Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Paul took up the role of Chief Executive at MEFL in January 2008, and has been involved in MEFL (as a Board member, a community member and as a consultant since the establishment of MEFL in 2000). Paul lives in East Brunswick and has worked, studied and taught conservation and environment issues for over 20 years. He has worked for a range of organisations, including locally with Moreland City Council and the Merri Creek Management Committee. Paul spent over 9 years working for the State Government (most recently with Sustainability Victoria) and has also worked as an independent sustainability consultant.
Director, Major Projects
Bruce Thompson has been with MEFL for 6 years, undertaking roles in project management, strategic development and business planning. Bruce has taken an active role in the development of MEFL’s key program design across business and residential sectors and initiated key partnership projects such as Phoenix Fridge and EcoSmart Electricians.
Bruce presently leads MEFL's major projects including the $10 million Moreland Solar City Project. Bruce also has oversight of MEFL’s training and consultancy services. Bruce has a Masters of Engineering (Renewable Energy) and is on the committee of management for Friends of the Earth Melbourne. Bruce was awarded the Brian Robinson Foundation Fellowship in 2007 for young environmental leadership and travelled to Europe to research community based decentralised energy and low-income energy efficiency programs.
SDAPP Coordinator
Gavin joined the MEFL team in December 2010 to develop and manage the delivery of a program to drive the uptake of Sustainable Design Assessment in the Planning Process in 16 local governments.
His previous experience is in planning consultancy where he worked as both a statutory and strategic planner; managing planning applications and planning scheme amendments for a wide variety of developments (subdivision, retail, residential and renewable energy projects). He has also managed a number of strategic planning projects for both public and private sector clients. Gavin has also previously worked part-time as a home sustainability assessor and brings his understanding of building sustainability to the role.
He has an undergraduate degree in Geography and Politics with a post-graduate diploma in Environment and Planning (Social Science) from RMIT University.
Zero Carbon Moreland Project Officer – Households
Asha coordinates Zero Carbon Moreland’s household program to support Moreland residents to reduce their emissions.
Before joining MEFL, Asha spent many years working and studying in the areas of environmental sustainability, food security, and building community resilience and cohesion. Asha has previously worked with an NGO in Thailand exploring the impacts of trade in food and agriculture on rural and indigenous women, developed pioneering food miles research for CERES, and conducted food systems mapping for Melbourne University’s Victorian Eco-Innovations Lab. Following her Human Ecology MSc in Glasgow, she was commissioned by the Transition Network to write a book exploring urban community responses to peak oil and climate change.
Lucy joined MEFL as part of the Zero Carbon Moreland (ZCM) team, working as a casual community outreach worker on the Merlynston Village Green Project. Lucy has been a Moreland resident since 2004 and loves the area. In 2007 Lucy and her family moved into a brick veneer house in the Merlynston area and got to work greening it up. With a passion for environmental sustainability and social justice, her focus has now reached beyond her own back yard (which she has proudly been converted from a couch lawn into an oasis of fruit, veg and chooks!). As a local resident Lucy relates to many issues facing families in the Merlynston area and is keen to help out, as well as share ideas on community building and working together for a safer, cleaner and happier Merlynston.
Lucy also runs her own photography business and volunteers with a community art organisation in North Melbourne. When not wearing her ZCM t-shirt and knocking on doors you might spot Lucy around Coburg North cycling her kids to school on their cargo bike or walking her dog.
Finance Co-ordinator
Clive joined MEFL in November 2010, having returned from 4 months in Europe where his partner held an artist residency at the British School in Rome. He is now the Senior Finance Administrator for MEFL, and brings with him a history of finance work for community organisations including Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Darebin Community Legal Centre and Grasslands Organic Cooperative. Previous to his career in finance, he worked as a sound engineer, housepainter, and database programmer. He currently lives in the Western suburbs with his partner and their cat, Splat.
Communications Coordinator
After 25 years savoring the tropical delights of Darwin, Amy decided it was time to join the ‘real world’ and moved to Melbourne in 2008. After realising that rubber thongs are not appropriate work attire in the big smoke, she landed a job as Craft Victoria’s Marketing Development Coordinator. In her spare time she volunteered at MEFL, which led to a role supporting the Zero Carbon Moreland business and household programs. Most recently, Amy has taken on the position of Communications Coordinator. Amy has a background in marketing, event management and community arts. Outside of work Amy is often found gently harassing her housemates to ‘switch off’, cycling around the countryside or in her local Mauy Thai gym.
