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Our Contributors

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Alastair Woodard

Dr Alastair Woodard is a director of Technical Promotion & Consulting Solutions (Aust) Pty Ltd, a consultancy specialising in advice on the use and impact of building and construction materials. He has over thirty years of experience as a professional consulting structural engineer, a university lecturer whilst undertaking a PhD in engineering, and in a range of senior roles with building industry associations including his current role as General Manager of Wood Products Victoria and Victorian Wood Solutions Program manager.

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Alex V Wysocki

Alex V Wysocki is Founder and CEO of Linkiwood - an association of innovators in the wood industry Alex provides Wood Central contributions focused on innovation.

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Andrew Dunn

Andrew Dunn is the CEO, of the Timber Development Association (TDA). The TDA is an industry-funded association representing all segments of the timber industry, from forestry, manufacture to supply. Andrew is regarded as one of Australia's foremost experts on Engineered Wood Products (Mass Timber) and is conference convenor of both the Australian Timber Design Awards and the Timber Off-Site Construction conference.

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Boris Iskra

Boris is responsible for managing FWPA’s activities in building codes and material standards. Boris has had more than 24 years of direct involvement in the Australian forest and wood products sector and holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Structural) degree and a Graduate Diploma in Building Fire Safety and Risk Engineering.

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Brad Barr

Brad Barr, resource manager, Wespine Industries, and WA chair, Forestry Australia.

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Chris McEvoy

Chris McEvoy is the Director of Sales for Radial Timber. A Victorian based company that grows, mills and distributes a range of unique and standard products from durable and sustainable Victorian Hardwoods. We specialize in Timber Decking, Screenboards, External Cladding, Internal Lining and Natural Edge Weatherboards.

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Christine Briggs

Christine Briggs is a Director / B2B marketing strategist; helping organisations connect their brands & culture for optimal value. The former National Marketing Manager for AKD Softwoods - Australia's largest softwood producer, Ms Briggs was previously General Manager of Marketing and Business Development for Timberlink. A former Director of Forest Wood Products Australia, Ms Briggs is a current board member of both Responsible Wood (Australia's largest forest certification scheme) and the $100m Australian Forest and Wood Innovation (AFWI) research institute - which comprises the University of Tasmania, the University of Melbourne and University of the Sunshine Coast.

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Clarissa Brandt

Clarissa Brandt is the Strategic Relations and Communications Manager for Timber Queensland.

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Daniel Wright

Director & National Business Development Manager at Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH)

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David Quill

David Quill is a noted forester and CEO of the South Australian Timber Processors Association

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Deb Kerr

Deborah Kerr is the CEO of the Victorian Forest Products Association.

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Dr Gary Bacon

Dr Gary Bacon, AM, BSc (For) Hon, PhD, FIFA, respected professional forester. Adjunct Professor at Griffith University and former CEO Queensland Forestry.

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Dr John Raison

Dr John Raison is a former Chief Research Scientist with CSIRO where he
studied the ecology of Australia’s native forests for nearly 40 years. He has
published widely on carbon accounting in forests, was a major contributor to the
development of Australia’s National Carbon Accounting System and is a co-
author of the IPCC GHG accounting Guidelines used internationally for
reporting on change in the Land Sector.

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Dr Michelle Freeman

Dr Freeman is the President of Forestry Australia. She has a double degree in Science (Ecology) and Forestry, and a PhD from the University of Melbourne.

Her PhD was in partnership with CSIRO Darwin looking at savanna fire and tree dynamics of northern Australia, as part of the Tiwi Carbon Study. She has worked in timber harvesting operations, planning and regulation in Victoria and is currently a Senior Planner at Forestry Corporation on the south coast of New South Wales.

Michelle was on the Board of the IFA from 2012 – 2014 and chaired the Future Foresters Initiative from 2015 – 2017. From 2014 – 2017 she was an Independent Council Member on the Federal Governments’ Forest Industry Advisory Council and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of company Directors.

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Gavin Butcher

Gavin Butcher is a former director at the WA Forest Products Commission. With a career in plantation and native forest management spanning more than 25 years, he is a specialist in the strategic, analytical and financial fields of forestry management. Mr Butcher holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry and has lectured at Edith Cowan University.

