The Tasmania Together Progress Board was established by an Act of Parliament in 2001 - the Tasmania Together Progress Board Act 2001 - and is made up of nine board members: four from the north of the state and five from the south.
Seven members are appointed after a public call for nominations, one member is from the University of Tasmania and one is from the public sector.
Progress Board Meetings
The Progress Board meets up to six times a year. It has an established committee system which undertakes board business regularly throughout the year. The committees are Promotion and Communication; Community Engagement and Benchmarking.
Membership of the Tasmania Together Progress Board
Following the expiry of Board member terms on 30 November 2009, the Premier has appointed one new board member and re-appointed seven existing Board members. The Board is made up of a broad cross section of the community, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to Tasmania Together.
Mr Rhys Edwards who was appointed Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet on 1 July 2008, continues as the public sector representative on the Progress Board.
The experience of existing members will be of great benefit to the Tasmania Together Progress Board as it undertakes the 10 Year Review in 2010.
Media Release: Appointment of new Board Member
The Board includes:
Biographies for Board Members are listed below:
Robert George (Bob) Campbell, Chair
Bob is a Director of groupwork, a company that aims to help groups move from uncertainty to purpose.
He began his career in human resource management and was actively involved in recruitment, policy development, training and industrial relations. He then moved to general management providing leadership in strategic and operational planning, organisational design, team building and facilitation.
His industry experience includes retailing, property management, forestry and local government. From 1993 - 2003 he was the General Manager of Launceston City Council leading significant city development and organisational change.
Bob is Director of the Tasmanian Leaders Program.
When not working or sleeping he can be found fly-fishing for trout in Tasmania's streams or highland lakes.
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Michael Lynch, Deputy Chair
Michael Lynch served in the Royal Australian Navy as an underwater bomb and mine disposal officer for 20 years, retiring in 1981 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was the inaugural executive officer of the Sail Training Association of Western Australia before moving to Melbourne to manage the short-lived Victorian challenge for the 1987 America’s Cup.
From there he became the joint manager of the newly established University of Tasmania Research Company, before taking up a research and policy development position with Independent MHA, Bob Brown.
Following the birth of the Labor-Green Accord in May 1989, he became coordinator of the office of the Green Independents. In May 1993 Michael took on the role of Director of the Tasmanian Conservation Trust, a position he held until his retirement in September 2005.
Michael was a member of the Community Leaders Group which undertook the unique public consultation process that produced the Tasmania Together document.
In his day job, Michael is the chair of the Tasmanian Heritage Council. He is also a member of the Board of Management of the Environmental Defenders Office and the Board of the Alcorso Foundation
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Rhys Edwards
Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet
Rhys Edwards was appointed the Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet in June 2008.
He has held a number of senior positions in the Tasmanian Government over the past 10 years. These include Acting Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, economic adviser to Premier Jim Bacon and senior adviser to Paul Lennon.
Mr Edwards has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) first class, from University of Tasmania. He was awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1992 and completed a Masters degree in Comparative Social Research from Oxford University.
Mr Edwards is a Fellow of the London-based 21st Century Trust, a member of the Economics Society of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a past Director of the Tasmanian Development Board and was appointed to the governing body of the University of Tasmania ("Council") in January, 2007.
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Kirsty Dunphey
Kirsty Dunphey, of Launceston, began her career in business by starting up her own two small businesses at the tender age of 15. At 21 she opened her own, real estate agency, the first of many.
A highly active member of her local community, she strongly pursues her passions for real estate, customer service, and entrepreneurism.
Her contribution and experience have been recognised through the following awards and appointments:
• National Telstra 2002 Young Business Woman of the Year
• 2004 Young Australian of the Year - Tasmania
• Her company M&M Ranked 24th - 2004 BRW Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Australia
• 2005 - Sole Tasmanian Finalist Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year
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Dr Megan Cavanagh-Russell
Megan Cavanagh-Russell’s academic background is in music, music education and higher education leadership. She has held a range of leadership roles in higher education over a career spanning 35 years. Much of this work has been undertaken in close association with communities, both in the arts and with regional organisations. Her development and leadership of the University’s Cradle Coast campus which spanned a 20 year period of her career, has been recognised as highly effective, both within the University and in national arenas. In her final period of employment with the University of Tasmania, Megan served as a member of the Senior Executive in the role of Dean of Education and then Planning Dean UTAS College.
