Executive Committee 2025-26
The members below were elected to the EAROPH Australia Executive Committee at the Annual General Meeting held 17 May 2025 held in Warrnambool and online.
President
Jaime Parsons
Jaime Parsons is an urban designer and strategic planner with extensive experience in large scale strategic and masterplanning projects, both in established areas and new communities. He also has considerable expertise in the conceptualisation and delivery of medium and higher density dwellings, shopping districts and public infrastructure. Jaime holds two degrees in Tourism and Marketing, and postgraduate qualifications in both Tourism Planning and Development and Urban Design. Having worked in the private and public sectors in Australia and the Solomon Islands, he has an understanding of how the urban development process can be influenced to achieve better urban design outcomes. Jaime has presented at several public events and conferences on topics such as waterfront development in the Solomon Islands, emerging urbanism in Spain and walkable placemaking in Tasmania. He has also authored several articles in urban planning publications and organised and led an urban planning and design tour of urbanism in post-GFC Spain. Jaime has lived in six countries and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Co Vice-president
Dr Alicia Yon
Alicia has worked with international organisations, including the Commonwealth Association of Planners Women in Planning Network and UN Habitat Gender Mainstreaming Unit (prior to the formation of UN Women) advocating for gender justice in the planning profession. Alicia has worked in policy development with a focus on participatory planning in the contrasting contexts of developed and developing countries, including her native Namibia. She also has a background in education and has previously worked in various teaching capacities at Bond University School of Sustainable Development, Gold Coast and the University College London Bartlett Development Planning Unit, London across various MSc programmes. Her professional and research interests and writing focus on socio-spatial justice, with a specialisation in policy implications for the intersecting issues of social diversity and the environment. She also has a longstanding interest in affordable housing and exploring alternative housing solutions. Alicia enjoys working across disciplinary boundaries and is excited to again be a part of EAROPH as an organisation that shares her sense of justice for all people. She is currently an Education Fellow at the University of Melbourne School of Design.
Co Vice-president
Lucretia de Jong
Lucretia de Jong is a globally recognised leader, delivering social procurement advisory, social innovation and project implementation support to government, industry, and community stakeholders across billion+ of major infrastructure projects. Lucretia has a firm understanding of local and global Social Procurement Frameworks (SPF) advising the policy development and helping implement social procurement into government projects, since its inception in 2018. Lucretia provides over 25 years’ experience with incubating start-ups, business innovation, strategy and development, capability, and capacity building of social enterprises, supporting the social sector, empowering communities, collaborating with global and local industry partners, advising local, state and federal government and delivery of major infrastructure projects. Lucretia has advised on social procurement strategies that have contributed to innovative solutions for complex social, economic, and environmental problems at a local level; to support communities and international clients navigate the nuances and complexities of the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
Secretary & Public Officer
Claire Wilkinson
Claire Wilkinson is a professional Land Use Planner, based in North-East Victoria. She brings a strong blend of creativity, and practical expertise with over 20 years experience across local, and state government as well as international affairs. She has completed studies in Australia, Mexico and Canada with exchanges to Brazil, Scotland, Sri Lanka and Ghana. Her postgraduate education is in Urban Planning and she was sponsored as a Foreign Affairs young professional at both the United Nations Offices in New York City and Nairobi. She has presented at conferences in Canada and the United States including the UN 60th General Assembly. Her studies and work have led to contributions in international events such as the World Urban Forum and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Claire is committed to solving complex challenges, building meaningful relationships, and delivering measurable impact. Her passions have been in human settlements and land use planning with experience in East Africa, the Rocky Mountains Canada and more recently the Australian Alpine region. She takes pride in getting things done whether leading the assessment of major projects, policy change or supporting good land use decision making. Claire is committed to excellence and meaningful change.
Treasurer
Kerry McGovern
Kerry was the Founding President of EAROPH Australia. She is a Certified Practising Accountant and professional internal auditor with extensive experience in public sector governance, whole-of-government asset and public financial management across the Pacific, South East Asia and the Middle East. She co-authored PRIF's "Infrastructure Maintenance in the Pacific: Challenging the Build-Neglect-Build Paradigm" and has contributed to the UN Handbook for Local and National Governments "Managing Infrastructure Assets for Sustainable Development". Kerry appreciates the need for central agencies of government, particularly Ministries of Finance, to monitor the long-term costs of climate change and natural disasters on infrastructure, and to influence the line ministries and SOEs that are responsible for delivering infrastructure services to design and maintain assets to optimize life cycle benefits to communities.
Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee
Mia Davison - Past President of EAROPH International
Mia is a human geographer and strategic planner with an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Social Science (Environment and Planning) from RMIT University. Her areas of expertise include sustainable development, urban and rural planning, and multilateral and multilevel governance. Mia has significant experience working for local, state and national governments, private consultancies, and other non-government groups within Australia and the United Kingdom. Mia currently works as Manager of Places and Precincts at Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). She is also a Member of the Programme Committee of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA). Mia is currently based in Melbourne and previously served as the President of EAROPH International.
Ms Christina Ting
Christina Ting is a social scientist with a keen interest in working on projects that support and facilitate individuals and different sectors of society to enable them to realise the SDGs as part and parcel of their everyday activity and work. Her areas of expertise are education and research. She has taught Geography, Sociology of the Environment and Social Sciences in countries such as Singapore and Australia. As a community outreach officer, she educated communities on protecting waterways and water conservation. Christina is also a Climate Reality Leader who delivers talks to the public and organisations on the harmful effects of climate change and solutions at the grassroots level. Her research areas include her doctoral research at Swinburne University, Melbourne, which was to understand sustainable living that focused on the pre- and post-migration consumption behaviours of migrants from China and Australia-born residents living in Melbourne. Her postdoctoral work (also at Swinburne University) was on rural informal transport in Sarawak, Malaysia. She holds a double master degree in International Development and Environmental Analysis from Monash University, Melbourne, and Environmental Sciences and Policy from the Central European University, Budapest.
Dinesh Jayasuriya
Dinesh is a professional engineer with 25 years of experience and a passion for Sustainable Engineering and Humanitarian Engineering. He holds university qualifications in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Arts (Philosophy) and a Master of Public and International Law. Dinesh initially worked in Software, Defence and Telecommunications Engineering before focusing on the sustainability sector where he helps clients to reduce their environmental impact and costs. He also works in the international humanitarian aid sector and has founded multiple local community organisations.
Dr Jane Stanley
Dr Jane Stanley is qualified in architecture, town planning, social and economic research. She is an award winning planner with experience in Australia and overseas. Jane is author of the planning textbook “Gnarly Planning: some tools for local and global action” which has been updated with a second version: “Gnarly Planning for a Wicked World”. At the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur she launched an e-book on "How to Build Local Economies". Her work in Australia has included development of national policies on Indigenous business and economic development, conducting regulatory reform in planning and building, substantial regional planning work, advising governments on best practices for sustainable development, and developing renewable energy
options for farmers. Some of her work in the Pacific Region has been overseeing a national audit of the informal economy in Papua New Guinea, promoting best practice in fresh produce markets across Melanesia, circular economy modelling in Fiji, capacity building for local economic development across six different Pacific countries, and implementing climate adaptation initiatives in Kiribati. Jane has served as past President of the International Division of the Planning Institute of Australia, past President of EAROPH Australia, and she currently leads EAROPH’s training initiatives.
James Reynolds
I am a trusted advisor in the energy and utilities sectors, where I build on my +23 years of experience in energy markets (across power generation (renewables, coal, and gas), transmission and distribution networks, energy markets (trading), and energy retailing)), utility and market regulation, business execution and project delivery. My experience is diverse covering business and organisational leadership, governance, risk management, market and economic regulation and business operations in capital intensive high growth and rapidly changing environments.
Dr Martin Butcher
Martin's first career was as a Government architect in the Ministry of Housing, Victoria and later in the Ministry of Works, Swaziland (Now Eswatini). Whilst in Swaziland he was on the local steering committee for a World Bank Urban Upgrading program. This experience lead to undertaking an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning and subsequently managing the Community Renewal Program for the NSW Dpt. of Housing (Northern Region). In turn, this lead to completing a PhD in Participatory Development and a 20yr second career at the Dpt. of Environment, Energy and Climate Adaptation (DEECA) as a Community Engagement Adviser. Now freelance, he is passionate about exploring and promoting the potential of the online environment to enable Human Intelligence (HI) to effectively contribute to creating the kind of culture and built environment we'd like to have.
Peter Cuming
Peter is the Founder and Managing Director of Sustainable Futures Australia, based in Byron Bay. Peter's work focuses on sustainability planning and education, eco-settlement design, futures visioning, key liaison facilitation and mediation, and project management. Peter has worked cooperatively with communities, industry, and governments in high level policy-making and corporate and strategic planning for over 30 years. He leads project teams working on local, regional, and national sustainability strategies, plans, and activities. Peter served as President of EAROPH Australia from 2023 to 2025.