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George Tzintzis

George Tzintzis is the Editor in Chief of VoPP Mag. The magazine is a marketing publication, designed and tailored for marketers, creative agencies, media buyers and printers. VoPP Mag raises awareness of the power of paper and the effectiveness of a print campaign in today’s noisy communications world. If you love the content, please visit VoPP Mag and support the platform.

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Gerry Gardiner

Gerry Gardiner is chairman of the Timber Preservers Association of Australia which represents the nation's wood protection industry and is allied with international timber treaters, preservative suppliers, research organisations and individuals and bodies that have an interests in the production and use of preserved timber

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Gordon Wilson

Gordon Wilson is a freelance political journalist who writes often in Australian Rural and Regional News.

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Graeme Elphinstone

Graeme Elphinstone is the managing director, Elphinstone Engineering, which has since 1976 been servicing the transport industry. It pioneered the installation of on-vehicle weighing systems in Australia in the mid to late 1970's and have revolutionised the logging transport industry with innovative design and technology.

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Greg Abell

Greg Abell is a sports fanatic obsessed with origins of timber in sport. He writes a column, 'Sports: Wooden you know it' exclusively for Wood Central

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Hakan Ekstrom

Hakan Ekstrom represents Seattle, USA-based Wood Resources Quarterly. WRI is the publisher of Wood Resource Quarterly, a market report that tracks log, wood chip, lumber and pellet prices on a global basis

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Jack Bradshaw

Jack Bradshaw, previously the Manager for the Forest Management Branch at the Western Australia Department of Conservation and Land Management, played a crucial role in shaping the State's Regional Forest Agreement from 1993 onwards.

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Jack Norton

Jack Norton is national secretary of the Timber Preservers Association of Australia, the peak body for the timber preservation sector across all states. It administers national standards and has a plant registration database Queensland.

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Jack Rodden-Green

Jack Rodden-Green, with 30 years of experience as a forester in New South Wales, combines a deep understanding of forestry with legal training to address social and environmental issues.

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Jason Ross

Jason Ross, publisher, is a 15-year professional in building and construction, connecting with more than 400 specifiers. A Gottstein Fellowship recipient, he is passionate about growing the market for wood-based information. Jason is Wood Central's in-house emcee and is available for corporate host and MC services.

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Jerry Tyrrell

Jerry Tyrrell is an Australian expert on building defects, dedicated to improving building quality and preventing industry problems. He founded the Institute of Building Consultants, initiated rules for property inspections, and led the movement to make the National Construction Code free. He is the founder of Tools™, a digital platform for essential construction knowledge.

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Jim Bowden

Jim Bowden, senior editor and co-publisher of Wood Central. Jim brings 50-plus years’ experience in agriculture and timber journalism. Since he founded Australian Timberman in 1977, he has been devoted to the forest industry – with a passion.

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Joel Fitzgibbon

Joel Fitzgibbon is the Chair of Australian Forest Products Association - the peak body for the country's forest products industry. A former Minister and Shadow Minister for Agriculture (which included the Forestry portfolio), he was the inaugural co-chair of the federal parliament’s Friends of Forest Industries Group.

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John Cameron

John Cameron, forestry and business consultant with positions in general management, corporate development and research in forestry and forest products.

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John Turnbull

John Turnbull has a forestry degree from University of Wales; PhD (Forest Genetics) from the Australian National University and 44 years of experience in forestry and forest research internationally. He was senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products and Forestry Program Coordinator (Asia/Africa) at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. He retired as chief scientist of the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia in 1999 and returned to CSIRO as an honorary research fellow until 2003. A recipient of the inaugural Queen’s Award for Forestry in 1988 recognised his contributions to forestry across the commonwealth.

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Justin Law

Justin Law is managing director of Forest and Wood Communities Australia. He is an experienced communications professional with a combined 30 years of communications, journalism and marketing experience.

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Ken Hickson

Ken Hickson is a journalist/editor/author with 60 years' experience in Media in Asia Pacific, with a strong focus on sustainable forestry, mass engineered timber, and drawing attention to deforestation, illegal logging, and out of control forest fires. He is also a Wood Central Southeast Asia contributor.

