SPEAKERS

Davina Rooney

Davina has led the Green Building Council of Australia since June 2019. 

Davina is a property professional with a broad range of sustainability experience, from environmental projects, not-for profit boards and overseas community development work, spending 8 months working in the Indian Himalayas on the construction of a school which won multiple international awards.

Career highlights include a decade at Stockland which was a global leader in sustainability and therefore understands how the GBCA’s global leadership translates into real-world outcomes. Stockland was recognised in 2016 and 2018 simultaneously holding the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Global Property leader, GRESB Global leader (Retail/Office) and recognised on the CDP Leaders A-list.

Davina has been recognised by industry awards including NAWIC NSW Sustainability 2016, PCA 2014 Future Leaders Award and Sydney University Engineering Young Alumni Award.

Brendan Jack

With almost four decades of experience in sustainability, Brendan joins the AMAALA and The Red Sea Projects’ Special Economic Zone (SEZ) team as Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). In his role, Brendan envisions and oversees the organisation’s ambitious sustainability goals, as well as providing wide ranging advice and technical expertise relating to the design, construction & operational phases of both giga-projects that will sit within the SEZ. He comes to the SEZ directly from AMAALA, where he was the project’s CSO for nearly two years.

Brendan served as Nakheel’s Head of Sustainability and Environment for the previous 12 years in Dubai, where he was responsible for all social, economic & environmental sustainability functions for Nakheel, covering planning, construction, and operations for communities, infrastructure, hotels, malls & retail, F&B, marinas, etc.

Prior to this, he held a number of industry affiliations, spanning a range of companies, sectors, and countries. This includes six years as Senior Adviser to the largest electricity utility provider in Australia (EnergyAustralia); delivering the sustainability goals of the Sydney Olympics (the first “green Games”) for the Olympic Coordination Authority; as the National Head of Risk for the National Rail Corporation in Australia; Executive Committee member of the National Environmental Law Association in Australia; Board Member for the Emirates Green Building Council in the UAE; as
well as serving as a founding member of the Environmental Management Industry Association of Australia (EMIAA).

Over the course of his tenure, Brendan has achieved incredible success as a strategic thinker and innovator, for example, pioneering in Dubai one of the largest coral relocations anywhere in the world, using an innovative new methodology and achieving an extraordinarily high success rate. Brendan has also worked closely with the United Nations University International Network for Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH) to develop monitoring programs to guide the ongoing marine health of the major Dubai marine projects (including The Palm Jumeirah and The World Islands) – the first major program of its type in the Arabian Gulf.

Brendan holds an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the NSW Institute of Technology, Sydney, Australia, majoring in biomedical engineering, and a Post-Graduate in Environmental Management from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia, majoring in ecosystems and environmental law.

George Hatzimanolis

George co-founded Repurpose It in 2017.

After spending the previous fifteen years working in the civil construction industry George has extensive management experience in road surfacing, asphalt manufacturing, road construction and road maintenance. During his time spent building and maintaining roads he developed a passion for sustainable manufacturing processes and constantly sought out ways to reduce the construction industries reliance on extractive resources.

George’s passion for sustainability and preservation of the earth’s resources was the driver behind his move into the recycling industry and founding Repurpose It. Challenging the status quo comes second nature to him.

In four years, under Georges leadership, Repurpose It has established two Australian first resource recovery facilities, grown to over 140 employees across the group, been recognized as one of Australia’s top 20 most innovative organisations under the Westpac Business of tomorrow program, been recipients of two Victorian premiers sustainability awards and is positioning itself to become a leader in Australia’s resource recovery sector.

Georges vision for the business is to make premium quality repurposed materials accessible to everyone whilst establishing a business that becomes a reference point for the Australian circular economy.

“Creating a business that is sustainable from every aspect of its operation – its contribution towards our environment, our local communities and to our shareholders is what’s important. It is our responsibility to ensure we set the foundations for sustainable business practises that the next generations can follow” says George.

Georgia Gosse

Georgia is responsible for leading Inland Rail’s sustainability strategy. Her remit covers Inland Rail’s entire 1,700km alignment comprising 13 individual projects across 36 local government areas in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

An experienced Sustainability Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the transportation/trucking/railroad industry. Skilled in Sustainability, change management, risk management, commercial strategy, and carbon management. Strong community and social services professional with a Masters focused in Environmental Management from The University of Queensland. Georgia focuses on outcomes and challenging the status quo.

Key achievements on Inland Rail include 3 published annual sustainability reports, freely accessible sustainability procurement webinars for regional businesses, IS excellent as built rating for the first constructed section of Inland Rail, Parkes to Narromine, mandatory sustainability training for all Inland Rail employees and the creation of a sustainability culture across Inland Rail.

