Faculty Advisory Council

Sheldon is currently the General Manager in GHD and is responsible for the overall performance of the Western Australian business. Sheldon is also an Executive Director on the GHD Global Board. He was the inaugural Chair for the Board ESG Sub-committee and is also on the Board Finance Committee. In 2023, Sheldon joined the Board Risk Committee and became a Director on GHD’s UK Subsidiary Board.

Sheldon commenced his career in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) where he graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from UNSW. During his 15 years in the RAAF, he was involved in a range of airfield engineering and major project delivery roles. He commenced further engineering studies in 1999, completing an MSc in Weapons Effects on Structures in the UK (Cranfield University). He then joined a consulting engineering firm and spent over 10 years living abroad in locations such as India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Sheldon is an active member of the professional services industry in Perth. He is a Trustee member of CEDA, is an active member of Committee for Perth and was Chair of the WA chapter of Consult Australia from 2018 to 2022. He is passionate about sustainability and the transition to renewable energy.

Kathryn is an executive in business strategy, organisational capability, and new market development, she is passionate about business transformation and helping organisations build and evolve their business models to challenge industry norms and grow enterprise value. Kathryn has an extensive network built over 25 years in the energy, renewables, utilities, mining, oil and gas and transport sectors, and a proven ability to drive revenue growth in these markets.

Kathryn led the development of Western Power’s Distribution System Operator strategy and roadmap, and its implementation across the organisation, where the evolved operational model will better support and drive a decentralised, decarbonised, digitised energy future.

Prior to her role at Western Power, Kathryn was leading the development of a Centre of Excellence in Advanced Microgrids at Horizon Power. As part of this role, Kathryn was responsible for the creation of the International Microgrid Association, designed to foster the development and adoption of microgrid solutions through purposeful, cross sector collaboration. Earlier, Kathryn spent 12 years’ leading Informa PLC’s Australian corporate learning and capability consulting business unit.

Peter is a senior-level professional with an accomplished career in the agricultural industry. He is a successful business owner, with a record of achievement for founding a well-respected R&D company.

Peter Burgess has been involved in the agricultural industry since 1984 and is an experienced agronomist with expertise in farming systems, research trials, and providing training to growers and professionals in agriculture. Peter is a former Director of Kalyx, a provider of independent research services, product development, technical support and training to the Australian agricultural community.

Eve Clark is the Managing Director of Mission Systems Australia Pty Ltd (MSA), a Defence Industry company which is a subsidiary of L3Harris Technologies Inc. MSA performs complex system integration and manages sustainment programs across domains such as Maritime, Land and Aerospace.

Eve provides leadership and direction to deliver innovative systems solutions and services to Australian and New Zealand Defence and is also responsible for company strategy and growth while maintaining agility and a strong people focus. She has worked for the Company for over 15 years and prior to that worked internationally in Canada, holding various engineering, programmatic and management roles.

Eve holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Computer Studies.

Gerard Danckert is General Manager Strategy Head of Energy and Climate Change Centre of Excellence for Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore product group and has been with Rio Tinto since 2003. Whilst with Rio Tinto Gerard has held senior leadership roles in Resource Development, Operations and Mine Planning, and Technology & Innovation; including leading the design and implementation of Rio Tinto’s innovative Operations Centre and Integrated Planning facility. Before joining Rio Tinto, Gerard spent 20 years in operations management and technical leadership roles in the alumina, gold and iron ore industries.

He is currently working with Rio Tinto’s iron ore executive committee and is responsible for the product group’s business and operating strategy. Gerard also has accountability for the strategic production planning function that defines the project development and product strategy for Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations. Gerard is a mining engineer with an MBA from the University of Western Australia. He is a Director of Rio Tinto Orissa Mining Private Limited, a member of the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) and chair of the Mining theme advisory committee and also a member of the Curtin University Science and Engineering Faculty Advisory Council.

