EWB’s recent board elections and AGM have seen some changes to EWB’s board. In the EWB board elections held on 20 November 2023, of which two roles were available, Dan Lambert was re-elected for another term, and we welcomed Sheena Valenti to the EWB Board.
Dan Lambert is the CEO of WaterStart and an Adjunct Professor of Humanitarian Engineering at UNSW. His previous roles include Arup’s water business in Australasia, and as an Officer in the Royal Australian Engineers. Daniel’s leadership in engineering has been recognised by Engineers Australia as ‘Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year’, Professional Engineer of the Year’ and as one of Australia’s ‘Most Innovative Engineers. His impact in WASH has been recognised by the Australian Water Association: as winner of the ‘Kamal Fernando Mentoring Award and the Water Professional of the Year. Daniel is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders. His industry roles include Chair of Carbon8 Fund, Chair of Australian Water Partnership’s Expert Review Panel, International Advisory Committee member of the Global Water Institute, Steering Committee member of the Humanitarian Engineering Community of Practices and Operation Water’s Advisory Board.
Sheena Valenti is a climate change consultant with Energetics. As a Senior Consultant and Manager, she has advised ASX5oo clients across energy, resources and commercial sectors. She has worked as an engineer and project manager with Ekistica, an Aboriginal-owned company in Alice Springs, specialising in renewable energy and operating the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre, and Perdaman Advanced Energy, delivering solar to Perth-based industry. An EWB alumnus, Sheena held roles as Regional Chapter President (WA) and University Chapter President (UWA), championing EWB and its values in 8+ years of volunteering. She spearheaded PCs for Refugees (Connectivity) in WA, travelled to Cambodia on the DEE (Dialogues) 2010 and participated in Murray Darling Dialogues 2013, the Mickey Sampson Leadership Program 2013-14 and multiple National Council events. She completed her thesis on power theft in India and graduated with First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering / Arts (Philosophy).
Congratulations to Dan and Sheena, and many thanks to all of the nominees. We are thankful for your support and hope to work with each and every one of you in the future.
Outside of the EWB board elections, we are also pleased to welcome Grant Maher to the EWB Australia Board. Grant brings to the EWB Board his extensive experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and his experience as a leader within the engineering and construction industry. Alongside running a successful engineering consultancy, Grant is also the Chair of Engineers Australia’s Indigenous Engineers Group, CEO/Executive Director of Deadly Coders and more recently, worked with EWB to reimagine and pilot the Pathways Program. We look forward to working with Grant as an EWB Board Director to create an equitable reality for communities.
We also farewell Shane Kennelly who will be attending his last board meeting as an EWB Director this December. Shane has made major contributions to the Board and EWB’s strategic direction since joining in 2017. During his tenure, EWB launched our 2030 Strategy, embarked on strategic projects such as Dili Water, and reaffirmed EWB’s commitment to reconciliation through our recent Innovate RAP. We wish him well in his new role as co-founding Director on QIBN and future endeavors. Thank you Shane!