Keynote & Invited Speakers

Forestry Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry are delighted to announce the below Keynote and Invited Speakers who will be joining us at the 2023 ANZIF Conference.

Keynote Speakers

Maxwell Jacobs Oration: Has Forestry responded adequately to social, demographic and economic trends?
Dr Neil Byron

Neil is a forester and economist who has provided independent, highly-credible and practical policy advice to all levels of government – particularly on natural resources such as water, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and biodiversity, including 12 years as Commonwealth Productivity Commissioner and 2 years with Natural Resources Commission of NSW. Earlier positions were as Assistant Director General and head of policy research at the Centre for International Forest Research based in Indonesia for 5 years, leading a UN-funded Project in the Planning Commission of Bangladesh for 3 years, 6 years in a support role with the Nepal Australia Community Forestry Project, head of forest economics research at the Bureau of Agricultural Economics for 3 years and, perhaps his best known role, lecturing in Forest Economics at the ANU Forestry School between 1977 and 1993 whenever he wasn’t somewhere else.

In the past 20 years he’s had numerous part-time assignments involving policy formulation and/or evaluation of the social and economic dimensions of natural resource management, in Australia and overseas. In all these contexts he has been a leader in collection of relevant data to enable rigorous analysis of options, with a focus on devising efficient and equitable longer-term strategies and scenarios.

Neil has extensive experience in governance, and strategic and corporate planning that anticipates and identifies emerging trends, in both government and the private sector.

Neil was also a Director of the national Board of the Institute of Foresters (2015-17) and a private forest owner for 25 years.

Dr Elizabeth Heagney
Research Director, Farming for the Future

Liz is an experienced economic analyst, having worked as an environmental economist for the NSW Government over the past 20 years. In her previous role, she led the Advanced Analytics team within the NSW Department of Planning and the Environment, advancing the state’s natural capital agenda and helping to secure more than $1B in funding for environmental projects.

Liz has designed and implemented large-scale research projects focussing on productivity and efficiency in primary industries in Australia and the Pacific, helping to build the case for practice change that improves both economic and environmental outcomes. She also works as a Principal for Aton Consulting.

Ms Sheam Satkuru
Executive Director; International Tropical Timber Council

Ms Satkuru was appointed as ITTO’s first female Executive Director at the 57th session of the International Tropical Timber Council in December 2021.

Ms Satkuru has nearly 30 years of experience in tropical forest policy and the wood products industry. She is a specialist in international trade regulations, with strong skills and experience in international negotiations, legal and policy analysis, communications and public affairs. She has served as a technical expert, adviser and board member in several capacities. She holds a Master in Corporate and Commercial Law degree from King’s College at the University of London and was called to the English Bar in 1993.

A citizen of Malaysia, Ms Satkuru was ITTO Director of Operations between October 2017 and January 2022. She was the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) Regional Director for Europe in 2007–2017, focusing very much on sustainable tropical forestry, international policies and legal and sustainable international trade in forest products/industries.

My journey to forestry and the art of advocacy
The Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon

The Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon was appointed Chief Executive Officer of AFPA in 2023 after serving 26 years in the Federal Parliament, where he retired at the 2022 Federal Election.

Joel served as Defence Minister and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the Rudd Government and Chief Government Whip in the Gillard Government.

He is passionate about Australia’s forestry and forest products sector and the vital role it plays fighting climate change and serving the economy. Joel is a keen golfer and Newcastle Knights tragic.

Plenary Panel: The future of forestry, carbon and natural capital

The Future of Forestry, Carbon and Natural Capital: A New Zealand perspective
Warren Parker, Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Ltd)

Warren is Chairman of Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Ltd), New Zealand’s largest farming company and a State Owned Enterprise. Other board roles include FarmIQ (Chair), Quayside Holdings, Focus Genetics, Farmlands and Genomics Aotearoa.