Mr Goerke is an accomplished telecommunications engineer, innovator, senior leader and technology professional with extensive experience in connecting business challenges to technological solutions. Mr Goerke brings an extensive network of industry connections, the ability to manage complex relationships and strengths in building and leading national and international teams. He has a proven track record of leveraging innovation, digital transformation and technology research translation, underpinned by deep technical expertise and experience in the technology startup sector and a passion for Industry 4.0 technologies. Mr Goerke possesses skills in Board leadership, working groups and committees, patent securing, media articles and speaking at national and international industry events.

While leading Innovation for Cisco in Australia and New Zealand Mr Goerke was responsible for building and operating two Cisco-led alliances – Innovation Central Perth and Innovation Central Sydney. Combined these involved A$50million of contributed funds from key partners including Curtin University, CSIRO Data61, University of NSW, Woodside Energy, NSW Department of Primary Industries and NSW Farmer’s Federation. He was responsible for delivering value back to the alliances via the numerous programmes, projects, events, reports and research-industry partnerships built with the teams from the two centres. Mr Goerke was committed to building an inclusive and supportive workplace culture and is proud of the diverse workforce and student interns that have staffed the centre. He worked closely with senior executives from the alliance partners and with the two formal Boards and operating committees.

Mr. Goerke was a Business Development Manager at Cisco for eleven years focused on development of innovative solutions within the Global Telecommunication market. Previously to Cisco he held Business Development roles with THISS Technologies, a startup developing satellite communications service provider which he co-founded. Earlier in his career, he held senior management positions with ICO Global Communications and Inmarsat in London and UniSA and Microbyte in Adelaide.

Mr. Goerke holds multiple patents in the fields of Radio and Web and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from Western Australia’s Curtin University.

Mr Goerke has held a voluntary role on the Board of StartupWA since 2018 and was elected Chair of StartupWA in Dec 2019.

Yanni is currently the General Manager of BHP Yandi Mine. Prior to that, Yanni acted in several General Manager roles across BHP Iron Ore Mines, Rail and Port, led COVID Emergency Management, and several improvement programs focused on safety, culture and productivity. Prior to joining BHP, Yanni worked in consulting focusing on operations improvement, strategy and transactions across a wide range of industries in Europe and North America.

Yanni holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the National Technical University of Athens and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California Berkeley.

John is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Artrya, an Artificial Intelligence startup focusing on the development of solutions to diagnose, predict and treat Coronary Heart Disease, the largest cause of death in the world. John has significant industry experience providing strategic advice to boards and senior executives on the impact that digital disruption and innovation has on industries such as Healthcare, Electronics and Industrial globally.

Previously, John was the Global Industry Leader for Electronics at IBM where he advised CEOs and Boards of some of the worlds largest corporations on commercialisation, strategy, digital transformation and enabling growth in markets such as Asia, US and Europe. He was also a member of IBM’s Global Industry Academy, recognised as top Industry Executives in IBM. In this role, John was primarily responsible for defining the global industry strategy for IBM’s CEO and Chairman.

Susan Kreemer Pickford is the General Manager of Engineers Australia in WA. She is a Fellow of EA, a Chartered Professional Engineer and Engineering Executive. After graduating in Scotland, she worked as a civil engineer on a range of transport projects for 4 years before emigrating to Perth where she spent the next 15 years in consulting engineering.

At Jacobs, Susan led a number of transport projects before moving into senior roles in client management, business development and industry liaison. She was the Project Director of the Living Smart program for the East Metropolitan Regional Council which worked with communities to reduce their travel, waste, water and energy use through behaviour change. From 2017 to 2018 she chaired the National Science Week WA Coordinating Committee. She represents Engineers Australia on a number of government and industry advisory committees. In 2018 she won a Women In Technology WA “20 in 20” award for her commitment to advancing the engineering profession.

Gair joined Western Power in December 1993 as a cadet engineer before moving through the graduate program. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical), Bachelor of Commerce (Management) and Master of Applied Finance from the University of Western Australia.

Gair’s technical experience includes network planning, maintenance strategy and investigations, while his financial expertise in strategic financial modelling was showcased by working closely with Government stakeholders to implement electricity market reforms, including the disaggregation of Western Power in 2006.

