EMPA is proud to have awarded the following Fellowships as recognition of these individuals' achievement and commitment to EMPA and our industry. More information about our Fellows will be posted shortly.
Jenny Barrett, Adelaide
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Jenny is Director of Communications for Anglicare SA, the largest not-for-profit welfare organisation in the state. She leads a team that undertakes a range of public affairs activities including internal and external communications, media, stakeholder relations, advocacy and public campaigns. With 24 years experience as a police officer and four years as a police media liaison officer, Jenny has specialised in media and crisis management. For three years Jenny was the Media Adviser for Centrelink covering South Australia and the Northern Territory. She spent three months working in Alice Springs after the Federal Government intervention was announced in 2007. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) and a Masters in Communication Management and lectures part time at the University of South Australia on crisis management and journalism ethics. |
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Phil Campbell, Woolongong
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Phil Campbell is the Corporate Communications Manager for the New South Wales State Emergency Service. Phil is responsible for a small and dedicated team who manage media, corporate communications, Ministerial liaison and the Service’s online and social media presence. Phil has an Honours Master of Science degree that provides him with a strong understanding of the natural hazards that underpin the core SES responsibilities of flood, storm and tsunami. Phil has worked in the media, public affairs and community engagement area for over 15 years for such diverse organisations as a waste management agency, conference and events company and international high school. Phil has received an SES Director General’s Commendation for his work in media and public affairs at the SES. Phil is a passionate believer in the use of new technology to support existing media practice and in the skilling of staff and volunteers to national standards. |
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Bruce Esplin, Melbourne
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Bruce is a board member of Regional Arts Victoria, a board member of the Kinglake Ranges Foundation and a board member and fellow of Emergency Media and Public Affairs. His company (BruceEsplin Pty Ltd) is employed in providing expert advice in the corporate and not for profit sector. He is a regular presenter on radio. The former, and first, Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner (a position he held for 10 years), he held senior positions in emergency management in Victoria for over 20 years. He was awarded the Centenary Medal for his public service in the emergency management sector. Bruce was an advocate for an inclusive approach to emergency management, and encouraged collaborative partnerships between community, all levels of government, the emergency services and the private sector. Bruce maintains an ongoing commitment to the emergency management sector and holds a vision for progressive emergency management arrangements where communities are not passive recipients of services, but active participants in their own safety planning and decision making. He is a committed advocate for change in the emergency management sector. Bruce is a photographer and sculptor and is a very passionate advocate and frequent speaker on the roles art can play in assisting individuals and communities rebuild their lives after trauma. |
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Dr Peter Hughes, Melbourne
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Peter Hughes is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at La Trobe University where he conducts research on Documentary Film and Television, Digital Media and Emergency Communications. His teaching has focussed on Documentary Script writing, the roles of digital communications in contemporary society, and media research methodologies with a particular emphasis on critical discourse analysis. His PhD research focussed on Documentary and the changing broadcast environments of ‘postmodernity’, including changing audiences. From 2003 to 2006 he was one of a team of three researchers undertaking research for the Bushfires Cooperative Research Centre on the Media and Bushfires. This work produced four research reports, several journal articles and several book chapters. More recently he has been undertaking research on the roles of social networking technologies (such as Facebook, Twitter, blogging) in Emergency Communications. |
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Robert R. Jensen, Washington DC |
Bob Jensen is a member of the US Senior Executive Service, has 27 years of national and international communication experience and is currently the Assistant Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Director for Public Affairs and Communications for the National Security Council. He works with national and international media, develops strategic communication plans, coordinates U.S. government/interagency communication efforts and develops press guidance and talking points for key senior officials including the NSC Spokesman, the White House Press Secretary and the President. As Deputy Director for External Affairs for FEMA, he was responsible, along with the Director, for the oversight and management of all strategic communication and outreach efforts to the key external stakeholders of FEMA as well as to its internal audience. He deployed to Haiti in January 2010 to lead the first unified US Government Joint Information Center and also deployed to support the U.S. Coast Guard with communications for the BP Gulf Oil Spill response in May 2010. He has also performed in a variety of senior Public Information roles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. |
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Anne Leadbeater, Melbourne
