Our team

Our team includes a volunteer board of directors and specialist staff working in the areas of climate science, research, education, communication and business development, botany, horticulture and environmental engineering.

Brendan Condon, Chairman

Brendan has founded several companies and two not-for-profits that work in the field of sustainability and ecosystem protection.

He is the director of Australian Ecosystems (www.australianecosystems.com.au), Victoria's largest private ecological restoration company, as well as the Cape Paterson Ecovillage project in South Gippsland, Victoria, (www.capepatersonecovillage.com.au) which aims to set a national benchmark in terms of zero emissions housing, enhancement of biodiversity, renewable energy and active lifestyle.

He has also founded Biofilta Stormwater Solutions, (www.biofilta.com.au) which works to capture, store, treat and reuse stormwater on a large scale to assist in reducing usage of energy intensive desalinated water.

He is one of the founders of Pelican, a 60 foot ocean going sailing catamaran which sails Australian waters performing social and environmental projects, and Safe Climate Australia (www.safeclimateaustralia.org) which performs scenario planning for decarbonisation of the economy, and building a clean energy, safe climate future. Brendan was one of three finalists for the 2010 Prime Ministers Environmentalist of the Year.In response to his concerns about the huge risks posed by global warming, he founded Climate Positive in 2006.

Maria Simonelli, General Manager

Maria joins us with an impressive list of achievements in the environment and sustainability education fields, having served as Executive Director for Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI Oceania) and previously, as Cities for Climate Protection Program Manager, where she oversaw the successful growth and consolidation of this greenhouse abatement campaign. She also established the New Zealand version of 'Communities for Climate Protection' and was instrumental in progressing the Water Campaign across Australia.

Maria, more recently, worked as a Community Engagement advisor for Utility Services and an Education Advisor for Green Building Council. She has also worked with the Australian Government's Department of Environment, and various Victorian state and local government authorities, to develop capacity building approaches across various sectors and interest groups.

She was also a recipient of both a Churchill Fellowship and a Commonwealth scholarship that explored the motivational factors for organisations integrating environmental principles into their business objectives and operations.

Her personal goal is to use her skills and passion to facilitate and empower individuals, organisations and whole sectors to reach their potential and contribute to an equitable, sustainable and vibrate society.

Danielle Johnston, General Manager (on maternity leave)

Danielle joined Climate Positive in November 2008 from the Committee for Melbourne where she steered the Climate Change Taskforce, involving more than 80 Melbourne organisations. She believes her work at the Committee prepared her perfectly for the job of motivating individuals and organisations to take action to reduce global warming.Danielle is looking forward to having an even bigger impact on global warming through increasing Climate Positive's offset partnerships and by providing education and leadership on the solutions to combat climate change.During her career, Danielle has worked in publishing, human resources and marketing in Melbourne, London and San Francisco.She has a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) from RMIT and a Graduate Certificate of Business (Marketing) from Swinburne.

Matthew Wright, Climate Science & Solutions Consultant, Researcher & Educator

Matthew Wright is the lead author of the award-winning Zero Carbon Australia Plan, and 2011's Banksia Awards Young Environmentalist of the Year. Embodying the qualities of hard work, passion and commitment, Matthew inspires the courage our society will need to tackle the biggest problem we've ever faced. Matthew's tireless work as lead author of the Zero Carbon Australia Plan has absolutely shifted the debate on climate solutions in Australia.The Plan has garnered extensive media attention, with over 100 articles published in a cross-section of mainstream, business and environmental press, and it enjoyed high attendance figures at respective launches, regularly exceeding the capacity of 1000-seat venues.Matthew's steadfast commitment to establishing a carbon-free economy for Australia drives his desire to communicate the available innovations that make a renewable energy revolution possible today.Since 2006, he has been delivering public presentations across the country, a practice that he continues with ever-increasing frequency.It's Matthew's significant experience presenting his carbon-free vision for Australia, coupled with his belief that the supporting science and technology should be accessible to all Australians, which make him one of the most vital voices in Australia right now.Matthew has long called for decarbonisation of the economy and restorative practices, an approach which is consistent with the environmental protection work of Climate Positive. That is, reducing emissions as much as possible before offsetting the balance in order to become carbon neutral, or rather 'Climate Positive', then drawing down the excess carbon in the atmosphere through restorative means.

