Steering your business strategy with sustainability

Julian Marchant leads Wine Australia’s ESG program, helping the Australian wine sector embed sustainability into long-term business strategy. He will guide participants through available tools and resources, showing how Australian grape and wine businesses can take practical steps to improve performance and communicate their achievements in market.

Kate is the Sustainability Engagement Officer for Margaret River Wine Association. Margaret River Wine Association has led a regional program to increase the adoption of lightweight bottles across small and medium sized enterprises. Kate will present on the goals of the Margaret River Wine Association Lightweight Bottle Charter, the challenges, benefits and opportunities for all Australian winemakers.

Suzanne is the Team Leader of Engagement and Sustainability at AWRI. Suzanne has over 25 years’ experience within the grape and wine sector, having held roles across Vinehealth Australia, Treasury Wine Estates, Southcorp Wines and Foster’s Wine Estates. Suzanne assists grape and wine businesses to achieve and maintain Sustainable Winegrowing Australia certification. Suzanne’s presentation will focus on the value of the data produced by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia and the ways in which this data can support sustainability reporting and sustainability communications.

Shae is the National Quality and Sustainability Manager at Coles Liquor. Shae’s previous experience includes roles with Accolade Wines and the Australian Beverages Council. Shae has over 15 years of experience across sustainability, corporate affairs and government relations. With a suite of proposed and new legislation potentially impacting Australian grape and wine producers, Shae will discuss Coles Liquor’s sustainability targets and opportunities for wineries to access more wine consumers through sustainability branding and communications.

Mardi began her career in the wine industry in the early 1990s helping to establish her family’s vineyards in Padthaway, South Australia, and after gaining qualifications in viticulture, held numerous technical and vineyard management positions spanning numerous Australian wine regions. Mardi returned to university to complete a Masters and PhD in Viticulture, and for the past fourteen years she has focussed on research and extension of wine industry sustainability projects including regional climate risk analyses, benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from vineyards, the management of corporate water assets.

In her role at the AWRI, she manages the wine industry’s sustainability program, ‘Sustainable Winegrowing Australia’. She is a graduate of the SA Governor’s Leadership Foundation Program, a former director of Australian Grape and Wine Inc and former president and director of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology.

Peter has worked on what now gets called ‘sustainability’ for more than 30 years. His experience includes working with Anglo American on community relationships in southern Africa; with Northrop Grumman on human rights in China; and with Diageo on the politics of Southern Europe. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of Nestle’s cocoa Programme. He has also worked extensively with international agencies. For example, he developed IFC’s post-Ebola economic reconstruction strategy for West Africa; advised the OECD on its private sector investment programme for MENA; and has worked with the WTO on the role of public-private partnerships in improving trade facilitation.

Nick is a business leader with 15+ years of experience in project and operations management in chemistry and data science.

In his previous role as Global Director of Operations at Oritain, he led global scientific traceability projects, focusing on validating environmental and social impact claims. His work across food, pharmaceutical, and fashion supply chains helped businesses address modern slavery and enhance supply chain transparency.

Previously, Nick was Procurement Manager at RJ Hill Laboratories. He is a board member of BeSlaveryFree and holds an Executive MBA from the University of Technology Sydney.

Elise is a passionate marketing expert with over sixteen years in sustainability communications. Her career has been dedicated to creating positive environmental impacts across the aviation, agriculture, FMCG, forestry, not-for-profit and retail sectors.

Elise has been instrumental in launching some of Australia’s leading B2B and B2C net-zero products through compelling communications and engaging stakeholder experiences.

Specialising in strategic storytelling and climate communications, Elise excels in helping brands achieve outstanding visibility and program engagement, inspiring people to embrace meaningful action on climate change.