Michelle joined the GECA team two years ago, bringing a passion for creating solutions and offering pathways for businesses to choose a more sustainable future for the people and planet.

Having worked in fundraising, marketing, and sales throughout her career, she has a wealth of business experience that she now uses at GECA to drive positive change. Michelle values her abilities to negotiate and collaborate and sees genuine working relationships as crucial to building robust and lasting sustainability strategies.

Her career was established in the UK before relocating to Australia in 2011. She has been fundamental in creating, building, developing and nurturing partnerships with clients, suppliers, and staff. She has exceptional management skills; a mentor leading and developing strong teams from the front with a hands-on approach.

With a keen eye for detail, she is well versed in business process improvements and developing strategies to drive best practice and increased value to all partners.

With her background in social sciences, Jess has always been drawn to roles that promote the health and wellbeing of people and our surrounding environment.

Jess started her career working for the Australian Red Cross, managing local food security programs. She has worked for other not-for-profit organisations and state government agencies, obtaining skills in program management, community engagement, research, training, policy development and analysis, consumer advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and business development and strategy.

She recently completed her SA8000 Standard Auditor Training with Social Accountability International in her quest to improve supply chain transparency via mechanisms that support human and labour rights and environmental justice.

Jess’ role at GECA focuses on working with industry, government, universities, consumers, and other organisations to identify collaborative opportunities for sustainability action.

Kendall is a communications specialist and sustainability advocate who has driven campaigns for a range of non-profit organisations on issues such as sustainable consumption and production, environmental philanthropy and biodiversity conservation.

She has over a decade’s worth of experience working in the field of environmental conservation and holds a Fellowship with the Centre for Sustainability Leadership. Kendall is also a member of the Fashion Revolution team in Australia, an international movement advocating for a fashion industry which values people, the environment, creativity and profits in equal measure.

Karina is passionate about environmental conservation, diversity, sustainability and looks for impactful change. At GECA, Karina uses her marketing expertise and project implementation skills to contribute to lasting change for a more sustainable Australia. Karina will manage and support a range of projects in Marketing, Communications and Sales.

Karina is a marketing and communications professional who has extensive experience developing insight-driven marketing and engagement strategies, creating digital marketing campaigns and project management.

She has previously worked in the higher education sector in Australia and for large corporations in the telecommunication sector in Brazil. Karina possesses vast experience in marketing strategy development and implementation. Her focus areas include digital marketing, content creation, project management, campaign management, events, and sales and marketing partnerships.

Karina holds a Master of Business degree with a major in Marketing at the University of Sydney and has recently taken further studies in Environment.

With a background in design and media, Raven brings a creative eye to GECA.

Having had a passion for the environment from a young age, Raven decided to bring her skills from sales and consumer experience to the field of sustainability. Raven’s role focuses on supporting the GECA team, as well as spreading our key messages via digital platforms and educating those who are on a journey of continuous improvement for people and planet.

Originally from the UK, Jacqui holds a Bachelor of Interior Architecture. Emigrating to Sydney in 2002, Jacqui has over 20 years of experience within Australia’s architecture and design industry, including sales and business development, product and brand management and team leadership.

In recent years Jacqui has combined her love of design with a passion for the environment, focusing on sustainability and social responsibility within the built environment.

In 2019 Jacqui was selected to train with former US Vice President Al Gore, attending the Climate Reality Leadership Corps in Brisbane, which provided her with a deep understanding of the latest climate change science and the importance of minimising the impact of the built environment on the planet and its resources.

As a WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) through the International WELL Building Institute and a Green Star Associate through the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), Jacqui has extensive knowledge of green building schemes and third-party product certifications and understands the importance of sustainable and ethical procurement.

As a previous GECA licensee, she has an intimate understanding of the processes and commitment required to obtain certification. Therefore Jacqui is well placed to support GECA’s new and existing licensees in achieving their sustainability goals.

Shelby is a customer and client success specialist, having worked in the circular economy space and tourism sectors. She uses her educational background in sustainability, business, and social sciences to find holistic approaches while developing strong business-to-business relationships.

Shelby’s role focuses on supporting GECA to develop new and maintain existing partnerships, ensuring the success of GECA’s strategic goals. She uses her passion for the environment, sustainability, and community development to foster these working relationships on common ground.

When not working at GECA, Shelby is teaching yoga or outside surfing and hiking!

Joel is a chemical engineer with eight years of experience in hazardous waste management services and environmental and water technology research and development. He currently serves by providing rigorous standards development, research, and technical expertise at GECA.

Joel started in the waste industry in 2009 and has provided ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and OSHA 18001 compliant waste management solutions for various industries including transport, food and beverage, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing in the Asia Pacific region.

He received his Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from UNSW, Sydney, in 2021 for his thesis titled “Development of Membrane Distillation for the Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds from Industrial Trade Effluents”. Joel is now working at GECA to help Australian industries achieve sound, sustainable and economically viable practices.

Shahin brings a diverse range of skills to GECA, including a degree in Mechanical Engineering, a graduate diploma in Design, and masters degrees in both Sustainability and Environmental Engineering.

Her main areas of focus have been Sustainability Assessments, Environmental Impact Assessments, Environmental Modelling and Environmental Auditing. At GECA, Shahin assists with creating Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). She also supports developing and revising GECA’s lifecycle ecolabel standards.

Shadia is a textile engineer and has worked in the textile sector for more than five years. Her role at GECA focuses on research, standard development and lifecycle assessment.

She completed her PhD in 2021 from RMIT University in Melbourne. Shadia’s thesis explored the environmental impact assessment of textile supply chains. She has extensive experience in lifecycle assessment. She is very keen to apply her passion for ecolabelling to improve the sustainability performance of products and services.

Jasmin is a sustainability and standards specialist with extensive international and national standards knowledge. Having worked as a project manager at the International Standards Organization (ISO) central secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, she has participated in the international dialogue on sustainable development.

She received her Master’s in Sustainability from the University of Geneva in 2019. Her thesis examined the green building and construction sector, benchmarking certification schemes and tools to achieve sustainable construction practices and outcomes.

Equipped with international experience, Jasmin brings her skills, qualifications, and passion for sustainability to drive GECA’s standards strategy to help Australian industries reach robust environmental, health, social and economic performance.

Sakshi joins GECA from the Virtual Global Work Attachment Programme (GWAP) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU). GECA has supported Interns from CityU for more than five years, in-person and remotely.

Sakshi is currently doing her bachelors in Biomedical Sciences. At GECA, she assists the team in delivering our Standards Strategy and conducting a systematic quantitative literature review project.

She strongly believes in sustainable resource usage and environmental conservation. She is an ardent nature lover and always keen to explore new places. Outside of her time with GECA, Sakshi likes to sketch, paint, and spend her spare time in nature.