Mark Ogge, Climate Solutions & Strategy Adviser

Mark Ogge, a Melbourne-based fine artist, is the initiator and director of the award-winning Zero Carbon Australia 2020 project.The Zero Carbon Australia project, run jointly by the Melbourne Energy Institute and Beyond Zero Emissions, involves hundreds of technical experts putting together a blueprint for the complete decarbonisation, within a decade, of the Australian economy.Mark is a strategic thinker who has developed detailed knowledge of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.He is also an effective communicator who believes it is crucial to include an outline of the climate-crisis problem whenever solutions are publicly communicated.

Dr Graeme Pearman, Scientific Consultant

The material for this web site was prepared under contract by Dr Graeme I Pearman AM, FAA, ATSE, FRoySocVic, BSc(Hon), PhD. Dr Graeme Pearman obtained his degrees from the University of Western Australia, where he was trained as a biologist. He joined CSIRO in 1971 where he was Chief of the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research for the ten years 1992-2002. He contributed over 150 scientific journal papers primarily on aspects of the global carbon budget. In 2004 he left CSIRO to start a consultancy company. He is currently contracted to Monash University where he is establishing a new sustainability science program.His current interests and activities include energy futures, sustainability and sustainability science, scientific capacity building, public communication of science, the role of science in modern societies and science policy.

Richard Hayward, Board of Directors

Richard has enjoyed a 20-year career in public relations and marketing, working for some of Australia's and the world's largest brands.He co-founded public relations agency Haystac early in 2001. The business was acquired by the ASX-listed Mitchell Communication Group in 2007 and today has more than 90 staff and offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Singapore. The agency has a blue chip client base, and has forged a reputation as one of Australia's best independent public relations and marketing agencies.Since leaving Haystac late in 2010, Richard has become a director and investor in several emerging companies, including Red Star Coffee, which ranks as one of Australia's greenest and most sustainable coffee roasting companies.

Erica Hughes, Board of Directors

Erica Hughes' background is in both financial services and health. In financial services, Erica specialized in strategy, acquisitions, change management, consumer product and marketing and investment management. Erica has experience managing large and complex businesses, often in a turnaround environment. In the health industry Erica has experience managing general operations, exploiting intellectual property and establishing start up businesses. Erica also has experience in the not for profit sector including attracting and managing philanthropic funding.Erica currently consults to the corporate sector on financial management, business turnaround and investment management.Erica is presently a director of Climate Positive contributing her governance and business experience. Erica has previously held board positions with Veda Advantage Limited, Cancer Council Victoria and a number of biotechnology companies.

Damien Cook, Project Botanist

Damien Cook is a respected restoration ecologist with a keen interest in plant and frog taxonomy, wetland processes and geomorphology, and the processes which lead to the degradation of natural ecosystems and how these can be reversed. He has studied natural history for over 20 years and has worked as an ecologist, project manager and environmental educator for the last 15 years. Damien has gained extensive experience in his role in overseeing over 400 successful ecological restoration projects as senior botanist and director of Australian Ecosystems.As a keen observer of the natural world Damien is extremely concerned about the impact that climate change will have on Australia’s unique ecosystems.

Bertram Duerr, Technical Adviser

Bertram became involved with climate change research and renewable energies as a student in Germany. He gained an Engineering qualification in environmental technologies from Hochschule fur Angewandte Wissenschaften (HAW), and went on to work for energie+konzept, Hamburg, to develop engineering solutions for renewable energies. He became particularly interested in environmental management (including CO2-emissions certificate trade) and brought this experience to the Australian Greenhouse Office in 2005. Bertram has developed Climate Positive's carbon footprint calculator, based on his documentation of underlying assumptions. Read the assumptions document.

Web development

The Climate Positive site has been developed professionally, and securely, by highly experienced web developers Gozer Media.