Our Team Leaders

Catherine has over 30 years of experience and expertise in resource, infrastructure and environmental management across a broad range of environmental, resource management, planning, events and development projects. She has particular strengths and demonstrated success in leading multi-party negotiations to achieve outcomes within tight time frames. An experienced project manager with a strong basis in strategy and negotiations, she has great communication skills and is adept at identifying and ethically resolving conflict. Having sat on the ‘owners team’ for many projects, she has a sound knowledge and keen nose for identifying key project outcomes and ensuring their delivery.

Catherine has expertise in resource and environmental management and the development of large-scale infrastructure projects both within Australia and overseas. In particular she has advised on the regulatory and approvals regimes as they relate to those projects, managed and finalised amendments to State Agreements, implemented legal frameworks and risk mitigation strategies, advised on government and statutory approvals, drafted and negotiated contracts, and led Australian and international legal teams across a wide range of industries.

Phil is an experienced Environmental Consultant with a strong technical science background. Throughout his career he has gathered a broad experience base across numerous positions and industries. He has developed technical and management expertise in infrastructure and resources, approvals processes, rehabilitation, environmental management systems, agriculture, hydrology, soils, plants, ecosystems, marine environments, mining and infrastructure development, stakeholder engagement and corporate management. He is an accomplished writer and has authored many publications and documents.

Phil has 33 years of experience in resource and environmental management across a broad range of environmental, agricultural, resource management, land access, planning and development areas. He is trained in environmental science and experienced in the planning and management of major developments and operations in a broad range of environmental, social and political settings. He has directed, prepared and/or managed the baseline environmental, impact assessment and approval processes for a large number of significant projects across WA.

Phil has managed a range of planning processes for major infrastructure such as ports, rail and mines. He has also directed, prepared and presented to audiences on a range of subjects including environmental management and auditing systems, materials characterisation, rehabilitation, safety, agroforestry, salinity and incident investigation. Phil regularly provides owner’s representative and peer review services.

Phil has worked in Government and been in senior management roles for significant mining companies with accountability for the development of systems and processes to support environmental improvement, land access, business improvement and excellence at a corporate level. In key roles, he has assembled and led teams to deliver environmental approvals and significant improvements and changes in the environmental performance in resource, infrastructure and agriculture companies.
Phil is deputy chair and a foundation member of the Mine Rehabilitation Fund Advisory Panel, an independent panel advising the Department of Minerals and Petroleum on mine closure and rehabilitation issues.

Gavin joined Preston Consulting in 2010 after working for six years in the environmental field within Government, industry and consulting. He has built on this experience while at Preston Consulting by leading our environmental approval and management team on numerous mining and infrastructure projects.

He is an experienced Environmental and Marine Consultant who specialises in environmental impact assessment and strategy. He has a background in both marine and environmental science and these skills have been utilised to manage and obtain approvals for numerous major port, rail and mining projects of State and national significance. Gavin is regularly engaged by clients to manage the environmental and approval processes for a project, including design reviews, scoping of environmental studies / surveys, managing sub-contractors, stakeholder engagement and applying for and obtaining approvals.

Gavin’s other strength is environmental management and compliance. He has developed numerous environmental management plans, completed audits and compliance reporting. He worked as an Environmental Officer for the (now) Department of Water and Environmental Regulation and is trained in incident investigations and compliance inspections.

Ryota has expertise in energy and carbon management solutions and the renewable energy sector with a strong background in both technical and commercial management. He brings experience in feasibility studies, due diligence for investment, contract negotiation and finalisation, project financing and subsequent project implementation. He has worked in different cultural environments and developed strategies to bring together business partners from these different cultures.

Ryota has 30 years’ experience in project development, project management and financing in mining, energy and infrastructure in Australia and overseas. He has held senior roles with Marubeni Corporation in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, and Energy Equity in Perth. More recently, he has provided consultancy services to a number of companies and corporations in Australia, Japan and China, including CITIC Pacific Mining, Tokyo Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power Company, Pacific Hydro, LNG and Sumitomo. He has directed the development of energy supply projects from upstream fuel supply to downstream independent power projects in Australia, Indonesia and India.

Ryota leads our team in the development and implementation of integrated energy supply and carbon management solutions for large mining and infrastructure projects. This includes optimising energy sources, estimating carbon price exposure and minimising the lifecycle cost of energy. He also manages pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for energy and electricity supply projects and advises on carbon management systems.