NUCLEAR TASKFORCE ADVISORY BOARD

Michael is involved in a wide range of organisations across engineering, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, environmental sustainability, the space industry, academia, and the nuclear industry.

He is extremely well connected with Australia’s manufacturing, industrial and political leaders, as well as the country’s top universities, including activities in the nuclear and AUKUS spheres.

He is the Chief Executive Officer of the AUKUS Forum and has a personal contact base of over 100,000 people across Australian industry, with more than 34,000 members of the AUKUS Forum and 35,000 LinkedIn connections, with many more built over his time on projects for infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and research activities. He has an extensive range of industry networks assembled over the last four decades.

Widely regarded as one of the most connected people in Australian industry, with a strong focus on business transactions, Michael is focussed on transformation – helping countless businesses to access new export opportunities and enter adjacent markets such as traditional engineering firms entering the space and defence industries.

This gives him an unrivalled ability to connect with key decision makers, to facilitate contacts between Australian and overseas manufacturers, establish joint ventures and establish supply chains. Several major US corporations have reached out to him recently to find local suppliers.

Michael has vast experience in politics, industry and manufacturing, having served as the National Director for Industry at the Australian Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre; and Chairman of the HunterNet Co-operative, a very successful industry cluster based in the Newcastle area of New South Wales.

Michael is a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders; a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures & Commerce; and has completed courses in Leadership at the Harvard Business School.

Kirsty, Principal of Braybon Advisory, is a distinguished nuclear lawyer in Australia. Her expertise stems from her role as Head of Legal for the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency (ARWA) and as a special advisor for the AUKUS taskforce during her tenure at ARWA.

With over a decade's experience in the energy and resources sectors, she has been influential in the development of nuclear law in Australia. 

As a dedicated research and teaching fellow at the University of Adelaide, Kirsty is fervently upskilling future lawyers for the AUKUS program in nuclear law. 

She is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the nuclear, energy, resources, and government sectors. In her role at Braybon Advisory, she offers comprehensive advisory services utilising her legal, policy, commercial and strategic expertise. At the University of Adelaide, Kirsty is a nuclear law subject matter expert and is working alongside Professor Dale Stephens to deliver a comprehensive nuclear law course focusing on nuclear-powered submarines at the request of the Department of Defence. Prior to this, she was the inaugural Head of Legal for the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency. In this position, she was instrumental in the formation and development of the agency, a key government body responsible for overseeing the management of Australia’s radioactive waste. In this capacity, Kirsty was an early contributor to the AUKUS program, providing advice on major project development, nuclear liability and legal risk mitigation.

Kirsty's career spans over a decade, during which she worked as a major projects lawyer in the mining, petroleum, and nuclear industries. She also held a significant role within the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining, where she provided comprehensive advice and managed the complete rewrite of South Australia's mining laws. Before her government roles, Kirsty specialised in energy, resources, and corporate law across multi-national law firms, providing legal advice to energy and resource industry participants.

Academically, Kirsty has excelled as an award-winning author, lecturer, and holds an adjunct position with the University of Adelaide. She holds a Bachelor of Law from Flinders University, a Master of Law and a Higher Degree of Research from the University of Western Australia, and a Graduate Diploma of International Nuclear Law with the International School of Nuclear Law at the University of Montpellier in France. 

Kirsty actively engages in peer reviews, publishes academic articles, and presents at conferences and public forums on various topics, including environmental law, mining law, nuclear law, and energy law.

Clare is Founder and Managing Director of Forelight Advisory that supports forward thinking organisations navigate the rapidly changing world of resources and energy transformation, decarbonisation and responsible production. 

She is a strong collaborator and advocate of future resource and energy industries and leads a range of multi-stakeholder initiatives to advance the integration of clean technology solutions to traditional processes and value chains.

Clare is Co-Lead of NewH2 the Hunter Hydrogen Technology Cluster, is a mining engineer (UNSW) and holds applied finance qualifications. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and is a Churchill Fellow. 

Dale Heinken is the President and Managing Director of Ascent Vision Technologies (AVT) Australia, a CACI company, based in Melbourne, Victoria, which specialises in the design and development of gyro-stabilised imaging systems for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), target acquisition, and counter uncrewed aerial systems operations.

Prior to joining AVT Australia, Dale served in the United States Navy as a surface warfare officer with a subspeciality in naval nuclear propulsion for 26 years. He retired as a Captain in 2021. During his time in the Navy, he served on a variety of ships and staffs, and he is most proud of his time as Commanding Officer of Littoral Combat Ship Crew 101 aboard USS Freedom (LCS 1), the Reactor Officer aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), and the Commanding Officer of USS Boxer (LHD 4).

