About: Our Board and CEO

The Board of the Peter Cullen Trust brings together highly respected leaders in water and environment management. It includes Professor John Thwaites, Professor John Langford, Mr Mike Logan, Mr Robert Purves, Dr John Williams and Dr Sarina Loo.

Professor John Thwaites (Chair)

John Thwaites is a Professorial Fellow, Monash University, and Chair of the Monash Sustainability Institute and Climate Works Australia.  He also chairs the Climate Group in Australia and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

John Thwaites was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1999 until his retirement in 2007.  During this period, he was Minister for Health, Minister for Planning, Minister for Environment, Minister for Water, Minister for Victorian Communities and Victoria's sustainability and livability. This included a new residential planning code, 5 star energy and water efficiency for all new homes, energy and water efficiency requirements for major industry and a mandatory renewable energy target for Victoria.  He also introduced incentives and targets for energy efficiency, reform of water pricing and legislation to encourage conservation, and sustainability requirements for government accommodation.  John Thwaites established the $300M Victorian Water Trust and appointed Peter Cullen to chair the Advisory Council for the Trust, advising the Victorian Government on water infrastructure investment.

John Thwaites was a Member of the Victorian Parliament 1992 - 2007, and prior to entering Parliament was a barrister practicing in planning and administrative law.  He has degrees in Law and Science.

Professor John Langford AM

Professor John Langford is the director of UniWater, a major research collaboration between the Melbourne and Monash Universities, having joined the University of Melbourne in 2003 as inaugural Director of the University's Melbourne Water Research Centre.

John Langford's career in the water industry spans more than three decades, as an engineer, a water resources manager, as a research manager and as an industry representative.  Internationally recognised for his expertise in water resource and catchment management, and urban and irrigation water supply and research management, he plays a prominent role in the wider water debate,  including speaking at major internationally sponsored forums. In 2004, Professor Langford was ranked by Engineers Australia as one of Australia's 100 most influential engineers.

Professor Langford chaired the Boards of Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Freshwater Ecology (working closely with Peter Cullen as Chief Executive) and the CRC for Catchment Hydrology. For more than a decade, from 1994 to 2003 he was inaugural Executive Director of the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), the peak body of the Australian urban water industry. He was Managing Director of the Rural Water Cooperation, Victoria's state wide irrigation and rural water authority, from 1989 to 1994.

Professor Langford has a Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in Engineering form the University of Engineering and recipient of the Peter Hughes Awarded for his contribution to the Australian Water Industry, the 2003 Centenary Medal and the Order of Australia (2005).

Mr Mike Logan

Mike Logan is one of the leading practitioners of sustainable agriculture, sustainable irrigations and sustainable water management in Australia.  His property "Oakville", near Narrabri in Northern NSW, was the first farm in the world to be certified under ISO 14001 - Environmental Management Systems, an extraordinary achievement for an Australian cotton farm in the 1990s.

Mike Logan has long been involved in research into the interface of agriculture, particularly irrigated agriculture and the environment.  He believes there is scope to inclusively improve the performance of both farm production and environmental outcomes.  This has led to many off farm leadership roles, including serving with Peter Cullen as Director of Land and Water Australia (Director) and on the Board of the CRC for Irrigation Futures (Board Deputy Chairman).  Mike has played key roles in the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (Chairman of the Management Committee), Climate Variability in Agriculture Program (Chairman of the Management Committee), Grain and Graze Program (Member of the Management Committee), Cotton Research and Development Corporation (Board Chairman), and Cotton Australia (Director).  Mr Logan has also been appointed to many government and industry advisory and support roles, including the Advisory Committee to Minister Penny Wong to advise on water buy backs by government, and the National Groundwater Technical Advisory Committee under the National Water Commission.

Mr Logan is a Fellow of both the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Robert Purves AM

In 2008 Robert was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to conservation and the environment and awarded an Honorary Fellow from the University of Sydney.

In 2004 Robert established the Purves Environmental Fund which funds numerous environmental initiatives.

In addition, Robert has had a long career in business including being the Chairman for 10 years of DCA Group Limited.

Dr John Williams

Dr John Williams is Commissioner of the Natural Resources Commission NSW and is currently Adjunct Professor in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management at Charles Sturt University.  He worked closely with Peter Cullen as a founding member of The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.  Dr Williams also serves on the Board of Landcare Australia Limited and is Chair of Research Advisory Committees for the Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centres and the Landscape Logic hub of the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities program.  He was the Chief of CSIRO's Land and Water Division from 2001-2004.

A long time advocate of the need for Australia to adopt land use practices that are both productive and sustainable in terms of resource use and impact on the environment, John has contributed to seminal works on sustainable agriculture in Australia, and has published extensively on the nature of agriculture as part of the natural ecosystems.  Dr Williams has made a significant contribution to the national debate on natural resource management and land use policy in Australia, and was awarded the prestigious Farrer Memorial Medal for achievement and excellence in agricultural science in 2005.

Dr Sarina Loo

Dr Sarina Loo is acting as the Director of Integrated River Health Policy and Investment for the Department of Sustainability and Environment in Victoria. Sarina leads the development, implementation and evaluation of policy to ensure integrated river health management. She is responsible for managing government investment in river health and for river health monitoring and assessment.

Sarina was a lecturer of post-graduate studies at Swinburne University of Technology and has been an independent consultant to government and private business. Sarina was on the Board of the Society for Conservation Biology - Australasian section.

Sarina participated in the inaugural Peter Cullen Trust Leadership program in 2010.

Dr Sandy Hinson, Chief Executive Officer

Dr Sandra Hinson is an organisational sociologist who ran a Management Consulting business for 7 years which she eventually sold. Since then she has managed various organisations and has established five entities prior to the Peter Cullen Trust.

She holds a Masters of Education, has published in the areas of Management, Education and Sociology and has taught part-time at two Universities.

Dr Hinson has experience consulting for government, community and corporate organisations and has served on several Boards and key committees including the Defence Industry Advisory Group and the Council of Australian Business Ltd (ACT). She has also served as an expert witness in Federal and State Government enquiries and currently consults on an occasional basis.