It’s been an amazing first year as we have worked to get the Greater Melbourne Chapter up and running. We hope you’ve enjoyed our outreach initiatives, and our company at the ‘meet and greet’ dinners throughout the year.
We’re very pleased to announce that our first official elections were a success, and introduce you to our 2019 committee.
Board members
President: Kylie Soanes
Vice President: Roan Plotz
Treasurer: Matthew Selinske
General Directors/Roving board members: Tim Doherty, Lee Harrison, Billy Geary, Paul Ferraro
Committee members
Web design/development: Billy Geary
Conservation officer: Christine Connelly
Cultural officer: Roan Plotz
Social media team: Holly Kirk and Elodie Camprasse
Events planning: Linda Riquelme
Conservation social science committee: Matthew Selinske and Emily Gregg
Institutional reps: Kat Selwood (Zoos Victoria), Roan Plotz (Vic Uni)
We’ll be doing some profiles on our committee members and popping them up on our webpage in the months to come. If you think you’ve got skills in any of the areas on our committee, consider teaming up with one of the lovely folk above – they’d love an extra pair of hands. Or you might have something new you want to bring to the table. Email us at melbournescb@gmail.com to get involved.
A very big thanks from the chapter president
I’d also like to take this opportunity to give a massive shout out to all of those who have worked so hard behind the scenes during our first year of operation – our ‘unofficial’ committee for 2018. Some of you have moved on to new jobs, new cities or new countries, while others are sticking around to do it all again this year. Either way, thanks so much for your creative inputs, your mad skills, and your willingness to dedicate time to getting this chapter up and running. In no particular order, thanks to:
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Billy Geary for setting up our webpage and bring our interactive map of conservation efforts to life.
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Matthew Selinske for handling our financials like a boss and helping us secure several grants throughout the year.
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Tim Doherty for starting this whole process in the first place and representing our chapter on the SCB Oceania board.
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Nadine Richings, Elodie Camprasse and Holly Kirk for handling our Twitter account like total champs (@melbournescb), including the delightful meme below.
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Zoi Banikos and Matt Rees for spear-heading our ‘Behind the scenes in conservation’ Instagram campaign. This will evolve into a series of blog posts this year!
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Vanessa Lucy for coordinating our social events and always finding us a good place to eat, drink and be merry.
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Lee Harrison, Abbey Camalang, Freya Thomas, Marty Lockett, Katie Berthon, Linda Riquelme for showing up to committee meetings with great ideas, fantastic networks, and for always pitching in to help.
What’s next
We’ll start to put some of the projects identified in our ‘Strategic Plan’ into action this year, as well as organise regular committee meetings and our tried and true ‘meet and greet’ dinners. We’ll also be setting up an online membership and payment system from June 2019. So stay tuned for more news on all of those fronts.