Alex O'Mara

Alex O'Mara is the Group Deputy Secretary of Place, Design and Public Spaces Group within the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. Alex is tasked with leading two NSW Premier’s Priorities: Greening Our City and Greener Public Spaces. She also leads work to re-orient the planning system around people, places and communities, with a continued focus on greater upfront strategic planning, excellence in design, local neighbourhood character, and public spaces.

Prior to that, Alex was the Deputy Secretary for Create NSW, leading the delivery of the largest investment in cultural infrastructure in NSW since the Opera House was built and the development of the NSW Cultural Infrastructure Plan.

Alex is an experienced senior executive who has worked across a range of sectors, including the planning, industry, infrastructure, water, environmental, building, creative, and cultural sectors. Alex has led the delivery of multi-dimensional projects and programs, driving significant policy, reform, and infrastructure projects and leading complex stakeholder engagement. Examples include overseeing the Accelerated Infrastructure Fund, which cut red tape and fast-tracked planning processes to keep people in jobs and the construction industry moving through the COVID-19 crisis, the delivery of coastal management reforms including the Coastal Management Act, the Local Land Services Act, and the Marine Estate Management Act, a new framework for wind energy development, the first social impact assessment guidelines for resources projects, and a new design-led framework for delivery of schools.

Alex began her career as a private sector lawyer after graduating second in order of merit from the University of Sydney with first class honours. Alex has a degree in Arts, majoring in English and Australian literature, and a Master of Administrative Law and Policy. Alex has been a member of multiple boards, including the Australian Building Codes Board, and is a member of the Placemaking NSW Advisory Committee. Alex has also completed the AICD Company Directors course, and is passionate about diversity and inclusion and values-led leadership.

Evan Smith

Evan Smith has over 18 years’ of environmental and sustainability experience within the rail, road, infrastructure, construction and mining sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering and is also a Chartered Engineer.  Evan was pivotal in the delivery of Australia’s first Australia's first Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for Ready-mix Concrete and most recently Australia’s first carbon neutral ready-mix concrete.

Jonathan Cartledge

Jonathan is Director, Policy & Research with Infrastructure Australia helping deliver a reform agenda to enhance quality of life and productivity through better infrastructure with a strategic focus on industry productivity, market capacity, place, sustainability and resilience.  He brings 20 years of experience in executive management, government relations, strategy and project management roles in the public and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and the UK including senior roles with the Green Building Council of Australia and Consult Australia, and as past Chair of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council Cities Task Group. He has a Master of International Studies with Honours from the University of Sydney, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Rebecca Hendy

Rebecca was awarded the Infrastructure Sustainability Individual Leadership Award in 2019 by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia.

This national award recognised Rebecca's contribution to creating cultural change across the rail and construction industries pioneering the use and approvals for several recycled products for environmental benefit and partnering with social enterprises to leave positive legacies from infrastructure projects.

Rebecca is an authentic leader passionate about sustainability and creating culturally safe and diverse workplaces. A Certified Environmental Practitioner with over 18 years experience supporting major civil engineering and construction projects throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Sam Donaldson

With over 10 years work experience as a sustainability and environmental professional in the transport infrastructure sector, Sam is a recognised industry leader. Sam has extensive experience in rail, building and road work, and is currently Laing O’Rourke’s National Sustainability Leader and supporting the business operationalise their Global Sustainability Strategy.

In the infrastructure sector, Sam has applied the IS and/or Green Star rating schemes on projects such as the Level Crossings Removal Projects, supported multiple key market pursuits, is an independent reviewer for major projects and an IS verifier. Sam received the IS Project Achievement Award on behalf of the Bayswater Level Crossings Removal Project recognised for the highest overall excellence in sustainability performance and was nominated in the IS Individual Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability Award.

He’s also a member of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council Contractors Working Group, Supply Chain Sustainability School Advisory Committee and Materials Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance Group.

Terence Jeyaretnam

Terence is a Partner with EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability team based in Melbourne and EY Australia’s Reconciliation Leader. Terence is an environmental engineer and an environmental and sustainability advisory and assurance specialist with over twenty-five years’ experience in advising governments and corporations on sustainability issues. Until its acquisition by EY in 2014, Terence was Founder/Executive Director of Net Balance, Australia's largest standalone sustainability and climate change practice at the time, one of Australia’s first B Corporations, twice-rated by Business Review Weekly as one of the 100 fastest-growing companies in Australia. Terence is a non-executive director of Global Citizen (Australia), Fairtrade Australia New Zealand, Food Frontier and Legal Sector Alliance and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Queensland. He acts as a Senior Advisor for SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) in Australia and is a member of the Technical Working Group of CDSB (Carbon Disclosure Standards Board).