Importance of ongoing board support and expertise

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Importance of ongoing board support and expertise

Tuesday 18 November, 2025

It's an incredible privilege to work with so many amazing people and teams at Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW).

One of the groups I'm eager to highlight though is the important work our board does.

The board members have been an incredible source of support since I started at GMW in February 2019.

During my time with the organisation we've had to deal with challenges such as floods and COVID but the board members have always been there to help provide important guidance to myself and our executive.

It was bittersweet therefore to farewell four of them last month including outgoing Chair Diane James AM.

Diane started with GMW in 2018 and played a pivotal role in advancing the organisation through a period of substantial transformation.

Under her stewardship, the organisation has seen enormous improvements in financial performance, customer responsiveness and workforce inclusion.

She has left a lasting legacy at GMW through her leadership on strategic initiatives such as the long-term transition to net zero emissions, the modernisation of water delivery systems and the strengthening of customer engagement.

One of her big achievements has been delivering a ten percent price reduction for our customers. Her steady leadership and support was very important to me and I wish her all the best for the future.

The support I also received from fellow outgoing board members, Patrick McNamara AM, Jonathan Koop and David McKenzie, was fantastic as well.

As Chair of GMW's Project Control Group, Patrick helped to make sure that our Connections Project -which achieved 429 gigalitres of water savings- was delivered on time and on budget.

He also made sure that GMW's Water Efficiency projects were delivered on budget.

As Chair of the Risk, Audit and Finance Committee, Jonathan helped deliver improved risk management, internal controls, audit processes and sound financial governance across GMW.

Jonathan's stewardship has helped strengthen the organisation's financial and risk foundations but has also built enduring trust with our oversight partners.

David's longstanding work as the Chair of GMW's Service Planning Committee has guided the organisation toward a more future-focused, commercially aware approach to service planning.

David brought with him a wealth of water knowledge and industry experience to his role as a GMW board member including his time as a former chair of North East Water.

His time as a co-chair of the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District Water Leadership Forum further highlighted that wealth of knowledge and experience he brought to the role.

I'm very grateful to Patrick, Jonathan and David for all of their help over the years and wish them all the best for the future.

While I will miss the friendship and support of these four board members, I'm also excited to be working with five new members of the board who were all appointed to their roles last month.

The new board members are Justin Hanney, who has been appointed GMW Chair, Rob McMillan, Sue Oddie, Liz Ryan and Paul Weller.

Justin has strong regional knowledge and experience in his roles as the former CEO of Regional Development Victoria, the Rural City of Wangaratta and Director of Planning at City of Greater Bendigo.

I look forward to working with all of them as well as our continuing board members Natalie Akers, Andrew Cooney, Larna Tarrant and Kris Peach AM.

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