Angair Committee meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 4.00pm in the Angair Natural History Centre, McMillan Street, Angleasea. The Annual General Meeting is held in February.
Angair Committee of Management 2025
PRESIDENT
Liz Fenwick
VICE PRESIDENT
Rob Shepherd
SECRETARY
Meredith Sussex
TREASURER
Conrad White
COMMITTEE
David Walmsley
Bill Clarke
Lecki Ord
Roger Ganly
Sally White
Ashley Clearihan
Biographies of the Committee of Management 2025
Liz Fenwick — President
Liz Fenwick is a woman with many interests. She gained a PhD in biochemistry from Monash University which led to a fellowship allowing her to undertake research in biophysical chemistry at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
Back home in Australia she worked as a research scientist in a Brisbane hospital’s pathology department when she became entranced by the power of computing. After a stint with IBM, she started her own business to drive the uptake of computer technology in the health sector.
She then took a career sidestep and set up a pet-minding service, qualifying as a veterinary nurse.
She later became a consultant to people on reducing energy consumption in the Federal Government’s Greenloans program.
Liz was vice-president of the not-for-profit EcoCentre in St Kilda for 10 years and Angair vice-president in 2024. She was introduced to Angair through Bill McKellar and the propagating group.
Rob Shepherd – Vice-President
Rob completed a BSc (Physics) and a Dip Ed and taught maths and science in the 1970s. In 1980 he commenced a PhD undertaking research on cochlear implants (Bionic Ear) at the University of Melbourne. He subsequently spent more than four decades improving the Bionic Ear and developing new implantable devices. While he spent the majority of his career at the University of Melbourne and the Bionics Institute, he also undertook research in the USA and Germany. In 2005 Rob was appointed Director of the Bionics Institute, and in 2011 appointed the inaugural Professor and Head of the Medical Bionics Department, at the University of Melbourne. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2017, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to medical research and education in 2021.
Meredith Sussex — Secretary
Meredith Sussex AM took over as secretary of Angair in February 2025. She has been a member of the society for over 30 years and lives in Anglesea when not working in Melbourne. She brings to the Committee of Management her long experience as a senior executive in the Victorian Government across a wide range of departments, and now, amongst other roles, she is Deputy Chancellor of La Trobe University.
She is also the chair of the Cairnlea Conservation Reserves Committee of Management, a committee responsible for the management and care of three grasslands reserves between St Albans and Deer Park.
Conrad White — Treasurer
With a passion for the coast and bush Conrad relocated to Aireys Inlet in 2012 after working and living in Melbourne.
A 35-year career in banking and finance, spanned across three banks CBA, ANZ and BankWest, specialising in client management, electronic banking, payment systems and project management. With an aptitude for understanding and embracing new and emerging technologies; Conrad was regularly involved in working groups developing new products and business units.
Since moving to Aireys Inlet, Conrad has focused on community and volunteer activities, including Angair, Aireys Inlet CFA, Estuary Watch and the Aireys Inlet Community Garden.
The transition from corporate work has been, and continues to be, a rewarding challenge: better understanding our environment, identifying birds and plants and learning a multitude of skills as an operational CFA firefighter.
As an Angair member Conrad has actively participated in our walks, bird walks, Plant Propagation team and as treasurer.
Bill Clarke
Bill Clarke – a retired accountant and Information Technology/Management (IT/IM) professional – retired to Anglesea and joined Angair’s Committee of Management in 2016.
Bill commenced his professional career with the Commonwealth Auditor General’s office as an auditor, then after completing an IT qualification changed direction to an IT/IM career spanning 30 years. He has held positions in Federal and Victorian Government departments, Hewlett Packard in Australia and the USA and has also worked as an independent IM consultant.
Since 2016 Bill has managed Angair’s IT/IM. This includes purchasing new technologies/systems; over-seeing the introduction of a Digital Asset Management system (currently undergoing a major redevelopment) and the Angair Nature Show website to complement Angair’s Annual Wildflower and Arts Weekend. Bill has established an Angair IT Committee and as chair, is overseeing IT/IM strategy and planning. The Committee is working to upgrade Angair’s IT/IM to cloud-based services to better support Angair’s volunteers.
Roger Ganly
Roger has been an Angair member for 20 years and has served on the Committee of Management for a total of 14 years. Roger’s main interest is in indigenous flora of the region and he has been very active in the re-wilding of the Painkalac Valley.
Lecki Ord
Lecki has been involved in executive positions in community organisations for the past 55 years. They all involved understanding individuals’ desires to contribute to making a better world through working together in organisations. She spent six years as a councillor of the City of Melbourne and was Lord Mayor in 1987-88, the first woman in that position.
Professionally, she worked as an architect and director of a small strategic facility planning business for 35 years.
Having now retired, she is using her experience and skills to address the environmental challenges of this time, more specifically to assist in repairing the damaged Australian environment, and has spent 20 years weeding the Aireys cliff tops and revegetating Westgate Park with its Friends group.
David Walmsley
Like many people David initially came to the Surf Coast for summer holidays, such was the attraction he and his partner bought a home 20 years ago in Aireys Inlet. David has recently retired from a career in local government as a service manager in planning and design to live full time in Aireys Inlet. He first became involved with Angair’s activities by participating in the regular weeding working bees along the Aireys Coast Trail area. Now, with more time, David continues volunteering for the weeding work and has joined the Committee of Management as well as becoming the coordinator of Angair’s annual Wildflower & Arts Weekend.
Sally White
Former journalist and author Sally White had a holiday home on a bush block at Djarrak (Bells Beach), bought a couple of years before the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. A long-time member of Angair, she has been a more active participant since moving to the Surf Coast 12 years ago. She’s a regular Monday weeder and member of the Angair propagation group with a particular interest in cracking the germination code of the Austral Grass-tree, Xanthorrhoea australis. She was president of Angair from 2020-2023 and currently edits two of the society’s publications, Angair News and Angair Quarterly.