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Anne Leadbeater formerly of the OESC, Victoria, is now Community Engagement Manager with the Murrindindi Shire Council, Victoria. Following the 2009 Black Saturday fires, Anne worked on behalf of Council to coordinate the initial recovery efforts for the Kinglake Ranges communities. The recovery model that developed was subsequently highlighted as a case study in the final report of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. Anne is completing a Master of Social Science with RMIT and her study interests include community resilience, disaster recovery, communication and human rights. She is currently researching community leadership in disaster recovery. Anne is a resident of Kinglake, Victoria, where she lives with her family and raises Suffolk sheep. |
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Catherine Matheson, Vancouver
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With nearly 30 years experience in journalism and communications, Catherine Matheson trained in Canada at the provincial and national levels in emergency response and crisis communications. Her field experience includes wildfires, protests on logging sites, public outcry over health care cutbacks, and First Nations – Government disputes. Her areas of expertise include inter-agency communications, public participation and community engagement, communications planning, media relations, training, research and writing. |
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Dr Susan Nicholls, Canberra
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Dr Susan Nicholls has recently retired as Associate Professor at CU, Canberra and is now a disaster recovery adviser. Widely experienced as a metropolitan newspaper journalist and public affairs officer with the Commonwealth Government prior to becoming an academic, her current area of research interest is government communication, particularly in relation to emergency and disaster recovery. She has undertaken research on the role of communication in risk management and disaster recovery, and has given seminars and workshops for Emergency Management Australia and the Australian Red Cross on these topics. |
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Peter Rekers, Brisbane
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After completing a degree in Media Studies, Peter joined the Navy where he trained as a Seaman Officer and Naval Police Officer. He led 100 bush fire fighters in the Blue Mountains in 1993 and coordinated the media liaison for the Navy for the Tony Bullimore rescue. He was the Australian Naval Commander’s Media Advisor during the 2003 Gulf War and later in Baghdad was the Coalition Media Director. He was the Manager of Media and Strategy at QLD’s then Department of Emergency Services managing all media liaison for Queensland Fire and Rescue Service and Emergency Management Queensland including coordinating all media liaison for Cyclone Larry. He is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast and a co-founder and Chairman of Emergency Media and Public Affairs. Based on his extensive and varied experience Peter now runs a consultancy in Brisbane. |
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Barbara Ryan, Toowoomba
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Barbara Ryan has been a lecturer in public relations since 2005, when she joined the University of Southern Queensland after a 20 year career in public relations and journalism. She became interested in disaster communication when she was working as Manager of Corporate Communication at Toowoomba City Council and as part of this job was seconded to the local disaster management group with her media team during the 2002 bushfires. When she began work at the university and started to undertake research, this field drew her in and she has since undertaken a number of research projects on disaster communication. Around the same time she joined the university, she was approached by Toowoomba District Disaster Management Group to set up a more formal media and community communication capability in a legislative structure that meant communication at district level was overlooked. Barbara is also a founding director of EMPA and has held the role of chair of the research committee. She holds a Master of Professional Communication and is currently undertaking a PhD on how people get information in a disaster with the University of South Australia. |
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Alastair Wilson, Canberra
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Alastair has had a longish career in the media and in emergency management – a bit over four decades in total. After time in the army and the police force, in New Zealand, he began his media career as a radio journalist and then came to Australia where he worked in radio, television, and newspapers. He worked in public relations and then joined the federal government as a media manager for the Customs Service based in Sydney. In 2000 he took on public affairs roles firstly in the Industry Department, then the Immigration Department at the time of the Tampa asylum-seeker incident and through the children overboard political incident. In 2003 he went to Emergency Management Australia in the Attorney-General’s Department as a media liaison officer covering such major disasters as the Indonesian Boxing Day tsunami and Cyclones Ingrid and Larry, and then part of the Media and Crisis Communications team within Attorney-General’s where he brought his considerable expertise to support community awareness programs in disaster preparation. He has been a lecturer in media issues management and crisis communications at the Australian Emergency Management Institute (AEMI) in Victoria and in 2005 he co-founded the Emergency Media and Public Affairs association. Alastair retired from the Australian Public Service mid-2011 to establish his own crisis communications consultancy specialising in facilitating exercises and workshops and writing on disaster resilience topics. |
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