Meet Our Executive Committee

2024 FMA Executive Group.jpg

 

 

Executive Biographies

 

2024 FMA Sue.jpg     Sue Ribbons President

 

Sue was elected to the position of President in 2024.

Sue has more than 30 years’ experience as a flood risk management professional working for NSW state government, NSW local government and private consulting practices. Sue holds a degree in Civil Engineering (First Class Honours) from UTS Sydney.

Sue is the Director of SR Flood Solutions, a small consultancy specialising in flood advisory services.

For the past 10 years, Sue worked as Technical Flood Director for the NSW Government’s Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Flood Risk Management Directorate. This role involved providing leadership, specialist advice and technical oversight on a wide range of flood risk management issues.

Prior to this. Sue was Sydney Regional Manager for the (then) NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, managing technical issues and grant funding assistance for flood, coast and estuaries for the (then) 41 local government areas across the Sydney Region. The team has a high customer focus and works to provide an on-going and strong working relationship between state and local government.

Before working in state government, Sue worked for six years at Pittwater Council (now part of Northern Beaches Council) as the Principal Officer in Floodplain Management.

From 2010 to 2012, Sue held the position of FMA Land Use Planning Director. During this time, Sue represented the FMA on a range of land-use planning issues as they relate to flood risk management, including a detailed review of the NSW Planning Review.

From 2016, Sue has held the position of FMA Communications Director. With her passion for ‘science communication’, this role assists the FMA to promote the importance of community engagement and the community’s understanding of flood risk, together with information sharing for flood risk management practitioners.



2024 FMA Danny.jpg      Danny Rose Deputy President

Danny is the Manager Roads and Stormwater at Tweed Shire Council, with over twenty years’ experience in the fields of floodplain management, asset management, and infrastructure planning.  


Danny has overseen Tweed Shire’s floodplain risk management processes, manages the flood mitigation asset program, and is responsible for implementing development control measures for flood prone development in this high growth area.


Danny has been a frequent presenter at Floodplain Management Association Conferences, workshops and meetings and chairs the conference Program Advisory Committee. Danny was appointed to the position of Technical Director in 2013. Danny also assists to deliver the Floodplain Risk Management short course at University of Technology Sydney, providing his perspectives as an active local government practitioner in this field.


Danny obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) with Class 1 Honours from the University of New South Wales in 2000.





2024 FMA Ian.jpg      Ian Dinham Emeritus President

Ian's professional career includes senior management roles as Director and General Manager in local government, and he has also been a twice-elected Councillor in the Clarence Valley of NSW.

Ian holds a Civil Engineering Degree from the University of NSW and is also a qualified tennis coach, cricket coach and cricket umpire, having served for several years as President and Life Member of NSW North Coast Cricket Council.

Ian served as FMA President from 2011 until 2024, and prior to this held the position of the technical representative on the FMA Executive Committee. Ian has presented papers to various forums and conferences in Australia and the USA involving floodplain management. 

Together with the FMA Executive Team, Ian has established strong relationships with floodplain management colleagues in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and he wants to see FMA continue to grow nationally and internationally.

 


2024 FMA Will.jpg      William Prentice Technical Director

William was elected to Technical Director in 2024, and served as Queensland Director from 2019. He is a Chartered engineer (specialising in flooding) and registered engineer (NER & RPEQ). He is currently the River and Catchment Engineering Program Leader at Logan City Council where he is responsible for floodplain policy, strategic planning (including planning scheme and development codes), flood intel and flood disaster operations, flood information for the community, stormwater infrastructure planning and stormwater quality asset management.

His career includes experience in the public and private sectors, across a broad spectrum of delivery, strategy and operations-orientated roles in project and program management, flood studies, floodplain risk management studies and plans, community resilience initiatives, disaster management and stormwater infrastructure planning.

He has also experienced first-hand, the impact that flooding events can have on the community having supported the community through the response and recovery to major flooding events of 2010/11 and 2013 in Brisbane City and more recently in major flooding across the City of Logan that followed ex-Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie in 2017.

William is passionate about working with all levels of government, industry and the community to deliver best practice floodplain management outcomes and help build community resilience to flood risk.