Dale was commissioned through the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland in 1995 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He earned a Master of Science in Information Systems and Technology degree from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland in 2003 and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 2009.

During his spare time, Dale enjoys tennis, golf, flyfishing, scuba diving, woodworking, sailing, hunting, working out, cycling, cooking on the grill and whatever is on his wife’s “honey-do” list. While he isn’t good at any of his hobbies, he does at least dress like he should be.

Jasmin describes herself, somewhat modestly, as a mum, leader, nerd and diversity advocate.

She is also the President of Women in Nuclear Australia, the Oceania representative on the Women in Nuclear Global executive, Managing Director with Global Nuclear Security Partners Australia, a Senior Associate with Mettle Global, a member of the ARPANSA Nuclear Safety Committee and a Fellow with Engineers Australia.

On completion of her tenure as a Commanding Officer of an Engineer Regiment, she was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross in the Kings Birthday Honours 2023 for her leadership.

Jasmin joined the Australian Army in 2001 and after graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy and Royal Military College Duntroon,  became a Combat Engineer with the Royal Australian Engineers.

With a background in explosive ordnance disposal, Jasmin spent most of her 22 years of service providing operational and training support in countering chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats and has seen operational service both domestically and overseas.

She thrives leading multidisciplinary teams in uncertainty.

Jasmin is a big advocate for thinking differently and is a co-founder of the Defence Entrepreneurs Forum Australia (DEF Aus) which encourages bottom-up conceptual innovation.

Jasmin has a Bachelor of Science in physics and chemistry, a Masters in Defence and Military Studies and a Masters in Engineering Science (Nuclear Engineering).

A nuclear management professional specialising in engineering and commissioning with more than 15 years in leadership roles in a major project environment. David has a strong engineering background blended with broad experience of the civil and defence nuclear sectors to drive strategic thinking and decision making. He has delivered governance and regulatory compliance arrangements from a blank sheet and has extensive experience of managing regulator interactions.

Founding and leading Nuclear Consulting (NCL) since 2010, David has been a key part of the company’s work with nuclear new build in the United Kingdom, principally supporting the Hinkley Point C project since 2012. NCL is currently engaged via a framework contract to provide support to the Hinkley Point C project across a number of areas of the commissioning programme. David supports this contract in a senior role acting on behalf of the Commissioning Programme Director.

As the Commissioning Function Interim Manager at Hinkley Point C, David developed a new functional group in the client organisation to deliver management, governance and technical capabilities. A robust strategy was developed from a clean sheet to build on worldwide experience of building new reactors, most importantly four other EPR™ units which were at various stages of completion. 

As an Expert Consultant at Hinkley Point C, David has provided expert consultancy and advice as required to the HPC Commissioning Manager and subsequently to the HPC Commissioning Programme Director. 

Nick is a national and nuclear security expert, with over 20 years’ experience in the UK Government and private sector. He is a Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Global Nuclear Security Partners (GNSP), a leading management consultancy specialising in nuclear security and nuclear threat reduction. 

GNSP operate across the civil and defence nuclear sectors delivering world leading expertise, but also in supporting and building sovereign capabilities and developing the next generation of nuclear security experts.

Nick has led on strategic and operational level UK counter-proliferation work and has a thorough understanding of international nuclear sectors and their relevant fuel-cycles. He has worked extensively with overseas partners and delivered world class security related training and education. He has led on strategic policy & operational advice relating to Plutonium & Highly Enriched Uranium security & transportation, including the consolidation of all UK holdings. 

He has led for the UK in understanding and defining the threat to the UK civil nuclear sector and working with governments, regulators and industry to address such threats. He advises clients across the civil and defence nuclear sectors, global critical infrastructure and is a World Institute for Nuclear Security, Certified Nuclear Security Professional. He is also a regular contributor to the media, providing interviews and expert comment on global nuclear issues.

Ian Hudson is the Executive Director of ICN NSW. He started his business career in the consumer goods packaging industry as a cadet at Amatil Ltd. 

He then moved through junior accounting and operations roles to develop a sound appreciation of business and into sales and product management positions in the industrial packaging and building materials industries. 

From there he undertook marketing roles in the food packaging industry which involved everything from corporate marketing to new product development and capital expenditure programmes. 

This broad experience was then utilised as a business consultant assisting manufacturers, local governments and not-for-profits. 

He now fills the role of Executive Director with ICN following previous roles at ICN as Regional Manager, Manager Agrifood and Economic Development Officer Aboriginal Business.