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The Board

The Academy’s Board comprises the President, eight elected Fellows, the CEO and, from time to time, a Director elected by the Board.

The current Board members are:

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO FTSE
President

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO FTSE is one of Australia’s most influential people in innovation. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has been a Fellow of ATSE since 2015. In 2017, she received an Order of Australia for her ongoing service to research and technology innovation in Australia.

She has been a professional director for over 20 years including as Chair of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Natural Hazards Research Australia, the Antarctic Science Foundation and the HEARing Cooperative Research Centre. She has been a Director of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Bioplatforms Australia (NCRIS), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Vast Solar, and listed companies Sirtex and Anteotech. She previously chaired the National Climate Science Advisory Committee and currently chairs the Government’s “Vision 2040” committee reviewing the strategy for investment in medical research for the next two decades.

Dr. Woodthorpe is the 10th President of the Academy since its founding President Sir Ian McLennan KCMG KBE FTS FAA was elected in 1975. The President of the Academy is elected by its Fellows for a three-year term.

Professor Doreen Thomas AM FTSE
Vice President Membership

Professor Emeritus Thomas was Head of the School of Electrical, Mechanical and Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, and Associate Dean Research and Research Training and Adjunct Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics.

She holds a BSc degree from the University of Cape Town; an honours degree (Mathematics) from the University of Witwatersrand; and MSc and DPhil (Mathematics) from the University of Oxford. Professor Thomas has successfully applied her fundamental mathematical research in network optimisation to underground mine design and her research has been supported by both the Australian Research Council and the mining industry.

She was a founding director of a spin-off company MineOptima, through which her mining software has been commercialised. She has more than 160 international peer reviewed publications. She has been recognised with a national teaching award for her contribution to engineering education and mentorship and is a passionate ambassador for women in science and engineering. She is a Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Professor Iven Mareels FTSE
Vice President Financial Sustainability

Professor Mareels is the Lab Director, IBM Research Australia and an honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne. Prior to this he was the Dean of Engineering at the University of Melbourne (2007-2018).  He received the PhD in Systems Engineering from the Australian National University in 1987, and the Master of Engineering (Electromechanical) from Ghent University in 1982.

At IBM Research Australia he leads the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies and quantum computing software.

Professor Mareels is a Commander in the Order of the Crown of Belgium, and a Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA), the International Federation of Automatic Control (Austria), Engineers Australia and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

He studies large-scale systems, with application to both engineered (e.g. water and electricity grids) as well as natural systems (such as the brain). He has published five monographs, holds 39 international patents and has authored more than 500 articles. He has supervised 43 PhD students, and is presently supervising another five in energy systems.

Dr Richard Sheldrake AM FTSE
Vice President Diversity

Dr Sheldrake retired as Director-General of the NSW Department of Primary Industries in 2013 after 38 years in the NSW Public Service. Before this he held a number of senior appointments within the NSW Public Service, including Director-General of the Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Industry & Investment, CEO of the NSW Rural Assistance Authority, and Deputy Director-General, Department of Environment and Climate Change.

He has Bachelor and Master of Science in Agriculture degrees from the University of Sydney, and a PhD from the University of Newcastle.

Dr Sheldrake has been involved in guiding state and national policy in areas such as plant and animal biosecurity; agricultural research and development; drought policy; native forest management; native vegetation; fisheries resource management; agri-food policy; water use efficiency; sustainable land use; export market development; and frontline farm services. He played a central role in the establishment of the NSW Government’s Local Land Services.

He has held the positions of NSW Commissioner of Soil Conservation, NSW Commissioner of Forests and Commissioner of the Murray Darling Basin Commission.

In 2013 Dr Sheldrake was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to public administration in NSW and to the NSW community.

Sue MacLeman FTSE

Sue MacLeman has more than 30 years’ experience as a pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology executive having held senior roles in corporate, medical, commercial and business development. Sue has served as CEO and Board member of several ASX, AIM and NASDAQ listed companies in the healthtech sector.

