About Future Paths
Our enviable history in policy reform, business transformation, co-investment brokering, and land restoration is backed by our expertise in climate resilience, social science, ecology, horizon scanning and strategy design.
Alistair Phillips - Director
(MSc)
Alistair brings 25+ years of experience in NSW and Victorian governments, the not-for-profit environmental management sector, local government and private consulting.
He enjoys the energy of project design and implementation in the service of innovative strategic planning, broadly envisioned policy reform and integrated co-investment opportunities.
Alistair is committed to bringing science into community engagement and strategy development and believes that while climate change holds great challenges for people and our landscapes, it also opens opportunities to recast policy thinking and investment across all sectors of society.
Nicola Ward - Associate
(MSSc)
Nicola is a big thinker focusing on community, people and sustainable change. Nicola draws from over 20 years of experience in senior NSW and Victorian state and local government roles across natural resource management, land use planning, sustainability, climate change and local infrastructure planning.
She looks to identify visionary solutions that can be implemented at scale but are relevant and reflect the community’s needs. Nicola is deeply committed to supporting First Nations aspirations and learning about Healing Country.
She sits on several boards and government advisory bodies and prefers a site visit any day compared to sitting at a computer.
Paul Koch - Associate
(PhD)
Paul is passionate about bringing good strategic planning to sustainable land management projects and assisting businesses to prioritise their work, invest in sustainable change and adapt to climate change. He believes that the opportunities for positive change are at least equal to the challenges facing us today.
Paul enjoys using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), climate modelling, carbon biosequestration yield analysis and workshop-based planning to bring the perspectives of scientists, practitioners and the broader community together to ensure that on-ground activities are spatially explicit and prioritised.
Paul has a PhD in Environmental Science and more than 20 years of experience working as a consultant, planner, researcher, workshop facilitator, GIS analyst and project manager on sustainable land management projects throughout Australia.
Robert Kooyman - Expert Advisor
(MSc, PhD)
Robert is a botanist and ecologist with a focus on evolutionary ecology, paleobotany, and rainforest community ecology. For more than 40 years he has lived, worked, and conducted research in the forests and rainforests of Australia, Southeast Asia, South America, and Madagascar.
He has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles on rainforest ecology and related fields. His research has substantially improved understanding of the origins, ancestry, and assembly of the Australian and Southeast Asian forest floras. Robert continues to undertake research in forests around the world.
His current research includes origins, biogeography of rainforests and Gondwanan lineages in Australia and Southeast Asia; research with NSW NPWS on threatened species and World Heritage issues and UNSW on rainforest fire responses; and genetic research with Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney on rainforest biogeography, rainforest restoration, and vegetation dynamics related to climate and other variables.
Robert is currently a Research Fellow at Macquarie University, a Research Associate with Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, and a Research Associate with Missouri Botanic Garden, USA.
Shawn Butters - Associate
(BAgrSci)
Shawn has worked at senior levels in agriculture, biodiversity and catchment policy in the Victorian Government, and planning and farm enterprise in the private realm for over 30 years. He brings extensive skills in sustainable agriculture, land science and the business of ecosystem services from farming practices.
Most recently Shawn was the co-founder of Kilter Rural (regeneration of farmland, water and environmental protection), a Director on Tiverton Agricultural Impact Fund (sustainable ag) and is currently a Director with Frontier Carbon. Across senior roles in Government, private and his own enterprises Shawn has developed an enviable set of skills in strategic planning, problem solving and profitable solutions identification.