WA SEA Management Committee

Chair: Bob Blakiston, Managing Director, SunPower Corporation Australia

Vice Chair: Greg Denton, General Manager - Power, WorleyParsons

Secretary: Adam Lippiatt, Horizon Power

Treasurer: Harry Porrins (Individual member)  

Member: Howard Buckley, Chief Executive, Sungrid Ltd 

Member: Glen Head, Director, HAC Consulting

Member: Rio Tinto (new representative to be advised)

Member: Jim Thomson, Director, Outback Energy

Member: Michael Starling, Director, Planet Carbon

WA SEA Staff

Between 1997- 2005, Bob was General Manager WA ,Post Data , direct mail marketing, bulk mailing production facility processing electronic transactions and paper based essential mail. Previous positions were posts in the beverage distribution business with Johnson Harper, a division of Swan Brewery (a Lion Nathan company) including seven years as General Manager. Bob's early career included 15 years in credit management, in which time served both as State and National President of the Australian Institute of Credit Management Australia, and he remains a life member (awarded 1996) of that Association.

Vice Chair: Greg Denton (WorleyParsons) -
Greg Denton manages Worley Parsons Power business in Western Australia, being responsible for a team of project and engineering specialists focused on delivering efficient energy solutions.

Prior to this Greg was General Manager of Trading and Sustainable Energy for Verve Energy, overseeing Verve Energy's participation in the Wholesale Electricity Market and the establishment of its trading activities. He has had a decade of experience in the electricity and gas industries in a variety of consulting, trading and strategy roles, both here and in North America. Highlights include being responsible for implementing the break-up of Western Power, a short stint at Enron, and being involved in the privatisation of South Australia's power industry.

Greg's first career was as a financial planner in New Zealand. He is a Director of three private companies.

Greg has an MBA, and degrees in economics, politics and finance. He is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Treasurer: Harry Porrins (Advanced Concrete Technologies) -
Harry Porrins is the Sales & Marketing Manager of Advanced Concrete Technologies manufacturers of the ecobrick. The ecobrick is a WA manufactured aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) brick.
He has worked in sales for many years primarily selling products to the building industry. This involvement with the building industry sparked the interest in improving the energy efficiency of the buildings we live and work in. His early training as an architectural draftsman has assisted in understanding building construction.

Harry's focus has been more about how building uses energy rather than the production of energy from sustainable sources. He feels strongly that both the production and the use of energy are part of the same equation.

Harry has practical experience in working in Associations. He assisted in setting up the Skylight Industry Association Inc (SIAI) and was its founding Chairman. The SIAI is a national Association and he remained as Chairman for a period of four years. Though no longer working in the skylight industry he remains an Associate member and still assist in technical matters when requested.

Secretary: Adam Lippiatt (Horizon Power) -
Adam Lippiatt is legal counsel with Horizon Power, a Western Australian Government trading entity. He has been a long term member of the WASEA and has been involved in a number of their activities, particularly on submissions to government relating to law reform issues.

Member: Glen Head (HAC Consulting) -
Glen has developed a significant array of skills as Director of a small Management Consulting firm and has a BSc in Sustainable Development. These include risk management, project management, forecasting and concise report writing. Glen was a Senior Advisor to a Western Australian State Government Minister and was also Director of the Perth Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Trial & Transport Sustainability. These roles have given Glen an intimate understanding of the workings of Government particularly in relation to greenhouse gas reduction and sustainability.

As a Director in the Perth office of HAC Consulting, Glen leads HAC's Western Australian Policy practice, providing high level advice on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon trading and energy efficiency, to government and corporate clients.

Glen is on the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI WA) Climate Change Committee and regularly addresses industry groups and peak bodies on emissions trading, greenhouse gas abatement and energy efficiency.

Member: Howard Buckley (Sungrid) -
Howard is the CEO of Sungrid Ltd., a rapidly growing WA Based manufacturer, importer and distributer of solar photovoltaic modules. Since its inception, Sungrid has taken a very strong national position towards reducing the economic cost of Solar Electricity through efficiency, cost management, good design and effective quality assurance.