Sue has held positions on several academic and government advisory boards including the Prime Minister’s Digital Expert Advisory Board, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Advisory Committee, MTPConnect, DMTC Medical Countermeasures and Chair Health Security Systems Australia Advisory board and a number of COVID-19 taskforces including SITAG and EAG mRNA. Her broad commercial and technical experience is underpinned by a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Queensland, a Master of Laws from Deakin University and a Master of Marketing from Melbourne Business School. She is also a Fellow and former Chair of the Health Forum at the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and Fellow/Graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Professor Mark Hoffman FTSE

Mark Hoffman is a globally-recognised academic leader, he is passionate about the power of global universities to lead economic and social change through top-class education embedded in a cutting-edge research and innovation ecosystem.

A materials scientist and engineer, Professor Hoffman holds a Bachelor of Engineering and PhD from the University of Sydney, a Masters of Business and Technology from UNSW and is a graduate of IMD, Switzerland. He has held research positions at the University of California, Berkeley, Tokyo Metropolitan University, the University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany, and at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He previously held the roles of Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research (2013-15), Associate Dean Research for Science (2009-12) and Head of School of Materials Engineering (2007-12) at UNSW.

Professor Hoffman is currently chair of the Engineering Panel for the 2020 Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise and recently a member of the Excellence Commissions for the German Science Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of Engineers Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Director.

Professor Elanor Huntington FTSE

Professor Elanor Huntington is the Executive Director – Digital, National Facilities & Collections for CSIRO. Prior to that, she was Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the Australian National University (ANU) where she helped bring about significant transformation within the College and sector.

Professor Huntington is an established senior academic leader, with Board appointments to Industry Innovation and Science Australia, Significant Capital Ventures, Questacon and other government scientific advisory roles. She was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2020, and sits on the governance taskforce, diversity and inclusion committee and RAP committee for that Academy. Professor Huntingtonwas named an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia and led the extended Group of Eight (Go8+) Engineering Deans as first female Chair up until 2019.

Professor Huntingtonholds a PhD in experimental quantum optics and a Masters in information technology. She was a Program Manager for nearly 20 years in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computing Technology and her recent research includes the control of quantum systems at the interface between theory and applications. She is a Visiting Professor at the ANU.

Professor Huntingtonhas recently been selected to provide expert advice to the newly established Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. In 2017 she delivered a TEDxSydney Talk on ‘Why we need Engineers now more than ever’ and later in 2019, co-founded the Engineering for Australia Taskforce to provide expert advice on addressing barriers to women’s participation in university engineering programs.

Professor Paul Wood AO FTSE

Professor Paul Wood has over thirty years’ experience in R&D and been successful as a research scientist, an R&D leader and entrepreneur. He has led R&D teams from CSIRO, CSL and Pfizer Animal Health (now Zoetis) and was Deputy-Director of the Vaccine Technology CRC.

He has been responsible for bringing a number of innovative products to the market, receiving recognition for his work including the CSIRO Medal, the Clunies Ross award and Officer of the Order of Australia. He has served on many boards for both R&D and commercial entities, was a consultant to the Gates Foundations Ag program and currently is an Adjunct Professor at Monash University.

Professor Wood is also the Chai of the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines, on the Board of Dairy Australia, Chair of Karma 3 a start-up in insect protein-production and was made a Fellow of ATSE in 2015. In 2019 he received the International Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist award.

Kylie Sproston FTSE

Kylie Sproston is a chartered engineer and internationally experienced leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with a strong focus on manufacturing.

She has expertise across the full pharmaceutical product lifecycle and has held senior positions in Australia and the UK in technical and management functions.

She is currently chief executive of Bellberry, a private not-for-profit company that promotes and improves the welfare of research participants and the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of human research projects in Australia.

Kylie also chairs the CRC Advisory Committee which oversees and advises the government on its cooperative research centre program.

Kylie Walker, CEO

Kylie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, where she works with expert Fellows to lead crucial national conversations and strategy towards a thriving, healthy and connected Australia supported by technology.

She specialises in connecting technologists, engineers and scientists with governments, business, media and society – skills built over many years in senior federal communication and advocacy roles in the science, technology and health sectors.

As the immediate past CEO of Science & Technology Australia, Kylie led campaigns to increase investment in Australian research and development, and created the acclaimed Superstars of STEM program, championing Australian women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Kylie is also a visiting Fellow at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. She was Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO and in 2019, she was named in the 100 Women of Influence list by the Australian Financial Review, for her work on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM.

For all governance-related questions, email governance@atse.org.au.