MEET OUR BOARD
Alison Russell-French
Chair
Alison has 32-years experience the APS career spans environment, heritage and natural resource areas. She also has a long association with non-government organisations including Wetlands International, Asia Pacific, Birds Australia, the Australasian Wader Studies Group, the Canberra Ornithological Group, the Alliance Francaise de Canberra.
Alison was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2018 for services to the environment and conservation.
Peter Taylor
Deputy Chair
Peter is a former strategic policy advisor with a long record of leadership and policy innovation in the natural resources sector. He has thirty years’ experience facilitating Indigenous land and sea management policy outcomes, as well as reform of national conservation policies. Peter is currently an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University’s Fenner School for Environment and Society.
Cathy Skippington
Treasurer
Cathy brings over 20 years of experience as a Senior Executive and Executive Consultant in the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments. Her areas of field expertise include natural resource management, national and marine park management, and natural and cultural heritage protection.
Cathy has a lifelong interest in environmental matters and believes sound and ethical governance will support WWT in achieving its best outcomes.
Grant Battersby
Secretary
Grant has been a member of the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust Committee since 2016 and been a member of the Jerrabomberra Wetlands Advisory Panel since its creation in 2017.
He has been a volunteer with the Friends of Jerrabomberra Wetlands since 2013 assisting with ParkCare activities and research programs for the Latham's Snipe and Eastern Long-necked turtle.
Ian Lawrence
Ian is an engineer, scientist & planner with 57 years of experience in water infrastructure, water resources planning, water quality, and research. He has a wide range of skills from his work with ater resources planning, Environmental Assessment Officer, Member AWRC Water Quality Advisory Committee, and Leader of the Urban Water Research Program of the CRC for Freshwater Ecology.
Ian has been the chair of Jerrabomberra Wetlands Advisory Panel since its creation in 2017.
Prof. Adrian Manning
Adrian is a Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University. His research has focused on conservation biology, landscape ecology and restoration ecology, and has published widely in these areas. He is the Chief Investigator of the Mulligans Flat-Goorooyarroo Woodland Experiment, and has played a key role in the establishment of the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, and was instrumental in the reintroduction of the Eastern Bettong and the Eastern quoll to the sanctuary.
Dr Isabelle Faure
Isabelle has been working in the Art & Culture sector for 30 years in France, Canada and Australia. She was the Director of the Alliance Francaise in Canberra from 2012 and 2016. She has a PhD in Urban History & Cultural Heritage as long as a Bachelor Degree in Ecology and Environmental Science. She has always been interested in how art and culture can bring awareness on environment issues.
Isabelle has been a member of the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust board since 2016.
Jenny Bounds
Jenny is an ornithologist with a special interest in woodland birds and their conservation. This has included undertaking bird surveys, the long-term monitoring of birds at Mulligans for the Canberra Ornithologists Group since the 1980s. She was involved in the community campaign in the early 1990s to have Mulligans Flat protected as a reserve.
In her professional career, Jenny worked in Government, in areas of policy development, program implementation and human resources education.
How we manage our funds
The Woodlands and Wetlands Trust manages its funds via the services of the Public Trustee of the ACT.
The Trustee provides continuity, perpetuity, accountability, and transparency. It also ensures compliance by the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust in its responsibilities under common law, ACT Trustee Acts, the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the ACT Charitable Collections Act 2003 and the new Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission Act 2012.
This approach means that investors in the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust can have the utmost confidence that their financial support are responsibly and securely managed.
The Public Trustee has set up trust arrangements for the management of charitable funds. The Trust uses the Trustee’s GreaterGood charitable fund as the vehicle for receiving and investing its funds.
The Trust has two funds with GreaterGood:
The Open Fund receives non-tax deductible funds.
The Gift Fund receives tax-deductible donations, making use of GreaterGood’s status as a Deductible Gift Recipient Item 2 status for this purpose.
The Woodlands and Wetlands Trust banks with Bank Australia - a B Corp certified bank that invests in renewable energy, not-for-profit organisations and housing for people with disabilities.