He has previously held senior operational and executive roles in companies in Australia, Indonesia the US and the UK. His professional experience has spanned Accounting, Technology and Management across a broad span of industry sectors.

Howard originally graduated from Curtin University of Technology and later undertook graduate studies in Environmental Science at the Australian National University

Member: Jim Thomson (Outback Energy Supply) -
Owner director of Outback Energy Supply, an electrical engineering company with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency consulting and sustainability based in Kalgoorlie- Boulder with a workforce of 10 plus sub contractors, servicing the mining, pastoral, farming, commercial, government and private sectors.

OES is currently in the midst of an expansion into the further regional towns with two agency agreements signed in early 09 with further regional representatives being actively sought
Jim is a current member of the following committee's: Kalgoorlie Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KBCCI), - Executive committee; Chamber of Minerals and Energy - Energy Reference Group committee; Goldfields Electrical Industry Group - Executive committee

Previous memberships include: Member of the Photovoltaic (PV) Working Group commissioned by the then Minister for Energy to examine barriers to the uptake of these grid connected PV systems; KBCCI - Mining Expo committee - 4 years; KBCCI - City and Regional committee - 3 years; BCSE - invited to be WA representative, lobbying of Federal politicians in Canberra, 2006.

Jim continues to promote the benefits of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable practices and process generally and provides the WA SEA committee over 30 years of experience in the energy and resources sectors, and the last 9 years in the renewable energy sector, the last 5 years of which has seen Jim take an increasing political and community advocacy role.

Member: Michael Starling (Quantum MC) -
Michael has held senior management positions in renewable energy, water and wastewater, and technology commercialisation sectors in Australia and overseas over the past 15 years. In 2007, he started Quantum MC Pty Ltd (www.quantummc.com.au), a renewable energy management consulting business that offers strategic advice to its clients.
Michael was previously General Manager at Solco Ltd (SOO) a role which included management of licensing activities for solar technology in Portugal, Malta, South Africa, and Mauritius, and solar pumping activities in Australia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. He also had exposure to a large CDM project in South Africa.
Michael is a Chartered Civil Engineer and has completed an MBA and Master of Finance. He has recently attended conferences in Sydney, San Francisco and Glasgow, focused on emerging technologies, global trends and policy.

Member: Andrew Disney (Individual member) -
Andrew is a corporate lawyer at Steinepreis Paganin with a focus on energy and resources and a growing practice in sustainable business. He is the immediate past president of the National Environmental Law Association (WA) and joined the WASEA board in 2008.

CEO: Dr Ray Wills

Dr Ray Wills has had a wide-ranging career at different times as researcher, planner, adviser, manager and academic. Ray has substantial expertise in ecology, sustainability, climate change science and the effects of expected future climates on Australia, and is recognised by business, government and community leaders in WA as an authoritative commentator on policy and functional responses to mitigate and adapt to global warming.

As well as his role as CEO, Ray is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences at the University of Western Australia, and Principal of the consultancy Future Smart Strategies.

Ray is a member of a number of senior policy groups including the WA Government's High Level Stakeholder Group on Greenhouse, the WA Land Information System's (WALIS) Advisory Committee, the Conservation Council’s WA Collaboration Technical Reference Group.

Further, he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy and member of the WA Branch Committee.

Previously, Ray was also a member of the Ecological Society of Australia Council for 13 years including Vice President for four years, retiring from this position in 2003.

Business Manager: Graham Duda

A Graduate of Edith Cowan University with a Bachelor of Business (Major in Marketing) and a Bachelor of Science (Major in Communications & Information Technology), Graham has had practical experience with a senior Federal Government Minister and Federal Members of Parliament and practical experience at Federal Government level, including with Senior Cabinet Executive visits to Western Australia. Working as part of a team, Graham has developed and organised constituent clinics, community forums and Senior Executive (Federal Government) visits including the Prime Minister, Treasurer and other Government Ministers.

Membership & Events Manager: Lisa Murray