Community Project Coordinator
Gabrielle joined MEFL in 2008 to coordinate its training in planning and design, sustainability assessments and retrofitting, and energy management. She has recently returned from maternity leave to work on a project to improve the health and comfort of vulnerable community members at risk from the impacts of climate change. We are partnering with a local health organisation, Merri Health Community Services, to assess and retrofit the homes of their clients ahead of this summer’s heatwave season.
Prior to working for MEFL, Gabrielle has worked on sustainable public lighting, a local government greenhouse program, and a community-based redevelopment project. Her toddler Georgia is regular feature at MEFL staff meetings and likes to help out at community events.
NAGA Executive Officer
Judy is the Executiive Officer of the Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (NAGA). NAGA has been operating since 2002 as a network that shares information, cooperates on the research, development and implementation of innovative emissions projects. NAGA's members are the Cities of Banyule, Darebin, Hume, Manningham, Melbourne, Moreland, Whittlesea, Yarra, the Shire of Nillumbik and MEFL. Prior to becoming NAGA's inaugural coordinator, Judy worked on waterway management and biodiversity conservation, with a key focus on promoting community involvement and custodianship of the local waterway. She has completed a BSc (Hons) and Masters of Environmental Studies.
Community Outreach Worker
Sandra joined MEFL in 2009, working initially as a Community Outreach worker on the Zero Carbon Moreland program and is now involved in the Moreland Solar City Warm Home Cool Home project and setting up the MEFL Sustainability Advice service providing project management and communications expertise.
Sandra has an undergraduate degree in Marketing Communications and has combined her interest in communication and engagement with her passion for the environment.
Sandra has also worked in the UK, Hong Kong and Indonesia on environmental consultancy and communication projects. Since returning to Australia Sandra has worked at CERES Community Environment Park in the Education and Communications departments, before joining MEFL.
Program Coordinator
Jason joined MEFL in 2006 to run the Sustainability Street Project for NAGA. The project established 19 Sustainability Streets in the NAGA region resulting in an average 49% decrease in participants carbon footprints. Jason was also responsible for: the Visiting Victorias Green Buildings program run in conjunction with the World Sustainable Buildings Conference 08; the Arabic language Greentown project delivered on behalf of Environment Victoria; The MEFL showerhead exchange program in partnership with YVW; the VicUrban Aurora Home manual and the Aurora Welcome Sessions. Jason was appointed to the role of Business Program Coordinator in January 2009. His major role is liaising with businesses in the Moreland area in relation to the Zero Carbon Moreland program. Jason is now working towards a Masters degree to add to his wealth of real world experience.
Web Manager
Alan has been at MEFL since April 2010. He is responsible for maintaining this website, ZCM Social and the Moreland Solar City website. Alan also co-ordinates MEFL's e-Bulletins and assists with all aspects of MEFL's online communications. Alan has previously worked in a variety of communication fields, including website design, print communications and community radio.
Training Support Officer
Khadiga has been working for MEFL since November 2002 as Admin Support Officer. With an understanding of energy issues and her Arabic language skills she has been promoting environmental awareness with local Arabic community groups (save energy at home to save money). Outside the office she works as a volunteer in community initiatives, currently vice-chairperson of the Housing Resource and Social Services, an organisation covering disability, employment and housing.
Project Coordinator
Since 2004 Ebony worked as a human resources professional across Melbourne and London. Landing back in Melbourne in 2008 and looking for a more meaningful career Ebony effectively bullied the CEO and elbowed her way into MEFL by promising to stuff envelopes and answer phones. True to her word she worked hard on stuffing envelopes and answering phones in her most obliging phone manner however, since then she has also had fantastic opportunities to work on various projects within community engagement, training and consultancy. Her next challenge will be focusing on fostering a new generation of MEFL members.
Ebony has a keen interest in all things health related and as a result became involved in MEFL’s Staff Wellness team. She can often be seen at Brunswick City Baths and occasionally hula hooping in the middle of the office.
Project Specialist - Residential Buildings
Govind Maksay commenced in the role of Project Specialist, Residential Buildings with MEFL in March 2009. This role involves managing the development and delivery of MEFL's key residential building projects and services. Govind also delivers training and contributes to MEFL's advocacy, research and policy objectives.
Govind has worked at a range of environmental organisations over the years, including the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Local Governments for Sustainability, and a number of private environmental consultancies. He has experience in energy auditing, carbon accounting, sustainable building design, residential thermal modelling, environmental education, and data management.
He has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Politics and a Masters of Social Science in Environment and Planning.
Project Support Worker – Urban Development
Jason is a student at RMIT with a Bachelor in Applied Physics. He is now studying a postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Energy. He began volunteering with MEFL in August 2010 and has since been working on a casual basis alongside Peter Steele on MEFL's energy mapping projects. He has successfully survived in Melbourne for the last 8 years without a car.