Since 2006, Gair has held senior management roles in operations, program and project management, contracts and finance, including four years as Head of Operational Maintenance responsible for over 1,000 field employees. Gair is now in the role of Executive Manager Asset Management, accountable for Western Power’s safety and environmental leadership, network planning, maintenance, engineering design and standards.

Chair of Faculty Advisory Council

Peter Moore has more than thirty five years’ experience in energy and resources. Most of his career has been spent in senior and executive management roles within oil and gas industry, mainly at Esso Australia Ltd, Exxon Exploration Company (Houston) and Woodside Energy Ltd.

At Woodside, Peter’s most recent role was Executive Vice President Exploration. In this capacity he managed an annual budget of roughly $500 million, was a member of Woodside’s Executive Committee (ExCom) and its Opportunities Management Committee, a leader of its Crisis Management Team and Head of the Geoscience function across the company.

Peter retired from Woodside in 2013, taking up the role of Chair of the Curtin Graduate School Advisory Board for a three year term, and gradually joining the boards of various companies. For four years from 2014 until 2018, he was a Non-Executive Director of Central Petroleum Ltd, Chair of Earth Sciences WA (ESWA Inc.), and Professor and Executive Director of Corporate Engagement within the Faculty of Business & Law at Curtin University.

Currently, Peter is a Non-Executive Director of Beach Energy Ltd, Non-Executive Director of Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd, Adjunct Professor at Curtin University, Chair of Curtin’s Faculty of Science and Engineering Advisory Council, Member of the Argentine Chamber of Commerce Advisory Council in Australia, and Non-Executive Advisor to Lavaux Global. He provides executive education throughout Australia and overseas for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA Inc.) and Informa Inc. He has his own consulting company (Norris Strategic Investments Pty Ltd) and is a Director of the family’s private ancillary fund. Peter has a BSc (Hons 1) from the University of Wollongong, a PhD from the University of Adelaide, an Executive MBA from Melbourne University (Mt Eliza) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Evan was formerly the Director, Strategic Engagement at Curtin University – a position he had occupied since 2014. He announced his retirement from the University effective from the end of August 2019.

Previous positions held at the university include Director, External Relations at Curtin Business School, Director, University Development and Director, Strategy and External Relations.

Prior to joining Curtin University in February 1998, Evan enjoyed a successful 30+ year career with the Commonwealth Public Service which concluded while in the position of Regional General Manager WA/SA for the Department of Administrative Services.

Evan is actively involved in community and business activities. He is a Life Member and Past President of the Hellenic Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is currently a committee member of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, Historical Heart Committee, Faculty of Science and Engineering Advisory Council and a national board member of The Hellenic Initiative (Australia).

Mathew is an experienced Executive with a demonstrated record of turning innovative concepts into commercial realities. During his eighteen-year tenure at Australia’s largest grain exporter CBH Group, he aided the transformation of the Western Australian grains industry, improving outcomes for both growers and customers alike. Mat now turns his attention to the mining sector via his Executive position at leading mining technology company IMDEX where he has led the digital transformation program of works.

Mat places high value on combining education with practical experience, successfully completing postgraduate placements at UWA and Stanford University while working in multi-disciplinary environments such as supply chain and logistics, engineering to finance and trading. This combination has enabled him to develop extensive skills in Business Strategy, Culture and Human Resources, Information Technology, Cyber Security, Innovation to commercialisation, Digital and Artificial Intelligence to achieve practical outcomes.

BSc (Chemical), MEng, DEng

Vanessa Torres became is Chief Technical Officer at South32. She is responsible for South32’s Digital Technology, Innovation, Business Optimisation, Technical and HSE Stewardship as well as Major Capital Projects.

Vanessa joined South32 in August 2018 as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining the company, she was Vice President Operational Infrastructure for BHP Western Australia Iron Ore. She has over 29 years of global mining experience across Australia, Canada, Brazil, Peru and New Caledonia, and has held various senior roles at BHP and Vale in strategy, projects, business development, and operations.

Vanessa holds Doctorate and Master degrees in Minerals Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo, and a Bachelor of Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. She was also a Visiting Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where her research focused on the application of Artificial Intelligence to the mining industry.

