Our People
QCC is powered by people. Our supporters and member groups are at the heart of all our work. The staff and executive team are proud to work on their behalf to achieve our vision.
QCC is powered by people. Our supporters and member groups are at the heart of all our work. The staff and executive team are proud to work on their behalf to achieve our vision.
QCC has a small team of dedicated staff who lead campaigns, engage with the community, liaise with governments and support our member groups.
Dave is an experienced campaigner and community organiser who has spent 20+ years organising for social change in Queensland. He was the founding lead organiser of the Queensland Community Alliance, and before that has worked as a union, human rights and pro-democracy campaigner and a political advisor. Dave's family have worked for generations to protect Queensland's natural wonders as environmental activists. He is committed to building people power to change Queensland and lives in Brisbane with his partner and two kids.
Email: [email protected]
Maggie’s role at the Queensland Conservation Council is the Climate Campaigner. Campaigning for climate justice at a regional, national and international scale, Maggie has worked with Mackay Conservation Group, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Market Forces. Maggie aims to support communities to power the energy revolution that is needed to secure a safe climate into the future.
Email: [email protected]
Hayley's role within the Queensland Conservation Council is Volunteer Coordinator and Nature Organiser, responsible for engaging and organising volunteers to increase capacity across QCC as well as organiser volunteers and supporters around our national parks for life campaign. Hayley has been working and volunteering in community organising roles within climate and environment campaigns for the last 9 years as well as having a background in ecology and Landcare. Previously she worked with Lock the Gate as a Brisbane Community Organiser and 350.org as QLD university divestment coordinator.
Email: [email protected]
Bec’s role with Queensland Conservation Council is Fundraising Coordinator. Bec has over seven years fundraising experience in the not-for-profit sector, most recently for the Heart Foundation. She has a Diploma in Professional Fundraising, a Certificate in Marketing and a BSc in Geography. Bec has a personal passion for the environment (and coincidentally was born on Earth Day!). She enjoys making the world a better place through fundraising and helping supporters make a difference to a cause they care about in a meaningful way for them.
Email: [email protected]
Nigel Parratt, is QCC's Water Officer. Nigel was the QCC Rivers Project Officer from 2005 until 2013 and has worked for WWF-Australia for the last 7 years has recently returned to QCC as the new Water Policy Officer, which is funded by the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water for the next 3 years.
Simona Holzer is Queensland Conservation Council’s Climate Mobiliser, helping people take action on climate through our Climate Action Now campaign. Simona is passionate about bringing people together to grow the movement for climate action. Living in Switzerland she worked for the ‘Alpine Initiative’, an organisation advocating for the protection of the alpine environment and for the foodsharing movement, aiming to reduce commercial food waste. She has a background in political and environmental science with a focus on renewable energy systems.
Email: [email protected]
Jen’s role with the Queensland Conservation Council is Climate Organiser. She has had diverse experiences over her career, including in law, the public service, community and project development, policy and advocacy. She has worked with Government, Indigenous led organisations, community NGOs and faith-based organisations, in Victoria, the ACT, NT and across Queensland.
She now lives on Turrbal and Yuggera country in Brisbane. She loves being out amongst nature and is passionate about the health and flourishing of both human and non-human life.
Email: [email protected]
Jen’s new role as Organising Coordinator is focused on bringing an organising approach to how we work together across QCC’s member groups. She has over 20 years’ experience in the union movement and in community organising. Jen has worked with a broad range of community organisations, faith organisations and unions to help identify and nurture leadership potential and build collaborative power to run campaigns for long lasting change. She co-founded the Sydney Alliance which is a broad-based coalition of civil sector organisations building relationships across diversity to act together for the common good. Jen is passionate about building power for justice, nature and our climate.
Email: [email protected]
QCC’s Executive Committee (often called a “board”) is responsible for overseeing the strategic and financial direction of the organisation. The QCC Executive is made up of volunteers who are elected annually by our member groups.
You can read more about the function and structure of The Executive under How We Work.
