Forestry Australia Directors and Staff

Dr Bill Jackson – Acting President (parental leave position)

Bill Jackson is an adjunct Professor with the Tropical Forest and People Research Centre of the University of the Sunshine Coast and an independent consultant with over 40 years’ experience in forest conservation and management, protected area management and community development.

Bill was the chief author for the Australia State of Environment Report 2016, and he held the positions of Chief Executive of Parks Victoria and Director of National Parks from late 2010 until mid-2015. Prior to his appointment to Parks Victoria, he was Deputy Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). During his 13 years with the IUCN, he helped establish the organisation’s overall strategy and worked on a wide range of conservation issues in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. Earlier in his career he worked on community forestry in Nepal and forest and fire management in New South Wales. His PhD focused on community forestry in Nepal.

He is currently working on Global Environment Facility projects in Papua New Guinea and Bhutan.

Jim Wilson  – Vice President

Jim Wilson has a Bachelor of Science (Forestry) Australian National University 2003 and is the General Manager, Enterprise Performance at Forico, Tasmania.

He is a Registered Forestry Professional and graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Australian Rural Leadership Program. Jim’s career has been focused in the private sector and he has invested his recent years working with Forico, as well as providing significant service at sector level in advocacy and leadership.

Jim is also an active farm forester with both plantation and native forest in Tasmania.

Monique Blason – Director

Monique is the General Manager Community Services at the South Australian Forestry Corporation (ForestrySA) and holds a Bachelor of Science (Natural Resource Management) and a Graduate Diploma in Water Resource Management from Adelaide University.

Monique’s 30 year career has focused on public land, fire and biodiversity management, specialising in policy and regulation development, operational and strategic planning and advice, multi-tenure partnerships and programs, and stakeholder engagement. She also spent seven years in the South Australian Department of the Premier and Cabinet developing and coordinating whole of government emergency management, crisis resilience, public safety regulation, review findings and lessons management programs and initiatives in partnership with State and Commonwealth governments and non-government emergency management organisations.

Monique has represented ForestrySA on the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services (AFAC) and its Rural and Land Management Group and Forestry Australia’s Forest Fire Management Group and is a currently a representative on the SA State Bushfire Management Committee. Monique has embraced forest management, seeking to improve knowledge of and promotion of the multiple benefits of sustainable forests, and the importance of certification.

Matt de Jongh – Director

Matt is the Sustainability Manager for Responsible Wood and holds a Bachelor of Science (Forestry), ANU and a Graduate Certificate in Business Management, UNE. Matt is a forester with over 20 years’ experience in both operational and policy roles. As an operational forester for about 11 years, Matt managed both native and plantation forests, with Forestry Corporation of NSW, in various locations throughout regional NSW, also spending 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. In forestry policy Matt has worked for both the Australian Government and the Australian Forest Products Association. Matt has developed strong stakeholder engagement skills, not only as a forester, but also in the six years spent as Local Area Manager for the NSW Local Land Services, working closely with a variety of stakeholders including Landcare groups, landholders and the agricultural industry. Matt is passionate about promoting and communicating sustainable forest management and advocating for the environmental, social and economic benefits associated with forestry.

Prof Rod Keenan – Director

Rod is an Honorary Professorial Fellow, and former Chair of Forest and Ecosystem Sciences, at the University of Melbourne. He graduated with a B. Sc. (Forestry) from the ANU and a PhD in forest ecology from University of British Columbia. He has research interests in sustainable forest management, forests and climate change, ecosystem services and forest policy. He has worked across Australia, in Canada, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. From 2009-14 he was Director of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research. He was a member of the UN-FAO Advisory Group for the Global Forest Resource Assessment from 2003 to 2015. He is currently a non-executive director of Sustainable Timber Tasmania and Chair of the Research Advisory Committee for Australian Forest and Wood Innovations.

Blair Freeman – Director

Blair is the Head of Strategy and Sustainability with Indufor, an international forest sector consulting firm. He is a professional forester with over 25 years of experience in providing advisory services on forest policy, strategic planning and natural resource management across Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

Blair has a Bachelor of Forest Science degree from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Business Administration degree from AGSM in Sydney. He is also an alumnus of the World Forest Institute, where he represented the Australian forestry sector under the Global Forest Information Fellowship Program.

Dr Michelle Freeman – President (currently on parental leave)

Dr Michelle Freeman is a forester with a passion for native forest management. 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, forest fire management and regulation in Victoria and NSW and is currently a forest science and management consultant.

Michelle is currently on maternity leave from her position as President of Forestry Australia.  She is a Commissioner for International Agricultural Research and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jacquie Martin – CEO

Jacquie is a highly experienced association and event management specialist with a passion for member-based organisations and collaborating with volunteer boards to develop and deliver on an organisation’s strategic objectives. Most recent roles include the Executive Officer for the Australasian Lymphology Association and the HR & Event Manager for the Australian Corrosion Association.

Sue Bruce – Finance Officer

Sue is Fellow CPA, an experienced financial manager, accountant and HR professional. With over 30 years’ experience and qualifications in accounting, management, teaching and governance, Sue takes pride in providing top-class service to Forestry Australia’s members, staff, suppliers and stakeholders.

As our Finance Manager, she also enjoys seeing a balanced balance sheet! A career highlight was the reconciliation of expenditure for a $640 million project spanning 14 years across 3 financial systems. Away from the spreadsheets, Sue has two adult children and two grandchildren who love spending time with their Nanna Sue.

Tara Pedersen – Membership, Administration and Branch Officer

Tara studied a Masters of Ecosystem Management and Conservation at The University of Melbourne. During her studies she was the recipient of a Chinner Medal for outstanding performance in field studies. She has since worked in the forestry sector in both native forest management and small scale private forestry as well as being a forest firefighter. Tara is our Membership, Administration and Branch Officer as well as the Secretariat for the Forest Growers Committee. She is a keen learner and is putting her background knowledge in forestry to good use to inform decision making in her roles at Forestry Australia.

Beth Martin – Communications and Events Officer

Beth is a skilled communicator, administrator and trusted executive advisor, having served a range of educational, not-for-profit and member-based organisations. She has a Bachelor degree in Communications (Journalism), and has a background organising a range of events. In addition to leadership experience, she is the co-founder of a not-for-profit community organisation providing emergency food relief to hundreds of families per year, and has served as a board member on social enterprise entities.