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Kiarne Treacy

Kiarne Treacy is the Founder and CEO of Sustainable Choice, a digital platform where brands can publish their environmental actions and impact with full transparency, to help consumers make more informed sustainable choices.

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Lilian Bernhardt

Lilian Bernhardt is a freelance writer and journalist based in Australia. She is a contributor for VoPP Mag. The magazine is a marketing publication, designed and tailored for marketers, creative agencies, media buyers and printers. VoPP Mag raises awareness of the power of paper and the effectiveness of a print campaign in today’s noisy communications world. If you love the content, please visit VoPP Mag and support the platform.

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Maree McCaskill

Maree McCaskill, is the CEO of Timber NSW. Maree has considerable experience in managing peak industry bodies and member organisations, representing members at state and federal levels.

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Mark Thomson

Mark Thomson, eco-architect, is a regular judge at the World Architecture Festival, the Australian Banksia Sustainability Awards and is a director of Responsible Wood and Micah Projects. He is co-author of The Environmental Brief: Pathways to Green Design.

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Matt de Jongh

Matt de Jongh holds a Bachelor of Science (Forestry) from ANU and a Graduate Certificate in Business Management from UNE. Matt is a Director and Registered Forestry Professional for Forestry Australia, the professional association for foresters, private forestry, commercial tree growing, and all forestry professionals. Matt is a forester with over 20 years’ experience in both operational and policy roles. As an operational forester for approximately 11 years, Matt managed both native and plantation forests with Forestry Corporation of NSW in various locations throughout regional NSW, and also spent time on a secondment to the NSW Natural Resources Commission to assist with the management of the state-wide NSW Forest Monitoring and Improvement Program.

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Michael Kemp

Michael was born in Kempsey into a sixth‑generation farming family and has spent most of his life in the Oxley region. A former Infantry and Air Force communications technician with deployments to East Timor and Iraq, before entering politics, he ran one of the Mid‑North Coast’s largest allied health businesses. He has also served with the Rural Fire Service in both his local brigade and on remote firefighting teams, and was named 2021 Macleay Valley Volunteer of the Year for his community work.

View all posts NSW Shadow Assistant Minister for Emergency Services, NSW Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Member for Oxley
Mick Stephens

Mick Stephens, CEO, Timber Queensland. Resource economist and executive leader, former Deputy CEO, Australian Forest Products Association.

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Nick Steel

Nick Steel is Chief Executive Officer of the Tasmanian Forest Products Association. Nick’s previous role with the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, as deputy CEO, provided him with long-term experience within a membership-based organisation in dealing with land and resource use issues. He has qualifications in biosecurity, banking & finance, and farm management.

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Nigel Catchlove

Founder and Principal Consultant for Parsec Communications, Nigel turns technical complexity into clear, ROI-driven PR campaigns. He combines media relations, bid support, and internal communications to enhance reputations and drive government and corporate success. Previously serving as Director of Communications for the Australian Federal Government's Australian Fisheries Management Authority, he served as Communications Manager for the Australian Forest Products Association - the peak body for the country's $24 billion forest products industry - from 2012 to 2014.

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Orson Whiels

Orson Whiels has been a motoring writer for many years and was motoring writer at Queensland Country life in the 1960s-70s and then motoring editor at Australian Timberman.)

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Richard McCarthy

Richard (Dick) McCarthy is a highly experienced operational forester with postgraduate qualifications in forest management. His many years of experience, especially PNG-Dept of Forests, PNG Forest Industries Association and Australia as operations manager APM Forests-AMCOR in forest management and plantation development in the public and private forestry sectors, in both temperate and tropical forestry is recognized globally.

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Rob de Fegley

Rob de Fégely AM is a Registered Professional Forester and has worked in the Australian forest industry for over 40 years. He is Chair of Sustainable Timber Tasmania and a Non-Executive Director of Forestry Corporation of NSW however the comments in the article are his own personal views and not those of any of the organisations he works for.

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Rob Youl

Rob Youl, OAM, RFD, is deputy chair of Global Landcare, a retired forester and Landcare worker with extensive Victorian bushland properties under Trust for Nature covenants.