Warren was CEO of Scion (the NZ Forest Research Institute) and Landcare Research; and COO of AgResearch. He chaired the Forestry Ministerial Advisory Group (2018-2023), the NZ Conservation Authority (2014-2017) and Griffith Enterprise (2018-2021); and was on the establishment board for Predator Free 2050.

Warren has a PhD in Animal Science, Masters in Farm Management and was Professor of Agricultural Systems at Massey University (1992-1998).

Role of the forest industry in meeting Australia’s carbon and biodiversity targets
Libby Pinkard, CSIRO

Libby Pinkard is the Research Director for the Living Landscapes Program in CSIRO Environment.  She has extensive experience in science and people leadership across broad disciplines.

Libby’s background as a systems scientist has enabled her to address issues related to resource supply and security in the forest industry, including climate change impacts and adaptation, and to apply this knowledge to promote environmentally sustainable land management including through natural capital assessment and accounting.

How housing markets are changing and why that matters
Tim Woods, Industry Edge

Tim Woods is Managing Director of IndustryEdge, Australia and New Zealand’s leading supply chain, trade, market intelligence and strategy firm in the fibre resources and wood processing sectors.

Tim’s specific expertise is in the fibre supply chain, publishing regular analysis and insights across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. He leads IndustryEdge’s consulting services to business, industry, investors and government clients and speaks and presents at a wide range of events in the region.

David Brand, New Forests

David Brand is the Founder and Executive Chair of New Forests.  He has spent his entire career in forestry, beginning as a field forester in coastal British Columbia, then as a forest scientist, and then as a forest policy expert both domestically and internationally in the government of Canada.  In 1996 he relocated to Australia, working first for the NSW Forestry Corporation, and then moved into the private sector to work in forestry investment management.

He founded New Forests in 2005 with the aspiration to build a business with sustainability-led investment strategies.

David has a B.Sc.F from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia.

Invited Speakers

Agroforestry around the world – the hows, the whys and the future of a global land use
Patrick Worms, President, the International Union of Agroforestry

Patrick Worms is the Senior Science Policy Advisor of CIFOR-ICRAF, the world’s only global institution devoted to the study of trees in agricultural landscapes.

Patrick’s work sits at the nexus of land restoration and human security. He is convinced that marrying traditional and advanced knowledge is the most promising pathway to rural prosperity, a giant help to mitigate our impact on biodiversity and the atmosphere and, tantalizingly, peace in a warming world.

Patrick serves as President of the International Union of Agroforestry, Vice-President of the European Agroforestry Federation, a member of the Executive Committee of the FAO’s International Poplar Commission, and is a Senior Fellow of the Global Evergreening Alliance.

Delivering Carbon Neutral 2030
Dr Margaret Jewell, Meat & Livestock Australia

Dr Margaret Jewell is MLA’s Carbon Neutral by 2030 manager and delivers MLA’s on farm sustainability R&D program. Margaret is privileged to work with red meat producers, agricultural industry stakeholders, and national and international research organisations, non-profit organisations, and governments.

Dr Jewell’s work contributes to improved production of red meat, directing investment into grazing management opportunities to improve and rehabilitate vast areas of Australia’s land mass, and global challenges such as food security, biodiversity depletion, and climate change.

Margaret is committed to ensuring that Australian agriculture prospers while remaining sustainable and contributing to emissions reduction targets.

Harnessing natural capital to reach $100 billion
David Jochinke, Vice Presentient, National Farmers Federation

David Jochinke is a third-generation grain and livestock farmer from in north west Victoria. David was elected as Vice President of the National Farmers’ Federation in November 2017 and again in November 2000 after serving as a Director for a number of years. He is also the Immediate past President of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Chair of the Regional Partnership for the Wimmera Southern Mallee and a Board Member of Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water.

David is a past recipient of a Nuffield Australia Scholarship, holds a Diploma in Applied Science (Ag Services) and is an active contributor to his local community including holding membership of the Wimmera Machinery Field Days Committee, the Wallup Ag Group, the Northern Wimmera CFA Brigade and Committees for Birchip Cropping Group and Wimmera Farming Systems.