the board of directors

Simon Holmes à Court, Chairman

Simon Holmes à Court has a strong connection to the Daylesford/Hepburn region and a long-standing interest in renewable energy. He understands that environmentally sustainable technologies also need to be financially sustainable. Simon headed a project researching alternate energy solutions for remote cattle stations in the Northern Territory, and his farm, located between Daylesford and Leonards Hill, is powered by a solar-hybrid system.

Simon has qualifications in Cognitive and Computer Science and Applied Finance and Investment from US and Australian institutions. He has a broad range of commercial experience, ranging from ‘dot com’ businesses in Silicon Valley to remote cattle stations in the Northern Territory.

Simon has previously been director of Heytesbury Pty Ltd, one of Australia’s largest private companies, and is the Chairman of Melbourne based Observant Pty Ltd, which designs and manufactures highly-scalable infrastructure monitoring and automation solutions for urban and remote areas.

Kate Redwood, Director

Kate Redwood is a resident of Daylesford. She is involved in a range of community activities including being Secretary of the Daylesford Football Netball Club and Vice President of the Friends of Cornish Hill conservation group. In the course of her career Kate has held senior management roles with significant community service organisations, and has served two terms as an elected councillor for the City of Melbourne in the course of which she chaired the Committee for Environment, Community and Cultural Development.

Kate has also held a range of Board appointments over the last 20 years. She is currently serving a third term as Director of Melbourne Health (the Royal Melbourne Hospital and associated entities) and is a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.  She has been a member of the Advisory Board for the Melbourne Juris Doctor – the University of Melbourne Law School’s accelerated law course and a Director of State Trustees Ltd.

Kate holds a bachelor of arts and bachelor of social work. She has also completed an accelerated MBA. Kate received an Australian Centenary Medal for services to local government and the community in 2001.

Martin May, Treasurer

Martin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Melbourne University majoring in Economics. Martin’s working life has been in the finance industry, working both in Australia and New York for banks and stockbroking firms. More recently he was a Director of an Australian life company, Challenger Life, where he was also a member of the Investment Committee responsible for investing statutory funds.

Currently he runs a funds management business based in Melbourne and he also sits on an Investment Committee for a financial planning company.Martin has a strong interest in environmental issues and believes that Hepburn Wind is an important project on many levels and can become the basis for a national model of community renewable energy sites. Martin has had a holiday house in Daylesford for the past 11 years. In Melbourne he is an active member of the Bayside Climate Change Action Group.

Dan Cass, Director

Dan Cass has been a passionate and effective green advocate for 20 years. He has an honours degree in science history and was science curator at Museum Victoria. Dan is a political consultant for the renewable energy sector, with clients such as solar PV companies Spark Solar Australia and Sungevity, Inc (USA). He has advised Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown, the University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute and the Australian PV Association.

Dan was communications manager at Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Dan is a media commentator and writes a blog. He lives in Melbourne.

Rob Hill, Director

Rob’s career over the past twenty years has focused on Technology and Human Resources. For the past ten years he has held various senior management roles with NorthgateArinso in the areas of strategy development and execution, marketing, business development, communications and contract negotiation. NorthgateArinso is a global HR technology company with operations in 35 countries. Rob lives with his family in Mt Prospect, near Daylesford.

Daniel Magasanik, Director

Daniel was a founding director of the Energy Research and Development Corporation, funded by the Australian Government. It invested in projects with industry participants. The focus was on energy efficiency and reducing environmental impacts. He was also the co-founder of McLennan Magasanik Associates, one of Australia’s leading consultancies specialising in the energy industries. Daniel now works part-time with the firm. His main interest is the sustainability of human activities, particularly the extraction and conversion of energy. Generation of electricity from wind and geothermal sources are two examples.

Daniel holds degrees in chemical engineering from McGill University in Montreal and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The Magasanik family has a longstanding connection with the Daylesford area through having participated in orienteering on the many detailed maps that were made and used for this purpose. The present connection is through a block of land bordering on the Wombat State Forest near Korweinguboora.

Norm McMurray, Director

Norm McMurray lives locally on his small farm in Musk and is passionate about sustainable practices. Norm has a broad range of skills and experience including 15 years as a health technician, five years managing medical clinics and many years working in the area of superannuation. In his role at Maurice Blackburn, Norm works closely with the disability sector and those who are critically ill where he uses his negotiation, advocacy and management skills to achieve the best possible financial outcomes for people with a disability.

David Perry, Director

David holds degrees in electrical engineering and neuroscience from The University of Melbourne. He is currently completing a PhD at the Bionics Institute examining how stimulation from a cochlear implant is represented in the brain. David works part-time with the Bionic Vision Australia pre-clinical team, and volunteers for Beyond Zero Emissions, contributing to technical research, and giving public presentations detailing a transition to a 100% renewable energy system in Australia. David and his partner are aiming to move to the Macedon Ranges region once they have completed their degrees in Melbourne.

Dr Peter Rogers, Director

Peter has strong family attachments to the Hepburn Daylesford area – from when his great grandfather arrived at Castlemaine in 1861. His early career was with ICI Australia responsible for commissioning and running plants producing chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics and producing power and steam from waste heat. He was based in the London headquarters of ICI PLC for five years with global responsibilities and was a director of several ICI subsidiary companies in Asia Pacific.In 2001 he established ICC in Australia as part of Mercer, and continues as Managing Director.

Mercer and Marsh are the main operating entities of Marsh & McLennan – the New York listed Risk Management and Consultancy firm. Included in Peter’s voluntary and community activities are: Chairman of Monash Engineering Foundation, Director of Acclaim Awards, former Director and Vice President of Rotary Club of Melbourne, former Chairman of Errol Street Primary School, and of North Strathfield Primary School, and a member of the Committee of Enquiry into University High School.