ACPFG Annual Report

Simon Drilling
Geoff Fincher
Michael Gilbert
Peter Langridge
ACPFG Director Simon
Drilling is trained as a
Chartered Accountant and an
Investment Research Analyst
with Thornton Group. He has
previously been Director of
Kirribilli Wines, Director of
the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Policy Board, member of
the Deloitte Consulting Asia
Pacific Africa Management
Committee and member
of the Deloitte Consulting
Worldwide Board. His
previous roles include Project
Director for BioInnovation SA,
CEO for Deloitte Consulting
Australasia and leader of
Deloitte Consulting Utility
Industry Group in Australasia.
Professor Geoff Fincher is
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
of ACPFG, where he chairs the
Executive Management Group
and takes specific responsibility
for new projects and initiatives.
Geoff’s research interests are
in the enzymology, molecular
biology, structural biology,
genetics and biochemistry of
plant cell wall metabolism.
Geoff is also Director of
University of Adelaide’s Waite
Campus and has been Director
of a GRDC-funded program
on the functional genomics of
growth and end-use quality
in cereals for seven years. He
is an editor for the Journal
of Cereal Science and the
BioEnergy Journal, and is a
long-serving member of the
editorial board of Planta. He
chairs the Scientific Advisory
Committee of Biomime, the
Swedish centre for wood
functional genomics. In 2007,
Geoff was a plenary speaker at
the annual Arabidopsis meeting
in Beijing and an invited speaker
at the Fungal and Plant Cell
Wall Meeting in France, the
International Triticeae Mapping
Initiative meeting in Israel, the
Royal Australian Chemical
Institute Cereal Chemistry
Division’s annual meeting
in Melbourne, the European
Plant Cell Wall meeting in
Copenhagen, and at the
University of Helsinki in Finland.
ACPFG General Manager,
Company Secretary and EMG
member Michael Gilbert is on
the Board of Ausbiotech and
is Chair of its Risk and Audit
Committee. In 2006, Michael
was also appointed to the
Federal Government’s Advisory
Council on Intellectual Property
(ACIP), which advises the
Federal Minister for Innovation,
Industry, Science and Research
on intellectual property matters
and the strategic administration
of IP Australia. Michael
graduated as a Mechanical
Engineer then worked in
research and development
for lens manufacturer
SOLA International both in
Australia and overseas. He
became General Manager of
a South Australian group of
manufacturing companies,
then began working for himself
in 1998 after completing
an MBA at the University
of Adelaide. His company,
Adelaide Consulting, included
clients such as Haigh’s
Chocolates and Laubman and
Pank as well as professional
firms seeking to restructure
underperforming businesses.
Michael worked increasingly
with the University sector and
was the project manager for
the start-up of ACPFG in 2002.
In 2003 Michael officially
joined ACPFG, where his
responsibilities include finance,
reporting and intellectual
property management as well
as board secretarial matters.
ACPFG’s CEO, Professor Peter
Langridge, is on the Advisory
Boards of the European
Union BioExploit Program,
the Australian Research
Council Centre for Integrative
Legume Research and the
National Science Foundation
Wheat Genomics Programs
in the USA. He is also on the
Research Advisory Committee
of the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural
Research’s Generation
Challenge Programme. He has
been a member of the Gene
Technology Technical Advisory
Committee of Australia’s
Office of the Gene Technology
Regulator since 2001. In 2007
Peter was appointed Chair of
the Biological Sciences Panel
for the Australian Research
Quality Framework. He is
currently a Director of LifePrint
Australia Pty Ltd, a plant
DNA diagnostic company,
and chairs the management
committee of the International
Triticeae Mapping Initiative
(ITMI). Peter is an Honorary
Fellow of the Scottish Crop
Research Institute and in
2007 was appointed Fellow of
Food Standards Australia and
New Zealand. Peter is often
approached by the media to
talk about scientific advances
for agricultural development. In
2007, he published 17 papers
in international journals and
gave several presentations,
notably at Clermond-Ferrand
in France, the University of
Regensburg in Germany,
the Scottish Crop Research
Institute and the John Innes
Centre in the UK. He was the
Keynote Speaker at the MapNet
Conference in New Zealand,
and an invited speaker at both
the ITMI workshop in Israel and
the Abiotic Stress workshop at
the Plant and Animal Genome
Conference in the USA. Peter
co-supervises 10 PhD students
and is on three journal editorial
boards: Theoretical and Applied
Genetics, Plant Methods and
International Journal of Plant
Genomics. His research has
focused on the development
and application of molecular
biology to crop improvement.
6 2007 ACPFG ANNUAL REPORT