Jason holds Bachelor degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics, and a Masters degree in Computing Information Systems. He is currently completing a Doctorate of Engineering in Engineering Management. Jason has more than 25 years’ experience in leveraging industry, academia and government partnerships to accelerate technology advancements across multiple industries.

At Woodside Energy, Jason leads technology across the entire New Energy value chain, including carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). He is responsible for overall system modelling to optimise the production and operations of Woodside’s New Energy solutions, as well as the front end engineering of its hydrogen, ammonia, and CCU facilities. This includes securing competitive locations globally, supporting business development via technical solutions for customers, building its portfolio of pilot plants for technology and capability de-risking, and investments to enable growth.

Before joining Woodside in 2019, Jason worked for the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), primarily in human spaceflight. He most recently served as Director of Advanced Exploration Systems leading many technology developments and partnerships with commercial industry, including the first human-rated commercial module for the International Space Station (ISS), the first advance manufacturing device in space and the development of launch standards for CubeSats leading to more than 100 missions flown in space. He also established the initial framework agreement for making the ISS a National Lab for commercial use and served as the Senior Executive over NASA’s Return to the Moon efforts with the establishment of the Lunar Gateway and Human Lunar return mission architecture.

Previously, Jason has served as the Chief Technologist for space operations, and successfully directed various technical and strategic initiatives as program or project manager, including the flight of two radar instruments to the moon and being the founding Director of the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, formed to advance the use of open innovation methodologies across the U.S. Government.

Professor Mark Ogden commenced as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Science and Engineering in August 2021. Prior to this, he was Head of the School of Molecular and Life Sciences.

He worked at the University of Oxford, and the University of Western Australia, before joining Curtin in 1997 on a Curtin University Research Fellowship. His previous leadership roles at Curtin include Head of the Department of Chemistry, Director of the Nanochemistry Research Institute, and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Training.

Professor Ogden has a degree in Chemistry and a PhD from the University of Western Australia. He has educated Curtin students in inorganic and general chemistry from first year through to PhD, and has research interests in supramolecular chemistry, lanthanide coordination chemistry, hydrogel formation, and most recently metal-based light emitting materials.

Paul Slocombe is the Head of Health and Safety at Roy Hill. Paul is business leader with extensive experience in operations leadership, HSEC functions and strategic and capital projects. He has worked for BHP, Rio Tinto, Pacific National, St Barbara Mines and now Roy Hill. He has Engineering (BE Hons), Leadership and Business qualifications (MBA) and is an accredited 6 Sigma Black Belt, starting his career as a metallurgical engineer with BHP in the remote Kimberly region of Western Australia.

Paul’s operational and technical experience includes strategy development, leading cross functional operational teams in fixed plant and port operations, project design and delivery for large and small infrastructure projects, logistics and process design and continuous improvement. Over the last ten years he has designed and delivered functional business partnering models for HSEC and integrated sustainability solutions in mining and rail.
Paul is passionate about working with teams to deliver simple and effective solutions that integrate sustainability and operational performance. He is focused on collaboration and stakeholder engagement aimed at building flexibility and a strong, resilient culture.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Commerce and has over 15 years’ experience in talent acquisition, talent development and talent management across Europe and Australia. She is currently the Manager – Early Careers at Monadelphous Group, a leading Australian engineering group providing construction, maintenance and industrial services to the resources, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Ann has extensive experience in the design and delivery of full-lifecycle Talent Development Programs, including but not limited to Work Integrated Learning, Vacation and Graduate Programs as well as initiatives building employability and work-readiness skills in students, graduates and other talent cohorts.

Jodie is a graduate of Curtin’s WA School of Mines and holds an MBA from UWA. Jodie is currently a senior leader within Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers’ (WesCEF) Climate Opportunities team, responsible for decarbonisation and net zero growth activities across WesCEF’s diverse portfolio of businesses.

Jodie joined WesCEF in 2019 as part of the corporate development team. Before this, she held technical metallurgical and operational roles at BHP Iron Ore and junior miners in various locations across Australia, working in gold, copper, and complex metals operations. Jodie has been involved in construction and commissioning of new mining facilities as well as technical optimisation of existing operations.