OUR BOARD

TERRY EVANS - CHAIR

Terry has lived in Darlington since 1984 and became involved in a major development issue regarding Helena valley in the 1980's.  He has owned and rUn successful small business in Darlington for 4 years, was  director of a boat business in Fremantle, a Managing Director of a successful advertising agency for 15 years, and Associate Director of Perth's largest advertising agency for 9 years, a Board Member of Maritime Mueseum for 3 years and has been marketing Manager of a large building group since 2006.  He is excited about the opportunity that Perth Hills Future offers to bring the community together an issue at a time to convey values shared across the Perth Hills.  Through working together, he thinks we can attract the right kind of development and look after the ecology and character of this special place.

 

KEITH ELLIS - DEPUTY CHAIR (EX OFFICIO)

Keith is the Chair of Regional Development Australia, Perth and a former Shire of Sepentine Jarrahdale President and Councillor.

Keith is a well known marketing agent within the Perth community, specializing in TV production.  He has lived, worked and breathed business and marketing for over four decades.  Involved in Greyhound WA, and has been associated with tennis, hockey and surf clubs over the years.  With a commitment to the local community, Keith Chairs the Sepentine Jarrahdale Trails Committee and is the president of the Darling Downs Residents Association which assists in the volunteer management of a 70 acre equestrian park located there. He is also a past State President of the Local Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a board member and current patron.  In joining Perth Hills Future, keith continues the work of Regional Development Australia, perth that has helped incubate this community peak body and auspiced its governance to enable the organisation to recieve project grants during the early stages of its development, Keith is committed to contributing his experience and networks to attract and promote investment across the Perth Hills.

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ERIK STANTON-CLEMENTS - SECRETARY / CEO

Erik has been an independent advisor to government, industry and not for profits for twenty years with an emphasis on industrial and regional development, business cases, governance, strategy and policy solutions.  He has a strong track record in developing agreement across stakeholders through alignment of core values and priorities that unlocks intrinsic value for investors, supply chains, the environment and communities.  This has included engagements with organisations in the resources, infrastructure, government policy, industrial and strategic planning, regional development, university and community sectors.  Erik is a Director of Lithium Valley Incorporated, an industry peak body formed to facilitate local and international new energy growth opportunities.  He is a past Chair and current member of the Sawyers Valley Primary School Board.  Past service includes Boards and committees dedicated to sustainability and common good outcomes.  Along with a small group, Erik was an early advocate for the development of Perth Hills Future to bring greater coherence and strategic relevance to the shared values of Perth Hills locals.  The goal then and now is to effectively articulate these values through planning and policy instruments and drive aligned investment across the Perth Hills.  It is Erik’s conviction that these values are the source of economic growth than can sustain and enhance the Perth Hills culture and environment for locals, visitors and future generations.

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LEANNE CURETON - TREASURER

Leanne is a highly experienced senior leader, engineer and business professional, with extensive experience in operational management, business improvement, project management, technical consulting and strategy development across multiple industries.

We are thrilled to have such an inspiring and influential individual join our MP team.

With some exciting changes being actioned at Mining Plus over the last few months, we have had some substantial growth to our global team. Keep an eye out as we introduce more team members to our online community!

 

KEVIN BENNETT - MEMBER

Has lived here in the foothills with his wife since May 2013. In that time, he has worked tirelessly in setting up Rothwood which is an award winning garden wedding venue.

During the last 5 or 6 years he has become a regular attendee at Council meetings. And become familiar with the due process and formal procedures of City business. Because of his interest in Council and love for the area, he has applied and been accepted onto several City committees such as the rebranding committee and the Kalamunda Tourism Committee.  Since becoming part of these committees he has met lots of great people whose goal is to promote and develop a Tourism strategy for our area. In late 2019 he was approached about becoming an executive board member of the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce., he was accepted onto the board in December 2019 at the Annual General Meeting. He is a regular member of the Wattle Grove rates payers Association. In June 2018 he became a founding member of Future Wattle Grove which is a local Residents Association set up in support of a green sustainable urbanization of Wattle Grove, his position was as chairman and spokesman for the group. With his business gaining momentum and my precipitation in these other groups he felt the time was right to hand over the reins to his successor in December 2019.

 

VINCENZO VELLETRI - MEMBER

Vincenzo has been living in the Perth Hills for the past 30 years and he is passionate about food, food culture and the sustainable development of the Perth Hills.

He has always been interested in food tourism and has just completed a course in the Management of Eno-gastronomic Tourism.  Vincenzo is a chef and business owner of IL PAIOLO EVENTS CATERING that has been operating in Perth since 1998.  He is Chair of Slow Food Swan Valley and Eastern Regions Inc, a Committee member of Experience Gidgegannup and Committee member of the Gidgegannup Progress Association.

In the past he has also been on the Board of the Swan Chamber of Commerce and the Swan Valley Tourism Alliance.  He believes that the Perth Hills have the right “ingredients” to become renowned at National and International level as a food and wine tourism destination.

 

FLEUR ADAMS - MEMBER

Fleur is a small business owner with big heart, as she has been described.