2024 FMA Paul.jpg      Paul Grech Land Use Planning Director

Paul Grech is a director of GLN Planning with 40 years’ experience working as a town planner and, while practicing broadly, has been involved in flood risk management for most of that time. Paul has an honours degree (first class) in Town Planning, is a Registered Planner and Member of the Planning Institute of Australia and was co-recipient of the FMA-Allan Ezzy Flood Risk Manager of the Year Award (2021).

Paul’s involvement in flood risk management has included preparing papers, presenting on the topic at seminars, workshops and short courses, undertaking the planning components of over 20 flood risk management studies, preparation of advices for various government bodies across Australia, and provision of a statement and evidence on behalf of the 2011 Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry. Paul also delivers the planning component of the FMA/DECCW/UTS Floodplain Risk Management course.

Paul has been the FMA Land Use Planning Director since 2013 during which time he has prepared reports for each Quarterly Meeting, contributed to the strategic direction of FMA, facilitated numerous workshops, prepared submissions, attended Inquiries, working groups and task forces on behalf of FMA and has been responsible for the delivery of the FMA Land Use Planning Position Policy (updated 2021) and Climate Change Position Policy (proposed for adoption in May 2022).



2024 FMA Cath.jpg      Catherine Walker Communications Director

Catherine Walker is a Director at WMS Engineering with 10 years’ experience in floodplain risk management. Catherine is passionate about developing collaborative relationships between consultants, councils and communities to improve flood resilience across Australia. Catherine has an honours degree (first class) in Civil Engineering and Arts, is a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland, Chartered Engineer with Engineers Australia and is registered on the National Engineering Register (NER). 

One of Catherine’s key strengths is the ability to translate technical information to non-technical audiences, and she became certified with the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) in 2020. Catherine is skilled in the development and delivery of community consultation strategies for a range of projects, particularly relating to floodplain risk management projects.  Catherine was a member of the inaugural NSW Young Floodplain Managers Committee and led the compilation of flood education resources for use by the FMA community.

She has published several papers and presented at numerous Floodplain Management Australia conferences and was awarded the best poster at both the 2017 and 2018 Floodplain Management Australia conferences. Catherine was the recipient of the Highly Commended Award for the 2022 Harold Sternbeck Medal from the 2022 FMA National Conference at Toowoomba for her presentation entitled Getting the most out of flood studies: Connecting consultants, councils and classrooms, and as a Young Floodplain Manager, was also awarded the 2022 Highly Commended Award for the Young Floodplain Manager Outstanding Presenter Award.

 

2024 FMA Jess.jpg Jess Carey Queensland Director

 

Helping to prepare communities when flooding hits, Jess draws on over 16 years of experience in flood and emergency management planning and service delivery. He’s worked closely with all levels of government and communities across Australia to build capability and improve resilience to flooding both during his time with the Bureau of Meteorology and in his current role as Stantec’s National Practice Lead for Flood Resilience. He’s passionate about shaping safer communities through planning, engagement, and research on best practices in flood management and responding to natural disasters. 

Jess received his Bachelor of Environmental Management in 2007 and focused his career initially on operational flood forecasting for nearly 15 years at the Bureau of Meteorology. Jess became the FMA Queensland Director in 2024 and is looking forward to advocating on behalf of the floodplain management community in Queensland whilst also looking to grow the FMA’s presence and membership

Contact: qld@floods.asn.au | 0404 606 951

 

 

 

2024 FMA Glenn.jpg      Glenn Evans Executive Officer

Glenn has extensive practical experience in floodplain, coastal and natural resource management, and holds Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degrees.

Glenn worked for twenty years with NSW Public Works in a variety of technical and management positions, mostly in river, coastal and environmental disciplines. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Hunter Catchment Management Trust for ten years and General Manager of the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority for five years. During that time he was responsible for aspects of design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme, the largest coastal flood management system in New South Wales.

He has first-hand experience of numerous flood events throughout the Hunter, Lake Macquarie and NSW Lower North Coast catchments, and understands the challenges faced by people living and working on the floodplain.

Glenn has been involved with FMA since 1982, has represented FMA on numerous committees and working groups, and was appointed FMA Executive Officer in 2010.

Contact: eo@floods.asn.au | 0415 873 353.