About

Graeme Wood AM is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and environmentalist who has more wins than failures so far. He believes in investing for positive social impact and changing the world to become a better place through business. He likes businesses that both make money and solve real world problems.
His philanthropic interests include environmental sustainability, the arts and public interest journalism..
Graeme is the founding sponsor for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, founding investor in Guardian Australia, and is behind the regeneration of the Triabunna Woodchip Mill into Spring Bay Mill on Tasmania’s east coast. Graeme and his partner Anna Cerneaz are the current custodians of Spring Bay Mill. Once home to the world’s largest wood chip mill and built on the unceded lands of the paredarerme people, this 43-hectare site is now managed by a bunch of provocateurs intent on charting a sustainable path.
Graeme is also co-founder and chair of tech startup Mawson Ventures, co-founder and chair of Artology and Chair or Board member on several tech startups and impact investments.
Graeme holds an Honorary Doctorate in Economics from the University of Queensland and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012.

Blair Palese is Director of Philanthropy at Ethinvest, Australia’s oldest impact investment advisor, and managing editor at Climate & Capital Media, focused on the trends and investment opportunities of the emerging climate economy. Blair was named as one of The Australian’s Top 100 Green Energy Players in late 2023. She has worked in the climate and environment space in Australia, the US and internationally for almost 40 years. In 2009, Blair founded 350.org Australia and was CEO for 10 years. She was Communications Director for Greenpeace International and head of PR for The Body Shop, both in the UK. Blair has been on a number of NGO boards and has consulted to Google X’s climate moon-shot team, C40 Cities for Climate Action, the Australian Museum’s Climate Solutions Centre, the Climate Group, Climate Institute, Green Building Council of Australia and a range of climate-related NGOs, businesses and government programs.

John Hepburn is an activist and social entrepreneur with over twenty-five years experience running environmental campaigns. In 2017, he was an inaugural recipient of the Climate Breakthrough Award, which was the catalyst for Sunrise to scale its work globally. Prior to founding The Sunrise Project in 2012, John spent a decade leading campaigns with Greenpeace, and previously worked on a wide variety of environmental campaigns at a grassroots level. He is the founder of several non-profit recycling businesses, which led to him being awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2002. John holds degrees in Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Business Management, and before becoming an activist, worked for several years as an engineer making components for the oil, gas and coal industries.

Tim has 30 years of financial market experience covering the Australian, Asian and global equity markets and is a highly influential energy finance commentator. He has written more than 100 reports on the global energy transition, and the roles of finance and policy in accelerating critical decarbonisation trends.

Tim was previously the Australasian Director of the global Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, 2013-2021. Prior to this, Tim was a top-rated equity research analyst, including Head of Equity Research in Singapore at Deutsche Bank, Managing Director, Head of Equity Research at Citigroup for 17 years, Head of Institutional Equities at Shaw & Partners and co-Managing Director of Arkx Investment Management P/L, a global listed clean energy investment start-up jointly owned with Westpac.

Tim started his career as a lecturer in Finance and Market Regulation at the University of Technology, Sydney before moving to Macquarie Group in 1988 to work in equity research. Tim has a Bachelor of Business majoring in Accounting and Finance from UTS (1985-87), the US SEC Series 7 (General Securities Representative Qualification Examination) and Series 24 (General Securities Principal Qualification Examination) qualifications.

When not studying energy markets, Tim enjoys bushwalking in Kurringgai national park in on the north shore of Sydney with friends, concurrently recharging, exercising and railing about our politicians.

Annemarie has more than 25 years’ experience in public and corporate affairs, media/communications strategy, research, publishing and academia, and holds a PhD and MA from the University of Sydney. Previous roles include joint chief of staff at the Climate Council, director of communications at The Sunrise Project and the National Trust, head of corporate and communications for multibillion dollar investment fund manager and philanthropist Brian Sherman of Equitilink, and for business leader and philanthropist Graeme Wood’s NFPs, and general manager of the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas. She has written and edited several books, including for MIT Press in the US and Melbourne University Press. Her background also includes feature journalism for News Limited and Fairfax, and work as a tenured academic at the University of Sydney in arts informatics/digital culture.