Environmental Science is a passion Sherie has been pursuing for over 10 years. As a First Nations Arrente/Yolgnu woman with experience in the Mining Industry and State Government, she has a unique perspective on the environment in Queensland. Through her work as the previous Coordinator of Capricorn Conservation Council, she has focused on pursuing environmental advocacy, justice, and protection through evidence-based science and collaborative partnerships.
Lucy is passionate about the role that Queensland Conservation Council plays in our movement and is committed to continuing to help us succeed. She has been involved with the Cairns and Far North Environment for a number of years, and is currently working as Director. She is deeply interested in regional Queensland and the important role that regional bodies play in helping protect our environment. Having lived in Far North Queensland for the majority of her life, she brings an important perspective to our organisation. She deeply understand the community, the challenges that Far North Queensland faces as well as the history of Cairns And Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) and its role there. Lucy brings community organising and campaigning skills, and is particularly interested in the role that QCC and CAFNEC have to play in combating and adapting to climate change in regional communities.
Email: [email protected]
Terry has been a financial planner since 1989 and is the director of Ethical Investment Advisers, a company specialising in ethical investment. He is Chair of the Ethical Advisers Co-op which is the peak body for ethical advisers around Australia. Terry has previously been facilitator and chair of Alternative To Violence Project (Qld), a group dedicated to conflict resolution, and has also previously been Chair of Jacaranda House, a social housing company. He is involved, through personal investment or for clients, in 6 Body Corp committees in which he is the secretary or chair.
Emily is a community organiser with over 5 years experience and training building the climate, nature and environment movements. She has good relationships with activists across South East Queensland and New South Wales, and an appreciation of working with regional Queenslanders in our movement. Emily believes it is of fundamental importance that there be tight coordination and strategic direction of the environment movement in Queensland, as we are currently losing increasing amounts of natural habitats and climate impacts start to worsen across our state.
Email: [email protected]
Peter has been involved with Mackay Conservation Group (MCG) since he moved to Mackay in 1993. Prior to that he was a volunteer with various environmental campaigns in Brisbane and a volunteer with QCC. In 1988 he re-established Bicycle Queensland after it had become defunct and left BQ in 1993 with a strong membership base and financial security. As a QCC Treasurer he brings this organisational experience to QCC.
Peter appreciate the support that QCC has given to MCG and other member groups in the past and believe QCC should continue to play a key role in formulating environmental policy.
Email: [email protected]
Jackie is an organiser and campaigner who has spent the last 10 years working on climate change and economic justice. After living most of their life in Brisbane, and previously working at QCC as an organiser, they have strong knowledge of local issues and relationships across Queensland. Now based in Sydney they are passionate about community power, developing the leadership of young people, and building social movements that can win. In 2019 they helped to co-found Tomorrow Movement, an unstoppable movement of young people fighting for a society with good jobs, great public services, and a safe climate for all.
Throughout our history volunteers have played a critical role in the work we do. Creating the change that we need depends on people getting active and being strong voices for nature, we need volunteers and active communities to run successful campaigns.
Our dedicated volunteers and interns currently help out with a broad variety of tasks and projects, helping and leading on online and face-to-face outreach, organising events, digital campaigning, research, admin tasks and member support. We have four volunteer working groups who work around our main campaigns and projects including our National Parks For Life campaign, Power Up Queensland + Climate campaign, Network Support and Volunteer Support.
Interested in getting involved? Sign up today!
The volunteer support team aims to contribute to the success of the campaigns and, ultimately, the success of the strategies by managing and supporting other volunteers involved in the campaigns' working groups. This team works from the initial phase of the first contact with new volunteers, up to the interaction phase with active volunteers. Some tasks involved in the new volunteers' management are to assist the new sign-ups, help the induction process, and organise volunteers information nights. To support active volunteers, we organise non-campaign related events, such as picnics, discussion groups, and bushwalks, as an opportunity for volunteers to connect. Furthermore, this group also helps day-long training and workshops to volunteers, manages volunteer data and feedback, and gives support to coordinate stalls not related to specific campaigns.