Governing Board

Chairman

Mr Malcolm Macpherson

Malcolm was appointed as inaugural Chairman in 2003.

He has played a major role in the global titanium minerals industry and the Australian mining sector for the past two decades. In the past Malcolm has worked in technical support for mineral exploration projects in Australia, the Sudan, the Philippines and Liberia.

Since April 2002, Mr Macpherson has been a professional company director and consultant and is currently a director of Minara Resources Ltd and Titanium Corporation Inc and chairman of Pluton Resources Ltd.

He is the former managing director of Westralian Sands Ltd (now Iluka Resources Ltd) and former chairman of the Western Power Corporation, Azumah Resources Ltd, Consolidated Rutile Ltd and PT Koba Tin. Mr Macpherson has been president of the Chamber of Minerals & Energy WA and senior vice president of the Minerals Council of Australia. He has also been chairman of the Independent Living Centre of WA Inc, a councillor of Edith Cowan University and a member of the Senate of Murdoch University.

Directors

Mrs Karen Field
Independent Director

Karen Field is an Economics graduate with extensive experience in the mining industry over three decades. Karen initially specialised in human resources and project management with an emphasis on achieving structural and cultural change consistent with business imperatives.

Karen has worked across a variety of industry sectors, including executive roles with Robe River Iron Associates, Normandy Mining and MIM Holdings Ltd and, in 1998, was appointed as President of Minera Alumbrera, the US$1.2billion Copper/Gold Joint Venture project in Argentina. Since returning to Australia in 2001, Karen has consulted to the minerals and related industries as well as assuming a number of directorships.

Professor Chris Moran, University of Queensland
Research Director

Professor Chris Moran is the Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute and the Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry at the University of Queensland.

Chris started with a degree in agriculture and a PhD in soil science and digital image processing and worked as a natural resource scientist doing spatial science in the Australian national research organisation, CSIRO, for 16 years. He has been involved in minerals industry water and sustainability research for ~6 years. He has published around 80 articles in scientific journals, technical reports and a significant number of commercial and government information papers and popular media reports.

His vision for the Sustainable Minerals Institute is to realise its potential to provide disciplinary excellence and creative ideas to support the global minerals industry achieve sustainable operations which will be indicated and accounted by the positive legacies they produce.

Mr Dave Olney, Alcoa
Industry Director

Dave Olney completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Mineral Science, at Murdoch University WA in 1977, and joined Alcoa in 1978 as a Graduate Process Engineer at the Pinjarra Refinery.

During his time with Alcoa, Mr Olney has held line management positions in manufacturing / alumina refining in the Western Australian operations including location manager at Wagerup and Pinjarra refineries, and Assistant Director for WA Operations. He has recently completed 2 years overseas based in Pittsburgh USA as Vice President Operations for the Atlantic system of bauxite mines and alumina refineries. He now heads up Alcoa’s global refining technology portfolio as Vice President Technology and Business Systems, and is now based in Perth WA .

Ms Erica Smyth
Independent Director

Erica Smyth has a BSc (Hons) from UWA and an MSc (Applied) from McGill University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from UWA in 2008.

Erica started work as an exploration geologist with BHP Minerals then moved into project management, government approvals and community consultation. This led to similar roles the oil and gas industry in WA with BHP Petroleum and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. She was the General Manager External Affairs for Woodside from 1999 to 2004 before she left to further develop her career as a non-executive director.

Erica is currently the Chairman of ScreenWest, the Diabetes Research Foundation and the UWA Centenary Trust for Women and is Chairman-elect of Scitech. She is also an independent director of Toro Energy Ltd, the SwanCare Group and Diabetes Australia.

Erica was also the project manager of “Red Dust in Her Veins – Women of the Pilbara”, a book which was published in November 2007 and supports the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She is a judge for the WA State Government’s Golden Geko Awards.

Mr Charlie Thorn, Curtin University of Technology
Research Director

Charlie Thorn has over 28 years experience in research management, commercialisation and technology transfer in agriculture, fisheries and university research institutions.

He has held several executive positions in government in both the fisheries and agriculture sectors and more recently in the University sector including the Director Research and Innovation at Edith Cowan University and Associate Director Research and Development at Curtin University of Technology.

He is currently the Director of the Australian Sustainable Development Institute (ASDI) at Curtin University of Technology. The role of the Director is to lead, develop and grow the university's sustainability research in the areas of energy, climate change, water, sustainable resources, urban and regional development, sustainable communities and food.

Charlie has held several board positions on CRC's and regulatory authorities. He is currently a board member of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution and Digital Ecosystems and Business Intelligence Institute.

Mr Thorn holds a BSc (Agriculture) with first class honours from the University of Western Australia.

Former Directors