ecosystems. He has held a
range of fellowships and awards in Australia, France, NZ and
Germany.
Fire has been a constant element of his research since the 1982 and
1983 fires burnt his PhD study sites on the outskirts of Melbourne.
His current research focuses on water, carbon and greenhouse
gas emissions and how these are affected by climate and fire. He is
particularly concerned that the general public are better informed
about the need for human engagement in management of terrestrial
ecosystems, as opposed to philosophies that suggest ‘nature
rules’.
A passionate believer in “conservation through use”,
Mark enjoys working with students and with people who live on and
work the land.
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Mr Mike Taylor AO
Chair
Murray Darling Basin
Authority
Mike Taylor is currently the part time Chair of the Murray Darling
Basin Authority (June 2009).
Prior to this appointment Mike has had more than 15 years of
extensive experience at chief executive level.This included that of
Secretary to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, regional
services and Local Government (2007-09), Secretary to the
Department of Transport and Regional Services - Australia (2004-07)
and Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry
– Australia (2000-04).
Prior to 2000 he was Secretary for the Department of Natural
Resources and Environment (1996-2000) and before that, he was
responsible for the leadership and management of two other
Departments for the Government of Victoria(1992-1996). He was also
Chief Executive of the Australian Dairy Industry Council
(1991-92).
Mike is a member of the
Melbourne University-Melbourne Business School Board of Directors
(2008-), a Member, of the Crawford Fund Board of Governors (2001- )
supporting international agricultural research, and a Member, of
the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (2004- ) providing
support to rural communities.
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Dr Ray Canterford
Branch
Head (Weather and Ocean Services Policy)
Bureau of
Meteorology
Dr Ray Canterford is the Bureau of Meteorology's Assistant Director
of Weather and Ocean Services. He is responsible for the
national policy and implementation of these services around
Australia. The services include aviation, defence, marine,
oceanography, public weather and disaster mitigation. It is
within this last Bureau area that Dr Canterford has responsibility
for national fire weather services.
Dr Canterford has extensive experience in meteorology and hydrology
both in Australia and overseas. He is currently the president
of the World Meteorological Organisation Commission for Instruments
and Methods of Observation. On taking up a position with the
Bureau in 1974 after his PhD in physics, he spent a period in the
USA National Weather Service as a Fulbright scholar before
heading up several specialist areas in the Bureau.
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Ewan Waller
Chief Fire
Officer
Department of Sustainability and
Environment
Ewan Waller was elected to the Governing Board of the Bushfire CRC
in February 2007.
He is currently Chief Fire Officer for
Victoria’s Department of Sustainability and Environment and,
prior to his election to the Bushfire CRC Board was End User Leader
for Program B.
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Commissioner
Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM
NSW Rural Fire Service
Shane Fitzsimmons has 25 years experience with the NSW Rural Fire
Service (RFS) serving as both a volunteer and salaried officer. In
1998 he was appointed an Assistant Commissioner with the RFS and
has held portfolio responsibilities for Operations, Strategic
Development and Regional Management. In 2004 he was appointed the
inaugural Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) Visiting
Fellow to the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM) for
a period of 12 months. In September 2007 he was appointed
Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. In March 2008 he was
appointed a Director of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre
(NAFC) and is currently the Chair of the NAFC Board. He is a member
of the NSW State Rescue Board and has recently been appointed
Chairman.
Shane was awarded the National Medal in 1999 and the Australian
Fire Service Medal (AFSM) in 2001.
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