Megan Cavanagh-Russell has lived and worked in all three regions in Tasmania. She is always driven by an underpinning vision for the significant role that education can play in addressing community renewal. She has led highly effective collaborations between education and community partners which have achieved innovative, acclaimed strategies and projects. Outcomes have motivated families and young people, teachers, business and industry and community leaders to commit together to making a difference to education participation. Several projects achieved recognition through national university, school education and local government awards.
Recognised by an Australian Centenary Medal and Membership of the Tasmanian Women’s Role of Honour, at this stage of her career, Megan is taking a break from her full-time professional activities to focus on her family and farming business, as well as short term entrepreneurial projects.
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Associate Professor Roberta Julian
Roberta Julian (PhD) was appointed to the position of Director, Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, in July 2003. Prior to this, she was a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Tasmania where she had been involved in teaching, research and administration for over 20 years.
Associate Professor Julian has an established record of scholarship within the discipline of sociology including a strong track record in applied social research. Her doctoral dissertation explored the settlement of post-war Dutch migrants in Tasmania and she spent over ten years researching the re-settlement of Hmong refugees from Laos. Her community-based research interests also extend to other ‘at risk’ populations such as young offenders.
She has a particular interest in forensic science and is currently the lead Chief Investigator in a 5 year ARC Linkage Grant with Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the National Institute of Forensic Science that will examine the effectiveness of forensic science in the criminal justice system.
Associate Professor Julian is a member of the Board of Studies of the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM), an Associate Investigator with the Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security (CEPS) and Immediate Past President of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA).
Her most recent books are Australian Youth: Social and Cultural Issues (with Pamela Nilan and John Germov) (Pearson 2007) and the revised edition of Australian Sociology: A Changing Society (with David Holmes and Kate Hughes) (Pearson Longman, 2007).
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Kem Perkins OAM
Kem's greatest passion—and one that has taken him all over the world—has been breeding and judging Holstein cattle since 1948. He is the past President of the Holstein Friesian Association of Australia and is the first double master breeder in Australia. Kem is a life member and a past President of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association and past Chairman of the Game Management Standing Committee and past member of the Environmental Policy Council. He is also a past member of the Reliability Network Planning Panel.
Kem’s community and business interests are diverse. He was warden and Director of the Port of Devonport Corporation for 22 years, Chairman for six years, and is the longest serving member of the Latrobe Rotary Club, having been involved since it was formed in 1957. Kem has also served 12 years on the Latrobe Council.
Kem is the current President and a life member of the Latrobe Federal Band since 1966 and chairs the Australian Axemen’s Hall of Fame and Timberworks. He was a member of the Australian Dairy Farmers Federation for 21 years and received an OAM for service to the dairy industry, business and the Latrobe Community. He was awarded a Centenary Medal and was also named Business Achiever of the Year by the Devonport Chamber of Commerce in 2002.
When not working on community projects, Kem can be found enjoying cricket, football or tennis.
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Louise Sullivan
Louise is a graduate of the University of Tasmania. She currently works as the Coordinator of the Goodwood Community Centre. She is committed to community capacity building and was also involved in the Tasmania Together process as a Community Leader for two and a half years.
Louise has two children.
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Ron Ward, Ron Ward Consulting
Ron is a business consultant and company director. In the latter guise he is a Director of the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Chairman of Metro Tasmania; a Director/Trustee of Tasplan Super Fund; a Director of Mornington Park Development and the Tasmanian Growth & Development Fund; Chairman of the Centacare Advisory Board and immediate past Chairman of the Tasmanian Transport Association.
As a consultant he trades as Ron Ward Consulting providing general business advice across a range of disciplines such as strategic planning, HR, IR and business development. He provides coaching and mentoring to small businesses, and specialist advice in waste management, transport and logistics, with a focus on sustainable development. Ron is the former Group General Manager of Veolia Environmental Services in Tasmania, from which role he exited at the end of 2009. Ron took up his position with Veolia in early 2000 when he and his wife Jennifer relocated to the state from the mainland.
Ron studied economics and commercial law at the University of Sydney and also studied as an accountant, which discipline he practiced for a few years before moving into sales and management roles. He has a diploma in Logistics and graduated in the Company Directors course conducted under the auspices of the AICD at the University of Tasmania in 2006, and was made a fellow of the AICD in early 2010.