She is a partner, mother and owns four furbabies and has one grandfurbaby, owner of currently four businesses than run under Perth Hills Events.  Perth Hills Events is about community, creativity and collaboration, bring a mix of events to the Perth Hills and beyond, collaboration with many small businesses and organisations.  Fleur used to be on the board for Mundaring Chamber of Commerce and the Events Industry Association.  She grew up in the hills and left the area only to come back as the lure of the hills was to strong. her partner works full time in the oil and gas industries and in his spare time is Captain of the local volunteer fire brigade.  Fleur is one of our founding members from 2019 when she Eric and Jeremy sat down over a cuppa and came up with the concept of working collaboratively with the hills community, local organisations and government to build on an existing vision for the hills.

 

QUINTON TUCKER - MEMBER

Quinton is a Wongutha man from Western Desert Cultural Bloc. he has Noongar heritage through his fathers country near esperance. he was raised in the country but moved to Perth for education purposes. he has completed a BA at ECU and has travelled extensively all over WA.  He lives in Swan View and is married to a Whadjuk Noongar Woman, they live in the Greater Swan region for the past 28 years and have raised their on  Noogar/Whadjuk and Balladong country.  He works in support of Aboriginal people as the CEO of Koya Aboriginal Corporation, who provide a range of services including : private sector engagement support, skills development programs, employment opportunities, promotion of local environment values, a cultural and traditional knowledge archive, establishing essential health services and sport and recreation opportunities for children and young people.  The Perth Hills is an old place with many stories that need to be shared to bring Noongar knowledge to the fore. he looks forward to bringing this emphasis to the works of Perth Hills Future, working to establish Noongar tourism and other businesses, and to developing programs to share Noongar stories and knowledge.

 

TOM BURBIDGE - MEMBER

Tom is a youngun at 77 years old a husband, father and business owner.

Woorooloo is his home town, and then he moved to Mahogany Creek in 1980 to raise his family, and then onto Mundaring where he currently resides.  He ran his own TV and VCR repair business for many years until his recent retirement and transition to part time work.  He has been the Secretary of the Mundaring Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc since 2010.  His personal wish is the permanent retention of the various rural lifestyles and all flora and fauna.

 

COLLEEN YATES - MEMBER (EX OFFICIO)

Colleen is an accomplished leader who motivates others to achieve what they previously thought to be unachievable.  Her leadership style is inclusive, and she possesses stellar strategic thinking ability and down to earth communication skills with the capacity to deliver on outcomes. She is a firm believer that change is exciting when you successfully ‘sell’ the vision of the new future and gain buy-in of all affected stakeholders.  She holds an MBA from the University of Western Australia and is on the board of the following organisations: Deputy Chair of Henderson Alliance, a Defence industry SME group and the Chair of Lithium Valley Incorporated; Advisory member of Perth Hills Future; Treasurer of Innovate Australia and a member of the Australian Microgrids Centre for Excellence.  Colleen has worked and volunteered for the past 35 years in a number of multi-faceted, composite and challenging roles within the private, government and not-for-profit sectors delivering outstanding cutting-edge outcomes. Since 2013 she has been the CEO with Regional Development Australia Perth, having delivered a number of initiatives to drive new business investment and job growth for the Perth region. These include: "Driving Change: Perth and Peel an Economic Development Strategy and Infrastructure Priorities Plan" (2015); "Security and Defence in Western Australia: An Economic Perspective" (2017); "Lithium Valley: Building the Case for Energy Metals and Battery Manufacturing in WA" (2018), "Establishing the Perth DroneHub" (2019), "Enabling the Western Trade Coast: Creating WA’s World Class Industrial Destination, A Perspective from Industry" (2020) and "Perth Hills Strategic Visioning" (2020). She is currently working with the RDAWA network to develop a WA Regional Investment Prospectus.

MERRI HARRIS - MEMBER

Merri understands the meaning and importance of the Perth hills, it forests and wildlife, its wonderful orchards and market gardens and in more recent times its trails and quaint, historical heritage.  Born in the mill town hospital of Jarrahdale, educated in a 3 teacher school and experiencing the small town activities Merri appreciates the importance of community grass roots involvement as it relates to resilience and sustainability.  As a health practitioner Merri has owned her own businesses for over 35 years and intimately understands the significance of personal connection in creating longevity and success in business.  Long term, local businesses are often a foundation of local communities and can provide great support for community groups.  A 6 plus year stint as a Shire Councillor provided Merri with a good understanding of the roles and workings of multiple levels of government, their strengths, failings and limitations.  Her time spent in local community organisations since that stint in local government has demonstrated that an educated and well connected member of the community can accomplish great projects in collaboration with other organisations and government.  Merri has been instrumental in creating the Serpentine Jarrahdale Food and Farm Alliance Inc. which over the past 8 years has created the regionally significant and annual Food and Farm Fest and in November 2020 the weekly SJ Farmers Market.  All communities along, and in, the Perth hills share many common, wonderful attributes and will, with co-operative actions, solve common problems that need to be resolved to make our towns and natural environment even better.

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