Australian Conservation Foundation announces new President

February 9, 2023

Environment /

The Australian Conservation Foundation has announced Liana Downey as their new President and Chair of ACF’s Board.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), formed in 1965, is Australia’s national environment group – a community of more than half a million people who stand up for nature and action to tackle climate change.

Downey, an experienced strategic adviser who has held senior roles in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors, shared “I’m honoured to have the opportunity to work with the Australian Conservation Foundation and its supporters to protect our extraordinary natural heritage.”

ACF Chief Executive Kelly O’Shanassy welcomed Downey to the role “Liana is a dynamic leader with a wealth of relevant experience and we are excited to welcome her as ACF’s President at a crucial time for action on climate and nature in Australia.”

Downey led the development of Australia’s first Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost curve and was a leader of the sustainability practice at McKinsey & Company.

She founded Common Ground on Climate, a national multidisciplinary research project to identify the best ways to safeguard Australia’s environment and economy, and was an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Downey was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Delivery for NSW Education, Special Adviser to Prime Minister and Cabinet and Chief EXecutive of a boutique strategy advisory with offices in Sydney and New York.

She holds an MBA (Public Policy) from Stanford (Arjay Miller Scholar) and has co-authored white papers on effective approaches for managing Australia’s energy transition.

Downey is the author of ‘Mission Control: How Nonprofits and Governments Can Focus, Achieve More and Change the World’ (Taylor and Rutledge, 2016).

Past ACF presidents include former High Court Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Phillip, former Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox, economist ‘Nugget’ Coombs, businessman/activist Geoff Cousins, Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, respected scientist Ian Lowe, and businesswoman/advocate Mara Bún.

9th March 2021 - Australian Conservation Foundation challenges Government on ‘fast tracked’ environmental approvals

10th December 2014 - ACF welcomes land handover and new Olkola National Park

7th January 2023 - Huawei partners with international conservation union to study impact of tourism on eagle ecosysytem

5th December 2022 - 2,500 hectares added to protect Queensland’s national and conservation parks and nature refuges

25th November 2022 - New research centre opens at University of Western Australia to accelerate ocean conservation

17th November 2022 - AMCS commends Australian Government’s international commitment to 30% ocean conservation

4th November 2022 - Platypus refuge habitats among conservation projects to receive funding from Victorian Government

27th October 2022 - Conservation organisations deploy thermal drones to conduct koala population surveys

12th October 2022 - Framework launched by conservationists and tourism organisations to protect Victoria’s second largest bay

4th October 2022 - Federal Government launches 10 year conservation plan for threatened species

19th September 2022 - Zoos Victoria marks 160 years of wildlife conservation

1st July 2022 - Conservationists welcome Australian Government’s commitment to addressing plastic pollution

1st June 2022 - Australian Marine Conservation Society welcomes new Federal Government appointments

22nd April 2022 - Conservation organisations launch ambitious tree planting campaign

15th March 2022 - Conservationists call for laws to have less focus on benefiting the resource sector

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