NTA is a largely voluntary organisation based in Canberra. It is overseen by a board with expertise in different fields of aid activity. The board is supported by three committees, in Finance, Operations and Membership and Marketing.
NTA has three paid staff who are responsible for fundraising, marketing, and operations management. The staff are backed by a team of volunteers, whose main objective is to raise money and organise activities in Australia’s major cities and Jakarta.
BOARD
Chair of the Board and Treasurer: Wendy Emerton
Wendy has over 15 years’ experience working with a range of public and private sector organisations in program and policy roles. She has worked in Australia and internationally with KPMG, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Agency for International Development. Wendy has worked with and for the Australian Government to improve governance, risk and performance. Wendy is focused on driving evidence-based decision making and speaks Indonesian.
Chief Executive Officer: Professor James Fox
James is an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University where he has been since 1975. He first visited Indonesia in the ‘Year of Living Dangerously’. He and his wife lived on the Island of Rote in 1965-66. Since then Jim has continued to maintain a close connection to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). He has written books and papers on the social and cultural life of many of the communities in the region and has been involved in various development projects.
Secretary: Jade Thinault
Jade is a young professional working in the field of International Development, currently at ActionAid Australia. Jade studied International Law and Languages (English, Spanish and Italian) and obtained a master’s degree in the Law of State Rebuilding in a Post-Conflict Environment from the University of Aix-Marseille, France. Jade has been volunteering with the NTA since June 2020.
Board Members:
Rob has retired as Professor of Agricultural Development in the School of Agricultural and Food Sustainability, Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland. He has worked in agricultural research and development in Southeast Asia for over 40 years, including six years residing in Malaysian Borneo. His research interests have centred on the evolution of smallholder farming systems, land tenure arrangements, and community-based resource management in both lowland and upland environments, and the impacts of government land policy and the spread of plantation crops, particularly oil palm. Rob holds a PhD in development economics and Southeast Asian studies from Monash University.
Heath is a former career officer in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His professional expertise is Australia’s economic, political and cultural relations with Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia. He managed AusAID’s private sector capacity-building programs in Indonesia in 2005-2007 and, later in DFAT, he formulated trade, investment and economic growth strategies for economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Heath is a long-standing member of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He is a Past President of the Jakarta-Menteng Rotary Club. He is fluent in technical and conversational Indonesian
Ria is a sociologist who specialises in rural community development. Ria is a former development consultant to the World Bank. She has been a member of the Board since its formation in 2007. Ria holds a PhD from Bielefeld University.
Nadine has had over 30 years’ experience in the technology sphere, both as a management consultant and in senior technology line management roles for a variety of private and public sector organisations, both in Australia and internationally (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, and Russia).
Nadine has significant experience in Business Transformational Program Management and delivery, IT/Business alignment, IT Transformation and managing IT departments from both efficiency and effectiveness perspectives. She understands the business challenges within an organization and is able to use technology to enable the proposed business strategies. Her ability to communicate a vision and establish a program delivery team to deliver on this vision is a skill that she has developed over the years.
Professor Andrew McWilliam is the Chair of the Operations Committee for NTA. He was Professor of Anthropology at Western Sydney University and formerly a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU. He has extensive experience undertaking ethnographic research and scholarly publishing over 40 years as well as numerous applied development assistance projects across eastern Indonesia including Nusa Tenggara. His advisory work has included small scale water and sanitation projects; forestry and watershed management; social development in the Indonesian mining, oil and gas sectors, as well as consulting work on smallholder agriculture. He is currently working on a project promoting labour productivity gains for smallholders through mechanization and improved fertilizer applications in Timor Leste.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Phil holds a degree focused on natural resource management. He was employed for 30 years within the Australian Government at local and national levels and worked in areas focused on the management of urban landscapes, forests, national parks and fisheries. His employment has covered Indonesian natural resource issues for 15 years and he was seconded to Indonesia for a year as Programme Management Specialist for a national coral reef management programme.
Simon Field has forty years of development experience, which started in West Timor in 1983. Through his long-term links to Nusa Tenggara Timur, he has been supporting NGOs, governments, and the private sector to tackle some of the region’s major challenges of a long dry season, climate change, and poor household nutrition, which together make this one of the poorest regions with the highest level of stunting in Indonesia.
Simon led UNDP’s mission in Aceh after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to 2010, and over the last 12 years has been involved in development projects addressing the potential impact of climate change. He has extensive private sector experience and is currently the Managing Director of the agribusiness company PT Springfields.
Simon holds a MBA from Deakin University and a Master of Agricultural Science from Queensland University.
Laura has worked on natural resource management and community well-being challenges for the past14 years, with a strong interest in sustainable livelihoods. Gender equality, biodiversity conservation, social inclusion, and services access and quality. Laura holds degrees in Forest Ecosystem Science and Environmental Studies and Indigenous Studies , lives in East Flores. NTT, where she lives with her family and is a member of Sustainable Solutions International Consulting, a global consortium of consultants seeking sustainable solutions to the challenges that face our world today.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Finance Committee
Chair: Omar Hammam
Members: Wendy Emerton
Membership & Marketing Committee
Chair: Nadine Vincenc
Members: Bernard Morris, Phil Domaschenz, Laura Kola, Simon Field, Lorina Schwenke, Maddie Crothers, Heath McMichael, Wendy Emerton, Oscar Moon, Adam Lia, James Guida
Operations Committee
Chair: Dr Andrew McWilliam
Members: Rebekah Smith (Secretary), Laura Kola, Simon Field, Phil Domaschenz, Frans Wayan, Stephaie Heighes, Maddie Crothers, Debora Nulik, Jade Thinault, Tina Niat, Yeane Kadja