Technical Manager
Australian Paper

David is the Technical Manager at Australian Paper, Maryvale Mill in Morwell Victoria. Prior to moving to Australian Paper, David was the Sales Manager at Nalco-An Ecolab Company. He has a background in Chemistry, achieving his PhD in Colloidal Chemistry at the University of Tasmania in 2004. David has held managerial roles with high level companies, such as Nalco, Mitsubishi, Ovivo and BASF. In 2005 David was the winning recipient of the Appita Jasper Mardon Memorial Prize for significant contribution to the paper industry. His career objective focuses on his leadership and people management skills and also his knowledge gained from his experience in the speciality chemical industry (focused in pulp and paper and water treatment).

Throughout my career I have had 2-3 mentors who have helped me navigate through the professional world. The value in these conversations has helped me achieve my current role and work/life engagement. Paying forward this good will is something I see as a step in my leadership and assisting the next generation of this industry.

Attributes/Specialisation: Leadership, Communication, Strategy, Negotiation.

Dr Karen Stack
University of Tasmania (retired), Appita

Karen graduated from the University of Sydney with a BSc (Hons) in 1980 and started as a process chemist at Australian Newsprint Mills in Tasmania in 1981. In that role Karen gained experience across many areas in pulp and papermaking. During the period of 1981-1987 she was employed in several roles including being part of the technical audit team looking at the process efficiency of the paper machines and later being Assistant Technical Services Superintendent and being responsible for paper quality testing and colour control of the paper.

In 1988 Karen undertook a PhD in Pulp and Paper chemistry at the University of Tasmania. After completion of the PhD in 1992 Karen continued working in the Pulp and Paper Chemistry Group, researching various aspects of wet end chemistry, retention aids, bleaching chemistry, deinking recycled fibre and wood extractive colloidal stability. She has been successful in securing funding from the industry and ARC to be able to continue the research for 25 years. Karen has published over 45 peer reviewed papers as well as presented over 40 conference papers.

Karen has maintained strong links with the industry through her research at University of Tasmania and involvement in Appita in which she has served for over 30 years on the local section committee. Karen is currently the Peer Review Editor for the Appita Journal which enables her to maintain strong links with the research being undertaken by others in the industry. Karen is also currently a member of the Technical Committee of Appita.

To be able to encourage and inspire young people in the industry by providing them with support, guidance and encouragement to strive to achieve their best. I had some great mentors when I was new to the industry and it helped me greatly and so I want to be able to share my experiences in the same way.

Attributes/Specialisation: Wet End Chemistry, Extractives chemistry, supervision of post graduate students, editing and preparing journal papers, reports etc.

Dr
Consultant

Dr Nafty Vanderhoek is a graduate of the University of Adelaide where he obtained his BSc (Hons) in 1970 and PhD in 1974. He has been supporting the pulp and paper and related industries for over 40 years in a variety of technical and management roles. 28 years with APM/Amcor, 9 years with CSIRO and for the past 8 years a consultant. Before his retirement from full time employment Nafty was considered Australia’s foremost expert on wet-end chemistry and its impact on paper machine runnability. Other roles have been in the fields pulping on-machine and off-machine processes, process and product optimisation, management of problem-solving groups, and environmental audits. His present interest is in convincing the forest product industries to fully transition to the bio-refinery concept through increased emphasis on innovation and technical developments.

To give back to the industry that has been very good to me for over four decades.

Attributes/Specialisation: Research and Development, Paper Machine Chemistry, Project Management, Problem Solving, Teaching

General Manager Preprint & Coatings
Visy Paper

Terry graduated from RMIT as a Chemical Engineer. He began his career in the pharmaceutical industry, working in that sector for 7 years in various roles including as a process operator, process and project engineer. Terry was involved in the design, construction, commissioning and validation of pharmaceutical plants.

Terry joined Visy in 2002, where he started in the Visy Paper Coatings plant, originally as a production manager and then as operations manager. He then moved to the VP5 recycled paper mill in 2009 and spent 5 years there as the production manager. Terry then moved into the national quality manager role for the paper mills and recently he has also started working with the Visy Beverage Can division also in the area of quality.

Terry joined the APPITA Executive Committee in 2016 and currently occupy the role of Vice President.

I enjoy working with people to help them develop their careers and get the most out of themselves.

Attributes/Specialisation: Strategic Analysis, Paper Production, Business systems, Coaching and mentoring.