Leadership team

CEO – Nick Cameron

Board of Directors

Under corporation rules, a Director can hold position up to maximum of 2-years before they are required to step down from their position at the AGM. After stepping down, a former director may become eligible for re-nomination and maybe elected for a further 2-year period.

This governance model ensures an open and transparent process that provides members with new and fresh ideas, the opportunity to become actively involved in the management of the organisation.

Current Directors

Following the AGM held on Saturday 1 November 2025, the current Directors are:

• Mark Harriss (Co-Chairperson)
• Emma Lee (Co- Chairperson)
• Jo Cameron
• Rob Anders
• Lauren Tynan
• Zac Cameron
• Colleen Johnstone

Director Profiles

Mark Harriss

Mark has been serving MTWAC as a Director since , he was nominated as Chair in 2025 and serves as Co-Chair with Emma Lee.

Mark is a proud Trawlwoolway man from the Coastal Plains Nation, descending from the Hearps lineage of Dalrymple and the Brown lineage of Mother Brown. Born in nipalina/Hobart, he grew up on the eastern shores of Tasmania, spending time on Bruny Island for muttonbirding and learning traditional practices around Eaglehawk Neck. He later traveled extensively across mainland Australia and now lives on his property near the kanamaluka River with his wife and three children. Mark has been an active member of MTWAC since his family’s return to Tasmania.

A Health, Safety, and Environmental Specialist, Mark works internationally and domestically across various industries, holding senior and executive roles that also have a focus on community engagement and social governance. He holds graduate and postgraduate qualifications and has a background in trades and resources. Mark works closely with industry leaders to ensure sustainable outcomes fostering social growth and prosperity. He also contributes to Reconciliation Australia, the GFG Foundation, and the Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing, and Energy Council.

Mark’s career and personal life have been dedicated to improving outcomes for communities across Australia, focusing on community growth, empowerment, and self-determination. His passion for people and place is unwavering, and he is committed to ensuring Aboriginal voices are heard and respected in decision-making at all levels.

Outside of his professional work, Mark enjoys caring for the land, sea, and sky, spending time with family and community, and working towards ecological and cultural balance. He is skilled in working with natural materials to create tools, implements, and music pieces, and is a registered fire practitioner in the Western context and cultural burning practitioner.

Emma Lee

Professor Emma Lee OAM is a trawlwulwuy woman from tebrakunna country, north-east Tasmania.  She joined Federation University in March 2023 to further the research and social impacts of the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice.  Emma is an internationally recognised expert on Indigenous methodologies, especially as applied to land and sea management.  She has written books, papers and reports on Indigenous rights, governance and regional development.  Her favourite research areas are government policy, tourism and fisheries.  Emma has also led work to establish a market for cultural fisheries in Tasmania through an inaugural Aboriginal food tourism trail based on commercial abalone operations.

In transforming research into rights and regional development opportunities through her domestic and international collaborations, Emma is a sought-after advisor to provide expert advice to state and federal governments, ocean industries, Aboriginal communities, businesses and organisations, and UN Bodies.  She sits on numerous Federal Government councils, committees and advisory groups and has had several roles in Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations.  Emma often provides expert media commentary for print, radio and tv.

Emma has been a member of MTWAC since inception and has supported the development of Mannalargenna Day, especially through funded and networking opportunities.  Emma believes in the direction of MTWAC as an organisation free from identity discrimination, that builds our young people capabilities and respects our Elders.

Jo Cameron 

Jo is one of 6 founding members of MTWAC who formed the corporation in 2008. Jo rejoined the Board of Directors in 2019 and currently holds the voluntary position of Contact Person. Jo is passionate about health and healing, having been an accredited Social Worker for almost 30 years, with a career in youth mental health for most of that time. She is currently the manager of a youth mental health program in the community service sector, being awarded National Practice Leader in 2019. She recently Co-Authored a chapter on “Respect: A Tasmanian Aboriginal Narrative” in Effective Leaders by Mike Cameron 2021. Jo has an interest in Closing the Gap initiatives, higher education access and participation and return to country opportunities for Aboriginal people in her close extended community. Jo was raised on Flinders Island, within a large Aboriginal community. She was fortunate to observe and be influenced by strong, determined and vibrant women (her mother Aunty Patsy Cameron AO and many Aunties) during her childhood and their values remain central to her sense of identity as an Aboriginal woman. Jo hopes to find the time (when the kids finally leave home) to write, alongside her sister, about the voices of strength that exists in her community and the importance of honouring these as the narrative of healing in contrast to the message that has, for too long, been focused on notions of deficiency, failure and inferiority.

