Chair

Mr Sean Edwards

Following a successful business career building up and leading private and public property and wine companies, Sean Edwards was elected at the 2010 federal election as a Senator to the Australian Parliament. Representing South Australia as a member of the Australian Senate until 2016, he worked extensively in the Economics, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and Rural Affairs and Transport Standing Committees, Chairing the Standing Committee of Economics between 2014 and 2016. As a Senator, he made a major contribution to the policy debate on Australia’s energy future, including a widely published submission to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission (2016). His prominent public advocacy during this time for the maintenance of a potent naval shipbuilding capacity continues to be lauded as a turning point, arresting the decline of federal government budget focus on Armed Forces spending in maintaining sovereign capacity.

Since then, as Chairman of Enterprise Corporation, corporate advisory specialists based in Adelaide, Sean heads a team that is focused on delivering concentrated guidance to clients in the areas of Government Policy, Business Strategy, Capital Raising, and Mergers and Acquisitions for a range of clients across various sectors, including technology, the space industry, defence related business, tourism, fishing and agriculture. More recently, Sean has worked with numerous established and start-up businesses in Australia to help them achieve local and international expansion and revenue growth.

directors

Laureate Professor Ravi Naidu

Ravi Naidu has been a research leader in environmental contaminants, bioavailability and remediation for over 30 years. He is co-author of more than 1,000 research articles and technical publications and co-editor of 16 books and over 100 book chapters in the field of environmental science, including field remediation of contaminated sites. He was the initiator and founding Managing Director and CEO of CRC CARE and led the successful bid for CRC CARE’s 9-year extension in 2010. Prior to joining the University of South Australia in December 2002, Ravi was Chief Research Scientist and Leader of the Remediation of Contaminated Environments Program at the CSIRO Land and Water Division. He is a University of Newcastle Laureate Professor and the founder and inaugural Director of GCER.

Ravi was awarded a Gold Medal in environmental science in 1998 by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, has been awarded the status of Chartered Chemist, and is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society America (elected in 2000), the Soil Science Society of New Zealand (2004), the American Society of Agronomy (2006) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012). He was elected in 2016 as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in 2017 as a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a foreign Fellow of the Indian Academy of Agricultural Science and a foreign Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Science. Ravi was recently awarded Mahatma Gandhi Samman award for his leadership and contributions to environmental sustainability and the European Geosciences Union Alina Kabata- Pendias Medal for his outstanding research in soil science and soil pollution. Ravi is Chair of the International Committee on Bioavailability and Risk Assessment and a sitting member of the EPA Victoria Contaminated Sites Auditor Panel. He has also been Chair of the Standards Australia Technical Committee on Sampling and Analyses of Contaminated Soils (1999–2000), Chair of the International Union of Soil Sciences Commission for Soil Degradation Control, Remediation and Reclamation (2002–10), and President of the International Society on Trace Element Biogeochemistry (2005–07). In 2022 he was named Chair of INSOP, a global initiative set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Dr Rod Lukatelich

Rod Lukatelich’s career has spanned academia, environmental consulting and industrial environmental management. As a lecturer/research officer (1982–89) at the Centre for Water Research at the University of Western Australia his research included studies on the impacts of eutrophication on algae and seagrasses in lakes and estuaries; development of ecological models; and the relationships between hydrodynamics and water quality in reservoirs, rivers and estuaries. In 1989 Dr Lukatelich joined Kinhill Engineers as Senior Aquatic Ecologist and in 1990 joined BP Refinery Kwinana as Environmental Manager. In various roles at BP he led a team of environmental engineers and was responsible for environmental management systems, monitoring and reporting emissions, wastewater treatment, environmental impact assessment for major projects, solid waste management, groundwater production, soil and groundwater remediation, dangerous goods management, and Major Hazardous Facility Safety Reports. He has also supported BP’s global refining businesses as a Senior Environmental Technologist (1995–97) and as Water Technology Advisor (2004–06) in the areas of contaminated site assessment and remediation, and wastewater treatment, respectively.

Dr Lukatelich has broad experience in regulatory systems, having completed major contaminated site remediation projects in Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. He retired from BP in 2014 and now works part time as an environmental consultant. He has published more than 50 refereed papers and book chapters in environmental science. He has been a Director of CRC CARE since its inception and a Director of Western Australian Turf Club (trading as Perth Racing) since 2017. He chaired the Great Australian Bight Research Program Management Committee and was a member of the Environmental Protection Authority of WA (2009–14). Dr Lukatelich was appointed to the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority in January 2019. He was appointed to the Board of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) in 2020 and is Program Director for the WAMSI Westport Marine Science Program.

Ms Eliza Yuen

Eliza Yuen is a professional accountant based in Hong Kong. She is well experienced in the financial and accounting field. Eliza has participated in many capital market fundraising projects. She has accumulated a lot of experience in initial public offering (IPO), privatisation, merger and acquisition, and bond and debenture issues, both in Hong Kong and internationally.

Eliza is currently a Director of HLM Asia Group Limited, one of the core members of crcCARE. From 2011 to 2017, she served as a supervisory board member of a German listed company that is one of the top equipment suppliers and services companies for the cement industry.

company secretary

Mr Nick Baldock

Combining both litigious and commercial experience, Nick has significant experience in advising corporations both small and large, in respect of both corporate compliance and the individual responsibilities of company office holders.

Nick is very familiar with the constitutional framework, funding and governance arrangements of many legal structures and companies having provided advice to not for profit and government bodies over many years. Amongst others, Nick is currently the Company Secretary of CRC for High Performance Soils Limited, APOP Biosciences Pty Ltd and the Australian POTS Foundation Ltd. Nick also provides governance advice and company secretarial guidance to a number of organisations.

Nick obtained a Bachelor Of Laws (LLB) from Adelaide University in 1987 and his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP) in 1988. Following his admission to practice in 1988 he worked at Fisher Jeffries until 1992. Whilst there, Nick was responsible for providing company secretarial services for a number of companies on the Second Board of the ASX. That involved the preparation of all notices of meeting and resolutions, all necessary ASIC forms and other legal obligations.

Nick joined Grope Hamilton in 1992 and became a partner in 1995. He has appeared as instructing solicitor and barrister in numerous corporate and shareholder disputes in both State and Federal Courts. He has also advised in relation to shareholder’s agreements, constitutions, business acquisitions, disposals and intellectual property rights. This advice has been given to boards of listed entities, financial institutions and SMEs. He is currently a consultant in a similar capacity with MOA Legal.

In addition to acting in an advisory capacity, Nick has also held a number of board roles. He was a director of and chairperson of the Cancer and Bowel Research Association, which established two charitable trusts being the Cancer and Bowel Research Trust and the Kid’s Cancer Research Trust. Nick was also a director of ACE TV, a community based Television Company, and Community Support Inc., a provider of in-house services to disabled people.

In addition to these board positions, Nick has on many occasions provided advice at board meetings of clients at the specific invitation of the directors. He has been involved in the preparation of board papers, notices of meeting, minutes of meeting, directors and shareholder’s resolutions, shareholders agreements and is deeply familiar with all ASIC requirements.

Nick has been a member of the Law Society since 1988. In addition he has provided training through the Law Society to students of the Graduate Diploma Course in the Insolvency and Corporate Governance modules for the past 15 years.

He also provides pro bono legal services for the NSW Cancer Council to terminally ill cancer patients.