Australian Honorary Presidents
Michael Harbison
Hon. Candy Broad
Mr. K.C. Leong
Mia Davison
President
Jaime Parsons
Jaime Parsons is an urban designer and strategic planner with extensive experience in large scale strategic and masterplanning projects, both in established areas and new communities. He also has considerable expertise in the conceptualisation and delivery of medium and higher density dwellings, shopping districts and public infrastructure. Jaime holds two degrees in Tourism and Marketing, and postgraduate qualifications in both Tourism Planning and Development and Urban Design. Having worked in the private and public sectors in Australia and the Solomon Islands, he has an understanding of how the urban development process can be influenced to achieve better urban design outcomes. Jaime has presented at several public events and conferences on topics such as waterfront development in the Solomon Islands, emerging urbanism in Spain and walkable placemaking in Tasmania. He has also authored several articles in urban planning publications and organised and led an urban planning and design tour of urbanism in post-GFC Spain. Jaime has lived in six countries and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Co Vice-president
Dr Alicia Yon
Alicia has worked with international organisations, including the Commonwealth Association of Planners Women in Planning Network and UN Habitat Gender Mainstreaming Unit (prior to the formation of UN Women) advocating for gender justice in the planning profession. Alicia has worked in policy development with a focus on participatory planning in the contrasting contexts of developed and developing countries, including her native Namibia. She also has a background in education and has previously worked in various teaching capacities at Bond University School of Sustainable Development, Gold Coast and the University College London Bartlett Development Planning Unit, London across various MSc programmes. Her professional and research interests and writing focus on socio-spatial justice, with a specialisation in policy implications for the intersecting issues of social diversity and the environment. She also has a longstanding interest in affordable housing and exploring alternative housing solutions. Alicia enjoys working across disciplinary boundaries and is excited to again be a part of EAROPH as an organisation that shares her sense of justice for all people. She is currently an Education Fellow at the University of Melbourne School of Design.
Co Vice-president
Lucretia de Jong
Lucretia de Jong is a globally recognised leader, delivering social procurement advisory, social innovation and project implementation support to government, industry, and community stakeholders across billion+ of major infrastructure projects. Lucretia has a firm understanding of local and global Social Procurement Frameworks (SPF) advising the policy development and helping implement social procurement into government projects, since its inception in 2018. Lucretia provides over 25 years’ experience with incubating start-ups, business innovation, strategy and development, capability, and capacity building of social enterprises, supporting the social sector, empowering communities, collaborating with global and local industry partners, advising local, state and federal government and delivery of major infrastructure projects. Lucretia has advised on social procurement strategies that have contributed to innovative solutions for complex social, economic, and environmental problems at a local level; to support communities and international clients navigate the nuances and complexities of the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
Secretary & Public Officer
Claire Wilkinson
Claire Wilkinson is a professional Land Use Planner, based in North-East Victoria. She brings a strong blend of creativity, and practical expertise with over 20 years experience across local, and state government as well as international affairs. She has completed studies in Australia, Mexico and Canada with exchanges to Brazil, Scotland, Sri Lanka and Ghana. Her postgraduate education is in Urban Planning and she was sponsored as a Foreign Affairs young professional at both the United Nations Offices in New York City and Nairobi. She has presented at conferences in Canada and the United States including the UN 60th General Assembly. Her studies and work have led to contributions in international events such as the World Urban Forum and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Claire is committed to solving complex challenges, building meaningful relationships, and delivering measurable impact. Her passions have been in human settlements and land use planning with experience in East Africa, the Rocky Mountains Canada and more recently the Australian Alpine region. She takes pride in getting things done whether leading the assessment of major projects, policy change or supporting good land use decision making. Claire is committed to excellence and meaningful change.
Treasurer
Kerry McGovern
Kerry was the Founding President of EAROPH Australia. She is a Certified Practising Accountant and professional internal auditor with extensive experience in public sector governance, whole-of-government asset and public financial management across the Pacific, South East Asia and the Middle East. She co-authored PRIF's "Infrastructure Maintenance in the Pacific: Challenging the Build-Neglect-Build Paradigm" and has contributed to the UN Handbook for Local and National Governments "Managing Infrastructure Assets for Sustainable Development". Kerry appreciates the need for central agencies of government, particularly Ministries of Finance, to monitor the long-term costs of climate change and natural disasters on infrastructure, and to influence the line ministries and SOEs that are responsible for delivering infrastructure services to design and maintain assets to optimize life cycle benefits to communities.
Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee
Mia Davison - Past President of EAROPH International
Mia is a human geographer and strategic planner with an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Social Science (Environment and Planning) from RMIT University. Her areas of expertise include sustainable development, urban and rural planning, and multilateral and multilevel governance. Mia has significant experience working for local, state and national governments, private consultancies, and other non-government groups within Australia and the United Kingdom. Mia currently works as Manager of Places and Precincts at Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). She is also a Member of the Programme Committee of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA). Mia is currently based in Melbourne and previously served as the President of EAROPH International.
