Board members

Paul Cargill

(Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques)

Paul Cargill works as a commercial partner at the Sydney office of Mallesons Stephen Jaques. In recent years has spent significant portions of his time advising governments and their agencies in Australia, SE Asia and Papua New Guinea on electricity sector developments.

He has also advised private sector companies including National Power Plc of the UK.

Since 1996, Paul has been advising the Government of Lao PDR in its role as host government, and as proposed equity participant, in the Theun 2 Hydropower Project.

This joint venture is proposing to build, own and operate the US$1.5 billion project. This has involved Paul undertaking extended periods of time in the Lao PDR, advising its Government and National Committee for Energy on all legal aspects relating to the project and drafting and negotiating the concession terms, including protections addressing and alleviating environmental and social impacts.

In 1999, Paul was nominated by the Euromoney magazine as being one of the world's leading Energy and Resources Lawyers for excellence in the Asia Pacific region.

Barbara Frost

(WaterAid Chief Executive, UK)

Barbara Frost is Chief Executive of WaterAid in the UK, she joined the WaterAid Australia board in 2006. Prior to joining WaterAid Barbara was the Chief Executive of Action on Disability and Development (ADD) where she had been working in this capacity for nine years. Barbara has previously worked in Africa, for over seven years with ActionAid, Save the Children and Community Aid Abroad, managing programmes in Mozambique and Malawi.

Grant Hill

(Policy adviser, World Vision)

Grant established the WaterAid Steering Committee in October 2002 and led the process of forming WaterAid Australian.

Grant was the public policy coordinator of TEAR Australia, an international relief and development agency. He was also Australian coordinator of Water Matters, a coalition of over 35 organisations pursuing public education and policy objectives in the International Year of Fresh Water and beyond. Grant is now policy adviser with World Vision.

Grant represented Australian development agencies on the government delegation to the 2002 UN World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and is a member of the Australian Committee of the Global Water Partnership. He was the Coordinator of the Australian Jubilee Third World Debt Coalition from its inception till the end of 2001.

This coalition had major public policy success, for example, the Australian Government cancelled debts owed from the Governments of Nicaragua and Ethiopia.

Tony Kelly

Board Chair (Managing director, Yarra Valley Water)

Tony, a civil engineer, has spent nearly 30 years in the Australian water industry with extensive experience in planning, design and construction as well as key roles in strategic planning, major utility reforms including water authority mergers, corporatisation, pricing, business process redesign and contracting out.

Since joining Yarra Valley Water Ltd at its inception in 1995, Tony has held four general manager positions including chief engineer, corporate strategy, marketing, business strategy and customer operations. Tony was appointed managing director of Yarra Valley Water in January 2003.

Tony chairs the Victorian Water Industry Association's Sustainability Triple Bottom Line Task Group which produced the Tripple Bottom Line Reporting Guidelines for the Victorian water industry in 2002 and also chairs the Board of WaterAid Australia.

Adam Laidlaw

Chief Executive and Company Secretary WaterAid Australia

Adam has a wealth of senior management, fundraising and advocacy experience from over 20 years working in international development, social and environmental justice agencies in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Adam was Chief Executive of ChildFund New Zealand from 2001 to 2004 and the former Chair of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.

Peter Mills

(General Manager, Human Resources, Sydney Water)

Peter is General Manager, Human Resources at Sydney Water and has over 25 years of human resources experience in a range of industries including engineering, manufacturing, investment, business equipment/IT and petroleum.

Prior to joining Sydney Water, Peter successfully ran his own HR consultancy. Peter has also held positions as General Manager, Human Resources at Canon Australia, Human Resources Manager at Warman International and NSW Employee Relations Manager at Caltex Australia.

Peter has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology and has been involved in numerous development programs internationally.

John Ringham

Board Deputy Chair (Head of water services for SA Water)

John has been in charge of water services within the South Australian Water Corporation since November 2000. This role carries the responsibility for water supply and wastewater service delivery to SA Water's 620,000 customers.

This represents service provision to over one million people in metropolitan Adelaide and about 350,000 people in regional South Australia. John's workforce comprises approximately 600 of SA Water's total of 1100 staff.

John has 28 years' experience in the water industry. He holds an Honors Degree in Civil Engineering, as well as a postgraduate diploma in Geotechnics and an MBA.

John has held numerous senior management positions with the UK company, North West Water, including general manager, commercial manager and general manager of network services.

He has completed a number of papers for publication, which were presented to national (UK) water resourcing and supply systems symposiums.

Richard Rodd

(Managing Director - Richard Rodd & Associates, Consulting Engineers)

Richard is a civil engineer with over 30 years in the water industry; with extensive experience in investigation, design and construction and project management of water resource projects and civil infrastructure and industrial projects in Australia and overseas.

A Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors; he has a Diploma of Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Master of Environmental Science. 

He is a member of the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) and his training and professional experience ranges from hydrology, to structural engineering and major dam design and construction.  Many of the projects Richard has been involved with have won engineering excellence or environmental awards.

Graham Tupper

(Australian Conservation Foundation)

In 1998 Graham joined the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) as the Director of Membership Services where he was responsible for training and information services. He was then appointed to the position of executive director of ACFID in September 2000. He now works with the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Graham has been working in and around non-government organisations (NGOs) for nearly twenty years. For eleven of those years Graham worked for the overseas aid arm of the National Council of Churches in Australia including five years as their international program manager where he gained first hand experience of a range of agriculture, forestry, water supply and micro-credit projects in countries as diverse as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the Solomon Islands.

Graham holds a Bachelor of Science degree and postgraduate qualifications in environmental studies. He maintains a keen research interest in community forestry and the environmental sustainability of aid and development programs.

Llew Vale

(OAM, Chairman of South Gippsland Water)

Llew has been the Chairman of South Gippsland Water since its inception in 1995. He is a board member of Gippsland Development Ltd, a member of the Gippsland Regional Water Monitoring Co-ordination Group and the South Gippsland Shire's Economic Development Advisory Committee.

Llew is chairman of the Toora Bendigo Community Bank Board and holds a number of other community positions. A past chairman of the Victorian Water Industry Association, Shire councillor and Shire president, he is a beef and prime lamb producer and has experience in dairy manufacture and dairy waste disposal.

Llew was awarded an Order of Australia in this years Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the water industry and community.

John Weate

(Executive Officer, Community Resources)

John Weate is executive officer of Community Resources in Forster NSW. Community Resources is a non profit Association which develops local projects to assist the disadvantaged.

For example Tobwabba Art, developed with the Aboriginal community in Forster, is the largest Aboriginal owned and operated art and design licensing studio in Australia. John has served as local government Councillor since 1991.

Since 1995 he has chaired the Wallis Lake Estuary and Catchment Management Committee. The committee's achievements won the 2004 Theiss National River Prize in Brisbane. John is chair of the board of Midcoast Water, a Wateraid foundation member. Last year with the formation of Catchment Management Authorities in NSW, John was appointed to the board of the Hunter/Central Rivers CMA.

Ross Young

(Executive director, Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA))

Ross Young commenced as the executive director of the Water Services Association of Australia in December, 2003.

Ross has extensive experience in urban water management having occupied positions at the executive level in the areas of stormwater, potable water and sewerage management within Melbourne Water.

He was the chair of the Project Management Group which oversaw the recently completed 50 year Water Resources Strategy for the greater Melbourne area. Ross has a Diploma of Horticultural Science, a Bachelor of Applied Science, an MBA and a Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources Law from the University of Melbourne.