our BOARD
The Invasive Species Council is governed by a Board up of to eight members, including a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.
Committed to the protection of indigenous Australian biodiversity from invasive species threats, our Board members provide ISC with a wealth of experience and expertise.
President
Esther Abram
Esther has a strong history of leadership roles in non government organisations, combining organisational management skills with advocacy for public policy reform.
Most of Esther’s working life has been spent with the environment movement, including as the inaugural CEO of the Moreland Energy Foundation and as a past board member of the Victorian Environment Defenders Office and chair of the Climate Action Network Australia.
During the 1990s Esther was the Director of Environment Victoria and this experience alerted her to the threat invasive species present to the natural environment – including those special places which communities have fought so hard to protect from more direct challenges.
Recent work for Changemakers Australia involved advocacy to advance a progressive philanthropic agenda. In particular, she focused on removing legal and cultural barriers restricting non government organisations from undertaking important advocacy work.
Charlie Sherwin
Vice President
Charlie has campaigned for nature conservation over many years, working to restrain land clearing, establish protected areas and improve the management of bush and ecosystems.
He has held positions in several state and national non-government conservation organisations as well as in state government. He is a former member of the Australian Landcare Council, and holds a degree in Socio-environmental Assessment and Policy and a Graduate Diploma in Land Rehabilitation.
Lorensz Senn
Treasurer
Lorensz holds strong financial and business skills, is a CPA and has attained an MBA.
He has worked in a number of industry and government funded enterprises, including retailing, wholesaling, bio-tech, education, auditing, research and community services.
Bernadette Schmidt
Secretary
Bernadette Schmidt is an ecologist working for Ecology Australia and has a particular fondness for fieldwork in Victoria's great outdoors.
She completed a Bachelor of Science in 2004, majoring in Zoology at the University of Melbourne, within the Wildlife Conservation and Vertebrate Ecology division.
She has since completed her Honours degree (First class), assessing habitat separation between sympatric grey kangaroos in north-western Victoria, and presented her findings at the 2006 Mammal Society Conference.
Bernadette has also gained broad experience conducting fieldwork with a wide variety of different vertebrate taxa and survey techniques, but in particular with conducting mammal surveys. This has included trapping surveys for the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Eastern Barred Bandicoot and other small mammals, as well as herpetological surveys at Portland Aluminium Smelter, and kangaroo population censuses at Woodlands Historic Park, Hattah Kulkyne and Murray Sunset National Parks.
She possesses a strong understanding of the fauna and habitats of south-eastern Australia, and the threats they face.
Sandra Weller
Board Member, Public Officer
Sandra Weller graduated with Honours in Environmental Science in 2009 and is now doing post-graduate studies at the University of Ballarat.
She has researched sampling methods to help prevent the spread of Chilean Needle Grass, an invasive pest damaging Australian pastures and the natural environment.
A fan of Bayesian analysis, Sandra believes we only have one Earth - so our greatest concern should be looking after it.
Geoff Carr
Board Member
Geoff Carr is a weed scientist with a long track record working to protect Victoria's environment from the impacts of invasive species.
He is founding director of Ecology Australia and has been a botanical consultant for 30 years.
Geoff has an exceptional knowledge of the ecology, taxonomy, distribution, conservation status, horticulture, management and revegetation of Australian flora, particularly that of south-eastern Australia.
He is also an authority on environmental weeds in Australia, and with co-authors Jeff Yugovic and Kim Roberstson published the book Environmental Weed Invasions in Victoria: Conservation and Management Implications.
Geoff also has a strong interest in plant taxonomy - he has researched and published on several plant groups, notably orchids and lilies (Dianella), naturalised willows (Salix) and prickly pear (Opuntia) in Australia. He has published over 400 papers, reports and other publications.
Matt White
Board Member
Matt White has spent more than 20 years experience working as a field botanist and plant ecologist for government and non-government agencies in New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
He currently works at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research as part of the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Matt's research interests are community and ecosystem description, environmental history, invasion ecology, decision theory and ecosystem modelling.