Annemarie also holds a BA and MA from UTS. 

She is a news and politics junkie, and passionate about climate, social justice, and animal protection. She loves bushwalking, observing the endless wonders of nature, movies, art, reading and bingeing on the golden age of streaming TV.

Matthew  focusses on the significant growth opportunities future-facing companies have in the electrified transport and energy transition. He has completed a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland (UQ), majoring in International Trade and Finance. Previously, Matthew spent 2 years studying biotechnology, focusing in chemistry and nanotechnology at UQ. Matthew’s work for CEF has included co-authorship of the major report, published in March 2023, “A Critical Minerals Value-Adding
Superpower: Mapping Australia’s ‘once in a century’ opportunity to lead the world in new economy minerals mining and renewables-powered onshore refining and manufacturing pre-export” and two other major reports on capping the diesel rebate to support electrification of heavy mining transport and the potential for partnership with South Korea on an onshore battery manufacturing industry.

In his spare time, he enjoys searching for the best eggs benny on the market, hitting the fairway, and avidly following F1.

Nishtha (Nish-ta) comes from a background of Big 4 consulting experience where she delivered impactful work across the not-for-profit sector, and state and federal government. Most notably, she specialised in supporting the Australian Defence Force with identifying supply network exposures during the Covid pandemic, delivering financial compliance analysis on mega acquisitions, and strategizing about how to leverage Industry 4.0 technology to future proof ADF’s asset management and logistics ecosystems. Most recently, Nishtha was the corporate environmental analyst for the Australian Conservation Foundation working to hold banks and superfunds accountable to their climate and nature goals. Nishtha regularly provides guest lectures at La Trobe University on the role of corporations in making social change happen, and she is a long-standing member of La Trobe’s Advisory Committee for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

In her spare time, Nishtha is devoted to classical training in the Indian arts, particularly Odissi dance and music from the east Indian region of Odisha.

Paul is a leading climate, energy and social justice movement strategist and the former long-time National Director of GetUp! Paul has joined CEF to lead a special project to better align Your Future Your Super investment benchmarks with decarbonisation.

Xuyang completed her master’s degree in International Relations with a specialisation in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, where her thesis focused on the impact of Chinese feminism on China’s response to the global feminist initiatives – Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS). After graduation, she joined Australia’s top foreign policy think tank – the Lowy Institute – researching Australia’s foreign policy, multiculturalism, development aid and Australia-China relations. Later, she joined a London-based NGO think tank InfluenceMap as an analyst, where she assessed Australian oil and gas companies’ lobbying activity and policy engagement, as well as tracking Australia’s climate and energy policy. Her analyses of Chinese politics have been published on media outlets including The Guardian. With her passion for tackling climate change by boosting energy transition, and her knowledge and experience in China policy and geopolitics, Xuyang is looking to unpack China’s energy transition footprint and build a bridge to accommodate energy cooperation between China and Australia.

In her spare time, Xuyang rides her motorbike along the coast, and she is a big fan of rock climbing and anything outdoors. She also enjoys dancing and playing guzheng – a traditional Chinese instrument.

Amanda Caldwell is the strategic communications lead for CEF and the Climate Capital Forum’s work on achieving an appropriately ambitious Australian response to the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Amanda is a skilled and experienced communications professional whose career spans almost 40 years. She was Head of Communications for Australia’s Chief Scientist from 2019-2021 leading the team supporting the communications and outreach work of both immediate past Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel and the current incumbent, Dr Cathy Foley.

Most recently she worked at the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General on a program designed to improve diversity in the Australian honours system; and on the World Mining Congress and the Climate Action Network Australia’s flagship event, the Better Futures Forum, for a public relations company that specialises in strategic communications for Australia’s scientific and research community.

She completed a BA in Professional Writing at the University of Canberra in 1990. Since then she has worked in and around not-for-profits and advocacy organisations managing communications activities and engaging with government, including for the National Youth Science Forum, the CRC for Biomedical Imaging Development, and the Energy R&D Corporation.

Amanda has written a history of the environmental movement in the Canberra region for the Conservation Council of ACT, and a children’s book on the naming of Canberra.