Peri Macdonald (Co-Deputy Chair), Vanessa Trowell (Chair) and Neil Arckless (Co-Deputy Chair)
We’re delighted to announce that Vanessa Trowell, Principal at Weston Williamson + Partners and UNSW Sessional Academic, has been appointed Chair of the Board of the Living Future Insitute of Australia (LFIA). She brings extensive governance, advocacy, and strategic experience across government, private and for-purpose sectors, as well as trans-disciplinary knowledge in urban design.
Vanessa is supported by newly appointed Co-Deputy Chair Neil Arckless (Group Development Executive, Lendlease) and Co-Deputy Chair Peri Macdonald (CEO, ARK Capital Funds). Neil brings over 20 years of experience working in property development, project management and delivery across various large-scale mixed-use projects. Peri adds Living Building Challenge®(LBC) experience to the Board, having led the team responsible for Petal Certified Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre as the previous Executive General Manager of Retail at Frasers Property Australia.
Commenting on her appointment, Vanessa says, “we are motivated by urgency and also the enduring. Driving sustainable change through the rapid uptake of regenerative design will support us in thriving as part of a living system. Our work is to normalise this, expanding the impact of our Living Future vision through projects and allied professionals across the built environment.”
We are beyond grateful to our retiring board members, for collectively propelling us ever further towards an interconnected, regenerative future. Peri Macdonald, Neil Arckless and I are now deeply motivated to continue this momentum and mobilisation, with LFIA’s expanding network of changemakers,” Vanessa adds.
LFIA’s board changes were effective on October 4th, when Tom Grosskopf (previous Chair) Kate Harris (previous Deputy Chair), Kate Doyle (previous Secretary) and Suzie Barnett retired from the Board with the completion of their terms.
Tom Grosskopf notes on his retirement as Chair, “it has been a pleasure to lead a talented Board of Directors. The LFIA is now in very safe hands with every Director a leader in their field, passionate about our mission and courageous in challenging the status quo.”
We also congratulate Louise Norton, who continues her term with a new appoint as Secretary. Current Board members include Dan Sturrock, Katie Fallowfield, Robert Wilcher and Scott Matyus-Flynn as well as Laura Hamilton-O’Hara as CEO.
Learn more about the LFIA Board here.