Ms Christina Ting
Christina Ting is a social scientist with a keen interest in working on projects that support and facilitate individuals and different sectors of society to enable them to realise the SDGs as part and parcel of their everyday activity and work. Her areas of expertise are education and research. She has taught Geography, Sociology of the Environment and Social Sciences in countries such as Singapore and Australia. As a community outreach officer, she educated communities on protecting waterways and water conservation. Christina is also a Climate Reality Leader who delivers talks to the public and organisations on the harmful effects of climate change and solutions at the grassroots level. Her research areas include her doctoral research at Swinburne University, Melbourne, which was to understand sustainable living that focused on the pre- and post-migration consumption behaviours of migrants from China and Australia-born residents living in Melbourne. Her postdoctoral work (also at Swinburne University) was on rural informal transport in Sarawak, Malaysia. She holds a double master degree in International Development and Environmental Analysis from Monash University, Melbourne, and Environmental Sciences and Policy from the Central European University, Budapest.
Dinesh Jayasuriya
Dinesh is a professional engineer with 25 years of experience and a passion for Sustainable Engineering and Humanitarian Engineering. He holds university qualifications in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Arts (Philosophy) and a Master of Public and International Law. Dinesh initially worked in Software, Defence and Telecommunications Engineering before focusing on the sustainability sector where he helps clients to reduce their environmental impact and costs. He also works in the international humanitarian aid sector and has founded multiple local community organisations.
Dr Jane Stanley
Dr Jane Stanley is qualified in architecture, town planning, social and economic research. She is an award winning planner with experience in Australia and overseas. Jane is author of the planning textbook “Gnarly Planning: some tools for local and global action” which has been updated with a second version: “Gnarly Planning for a Wicked World”. At the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur she launched an e-book on "How to Build Local Economies". Her work in Australia has included development of national policies on Indigenous business and economic development, conducting regulatory reform in planning and building, substantial regional planning work, advising governments on best practices for sustainable development, and developing renewable energy
options for farmers. Some of her work in the Pacific Region has been overseeing a national audit of the informal economy in Papua New Guinea, promoting best practice in fresh produce markets across Melanesia, circular economy modelling in Fiji, capacity building for local economic development across six different Pacific countries, and implementing climate adaptation initiatives in Kiribati. Jane has served as past President of the International Division of the Planning Institute of Australia, past President of EAROPH Australia, and she currently leads EAROPH’s training initiatives.
James Reynolds
I am a trusted advisor in the energy and utilities sectors, where I build on my +23 years of experience in energy markets (across power generation (renewables, coal, and gas), transmission and distribution networks, energy markets (trading), and energy retailing)), utility and market regulation, business execution and project delivery. My experience is diverse covering business and organisational leadership, governance, risk management, market and economic regulation and business operations in capital intensive high growth and rapidly changing environments.
Dr Martin Butcher
Martin's first career was as a Government architect in the Ministry of Housing, Victoria and later in the Ministry of Works, Swaziland (Now Eswatini). Whilst in Swaziland he was on the local steering committee for a World Bank Urban Upgrading program. This experience lead to undertaking an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning and subsequently managing the Community Renewal Program for the NSW Dpt. of Housing (Northern Region). In turn, this lead to completing a PhD in Participatory Development and a 20yr second career at the Dpt. of Environment, Energy and Climate Adaptation (DEECA) as a Community Engagement Adviser. Now freelance, he is passionate about exploring and promoting the potential of the online environment to enable Human Intelligence (HI) to effectively contribute to creating the kind of culture and built environment we'd like to have.
Peter Cuming
Peter is the Founder and Managing Director of Sustainable Futures Australia, based in Byron Bay. Peter's work focuses on sustainability planning and education, eco-settlement design, futures visioning, key liaison facilitation and mediation, and project management. Peter has worked cooperatively with communities, industry, and governments in high level policy-making and corporate and strategic planning for over 30 years. He leads project teams working on local, regional, and national sustainability strategies, plans, and activities. Peter served as President of EAROPH Australia from 2023 to 2025.
Australian Honorary Presidents
Michael Harbison
Hon. Candy Broad
Mr. K.C. Leong
Mia Davison
Copyright © 2025 EAROPH Australia
EAROPH Australia is the Australian Chapter of the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Human Settlements
EAROPH Australia is the Australian Chapter of the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Human Settlements