Project Manager, Towards Zero Net Emission Project, NAGA
Rose joined NAGA in 2008 to project manage the development of NAGA’s Towards Zero Net Emissions Plan. She works closely with NAGA members as they develop and implement projects to reduce emissions and create clean energy across northern metropolitan Melbourne. Rose is also involved in accessing community energy consumption data and demonstrating its value for planning and communicating change at the local level.
Rose has over 20 years of professional and community experience in research, planning, consultation and implementation of environmental sustainability projects. She previously worked at Sustainability Victoria where she developed programs in waste minimisation, resource recovery and environmental management working closely with local government, regional groups and community organisations.
She enjoys working on complex change projects that involve multiple partners and believes her early days in education, psychology and community services have all come in handy.
Office Manager
Sue commenced working at MEFL in early 2009. Originally, she trained as a registered nurse but found she was more suited to the administration side of the medical industry.
She has held various positions within the medical field including management positions within the Aged Care sector and as a Quality Coordinator. She lived in the Middle East for 5 years and worked as the executive assistant for the Australian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar.
At MEFL, Sue works on streamlining the office systems and procedures to support MEFL staff to carry out their projects. Sue also puts alot of energy into the wellbeing of MEFL staff, heading up the Green team, Staff wellness team and running weekly meditation sessions.
Manager - Energy Strategy
Brad has been working in sustainable energy since returning to Melbourne in 2002, and has been employed as Manager – Energy Strategy at MEFL since the beginning on 2009. This role sees him overseeing MEFL’s research and advocacy agenda, providing direction to MEFL’s research projects and generally pushing governments to introduce policies that lead to a better world.
Previously Brad has worked in outdoor education, community gardens and planting trees, before a recent stint working on the advocacy program with the Alternative Technology Association. At MEFL, he’s been responsible for submissions on Federal and State government policy, including the development of the CPRS, the Victorian Climate Change White Paper and the fight for feed-in tariffs for solar and other renewable energy. He’s overseen the development and completion of MEFL’s recent research projects, and takes the office compost home to feed his worms.
Project Specialist - Commercial Buildings
Greg is the Project Specialist, Commercial Buildings at MEFL and has been with MEFL since the beginning of 2009. Prior to MEFL Greg spent two years working for an environmental auditing company. During this time he worked on community projects undertaking sustainability auditing of small and medium sized enterprises, corporate office buildings and commercial facilities.
Employed as part of the Moreland Solar Cities project Greg has worked in collaboration with Moreland City Council (MCC) to develop the Carbon Management Strategy, which provides a road map to carbon neutrality for MCC by 2012. He is also heavily involved in the development of the Moreland Energy Services Company and providing advice to MCC on its carbon offset policy.
Greg is currently investigating the effects of newborns on adult sleeping patterns. The study is based on a sample size of one and been underway for 10 months. So far the findings are indicating an upward trend in uninterrupted sleep patterns after the first six months.
Coordinator - Urban Development
Peter joined the MEFL team in early 2009, coming from a background as a strategic planner in local government. He leads MEFL’s work in sustainable urban development, working on projects and concepts that work towards a more sustainable future for urban environments. The Coburg Initiative, a major urban regeneration project in Melbourne’s inner-north, is a key element of this work. In late 2009 Peter managed to convince MEFL’s management of the value in extending his European holiday to visit some leading urban development projects. As a result he was able to spend two weeks visiting incredible examples of sustainable energy, transport, waste and water solutions in four countries. Many of the ideas gathered on this tour have been incorporated into MEFL’s work on a range of projects.
Peter has a degree in Social Sciences (Planning) with honours, from RMIT University.
Technical Advice Specialist
Matt has a Masters in energy studies and bachelor degrees in mechatronics engineering and computer science. In addition to the years spent working in industrial automation, he has gained experience in energy efficiency and renewable energy working as a consultant for several firms and leading the sustainability assistance program for Engineers Without Borders. He is involved with a number of environmental awareness and activist groups including Beyond Zero Emissions and the Australian Institute of Energy.
Matt is working in conjunction with Chandra to manage MEFL's renovators' service and provides technical advice and assistance to MEFL staff and Moreland residents.
Sustainability Advice Specialist
Chandra started volunteering at MEFL on the ongoing SAMSARA Business project. He now works in the role of Technical Advice Specialist and is involved in managing MEFL’s knowledge base, coordinating the technical advisory service and leading technical workshops and talks for community education.
Chandra is a Post Graduate Engineer and has worked with a variety of culturally and linguistically diverse communities through his work in eco-travel in India. He has extensive business experience, having co-owned and operated a design and manufacturing business for six years.