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Roger Underwood

Roger Underwood is a former district and regional forest manager in Western Australia and a specialist in bushfire operations, policy and history. He was for 20 years the chairman of the Bushfire Front, an organisation dedicated to minimising bushfire damage in Western Australia.

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Sarah Day

Sarah leads FSC Australia and New Zealand’s Marketing and Communications, seeking out creative and innovative ways to bring our company voice and vision to life. Tailoring FSC's company purpose to Australian and New Zealand audiences is Sarah's initiative, focussing primarily on expanding FSC ANZ's reach by building collaborative marketing campaigns with stakeholders and creating engaging social media content that speaks to the FSC mission of Forests for All, Forever.

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Sorelle Henricus

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Stuart Coppock

Stuart Coppock is a highly experienced NSW solicitor, governance professional, who has advised forest and timber businesses on matters relating to Regional Forestry Agreements and Environmental Laws. His background spans government law, taxation, environmental submissions, and senior board roles.

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Suzette Weeding

Suzette is a forest industry professional and a senior executive. Chair of the Gottstein Trust, Suzette has been a trustee since 2015. Suzette is General Manager, Conservation and Land Management for Sustainable Timber Tasmania. A graduate of the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Science, Suzette has 20 years’ experience in senior roles directly responsible for environmental management of forests.

She is vice-chair of the International Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), a leading alliance of national forest certification systems which includes Responsible Wood in Australia. She is also a director of the Forest Education Foundation. She is a steering committee member of the Launceston National Institute of Forest Products Innovation, and her extensive involvement with industry groups includes membership of the Tasmanian State Fire Management Council and the Forest Practices Advisory Council.

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Swapan Chaudhuri

Swapan Chaudhuri, CEO of Deeplai - a tech-start up that has developed a scalable solution using AI technologies that analyses the visual data i.e. individual characteristics of the cut tree, such as the grain pattern, for classification, and thus identifying their physical characteristics. This real-time technology and algorithm make it possible to catalogue and localise every tree felled.

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Ted Stubbersfield

Ted Stubbersfield, principal of Deckwood, is based at Gatton in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley. He an international external timber design specialist with more than 40 years’ experience. Ted designs weather-exposed timber structures such as decks, boardwalks and bridges that age gracefully, requires a depth of knowledge and breadth of experience that, internationally, only a few timber design professionals possess.

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Tripti Singh

Professor Tripti Singh has an extensive background in timber durability and a global reputation for scientific excellence. With decades of experience in wood product development and performance evaluation, she currently serves as the Director of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life, Australia, based at the University of Sunshine Coast. The Centre is an innovative partnership between industry, academia and government, supported by the Federal Government, Forest and Wood Products Australia, the University of the Sunshine Coast, the University of Queensland, and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.

Professor Singh also has an affiliation with the BSI Scion Group in New Zealand as a senior scientist. Her high-quality scientific research and leadership have seen her appointed to multiple scientific boards and recognised through several awards.

Professor Singh has published widely on timber durability and works closely with industry through her roles as Chair of the joint Australia/New Zealand Standards Committee TM-012, Timber Grading and Preservation, and as an active contributor to the Australasian Wood Preservation community. Internationally, she has also held a leadership role within the International Research Group on Wood Protection, serving on its Executive Committee.

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Vic Jurskis

Vic Jurskis, noted ecologist and former senior forester at the NSW Forestry Commission.

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West Hill

West Hill started in the timber industry in 1954 as a forestry trainee at Woodsmen Training School at Kaingaroa, New Zealand. He moved up the ranks of timber preservation with companies such as Hickson Timber Impregnation NZ Ltd, moving to Australia with Koppers Hickson in 1994. He started the Australian arm of TimTech Chemicals in 2001)

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Wikkie Netten

Wikkie Netten is the APAC Marketing Manager for PEFC, a leading global alliance promoting sustainable forest management and transparent and traceable supply chains through certification. Her work is focused on developing regional partnerships, engage with the private sector and assisting businesses who choose to use materials obtained from forests in a sustainable way in the future.

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Wood Central

Wood Central is Australia’s first and only dedicated platform covering wood-based media across all digital platforms. Our vision is to develop an integrated platform for media, events, education, and products that connect, inform, and inspire the people and organisations who work in and promote forestry, timber, and fibre.

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