Rob Anders

Rob has been member since 2009, shortly after the organisation was formed. He is an active member who has been on the Board of Directors for most of this time and is a representative on the Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance (TRACA). Professionally, Rob has a surveying and spatial sciences background with 30 years’ experience working at the University of Tasmania as a Senior Technical Officer in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences. He has used these skills to pursue his interest in the application of spatial mapping techniques to research Tasmania’s Aboriginal history and is the author of maps appearing in several books and other works. Since 2018, Rob has taken on a 0.5 fraction role within the College of Science and Engineering (CoSE) as the Aboriginal Education and Strategy Officer. This is a wide-ranging position that has the goal to elevate the level of staff and student understanding of and respect for Tasmanian Aboriginal culture, heritage, needs, aspirations, and interests, which is achieved through enabling curriculum development, research support, staff education, and providing strategic/policy advice and support. Recently, his effort was recognised by being announced in the College of Science and Engineering Awards by being awarded the joint winner of the Executive Deans ‘Engagement Award’. Rob has a keen interest in caring for Country through the management and protection of heritage sites and landscape, practicing culture, and sharing his knowledge and experiences. Since 2017, he has been a member of the statutory Aboriginal Heritage Council (AHC) under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975.  Rob has particular interest in Sea Country and its management. He has been involved in the organising and running of each Mannalargenna Day event since its inception in 2016.

Zac Cameron

Zac was born in Launceston and now calls Hobart home. He is a proud descendant of the Coastal Plains and Oyster Bay Nations.

A graduate of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Apprenticeship Program (IAP), Zac has worked in the Australian Public Service for the past six years. He currently works in the Indigenous Affairs portfolio, where he enjoys his role in a large team dedicated to ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are heard, recognised, and empowered.

Zac has been heavily involved in MTWAC’s restoration of Tasmanian Aboriginal words and place names, under the guidance of his grandmother, Aunty Patsy Cameron. He is passionate about ensuring that the correct words and place names are used as they would have been by the ancestors. Zac hopes to soon release a website and dictionary of words and place names to share with the Tasmanian community.

Zac brings skills in project management, graphic design, and web design to the MTWAC board. He looks forward to applying these skills in the role and driving forward the MTWAC language and place name revival agenda in a visual and engaging way.

In his free time, Zac enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially camping or hiking on Country. Embracing the beauty of nature and connecting with his heritage is something he cherishes deeply.

Lauren Tynan

Lauren is a Pairrebeene/Trawlwoolway woman from the Hearps lineage of Dalrymple. She resides on Awabakal and Worimi countries in NSW with her family and has strong ties to Tebrakunna Country where she regularly visits. Lauren is a Lecturer in Geography and Planning at Macquarie University where she teaches students about decolonising environmental management practices. She recently completed her PhD entitled ‘Kin and Country: Relational Research, Cultural Fire and Indigenous Futurities’, which worked with MTWAC, the Trainee Tebrakunna Rangers and the wider Tasmanian Aboriginal community to tell stories of Tebrakunna Country in the past, present and future. Lauren is passionate about cultural land and sea management, especially as a practitioner of cultural (or cool) burning for over 10 years. Lauren has a Master of International Development and before being in academia, she worked in the not for profit sector where she helped coordinate a national project working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students, their families and Elders. Lauren feels very grateful to have learnt from many Indigenous communities and Elders across Australia, and she brings a deep respect for our cultural ways into everything she does.

Colleen Johnstone

Colleen’s career has led her to specialise in leading and motivating organisations to
achieve innovation and growth. She’s a strategic thinker with strong problem
solving and analytical experience, and an effective influencer, with a passion
for supporting communities and vulnerable people underpinning her roles.

Colleen is an experienced leader and passionate advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outcomes. Prior to joining JCTS, Colleen was the Chief Executive Officer of Palliative Care Tasmania for eight years. In this role, she successfully led the development and delivery of education and training for primary and allied health providers, advocated for service improvement, secured tens of millions of dollars in sector funding, and led significant sector workforce development strategies to address the long-term challenges of growing service demand and an ageing workforce.