ForestWorks Directors are elected by members and contribute their industry knowledge, expertise and time to guide the strategic direction and governance of ForestWorks.
Denise Campbell-Burns
Chair | Chair of the Employment Committee
Denise is the Secretary of the Pulp & Paper Workers District and elected President of the CFMEU Manufacturing Division. With over 25 years’ experience in the forestry industry, her technical discipline is in workplace health and safety and hazard management. Her breadth of experience incorporates policy and system development, fatality investigation and culture change as well as industrial relations and negotiating skills. She has been a key stakeholder in specialty industry safety projects with the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Victorian State Coroner and WorkSafe Victoria.
In more recent years her focus has been in representing workers in the pulp and paper sector. Her experience in the sector means she has a strong understanding about the needs of the industry and the required infrastructure for skills and training for workers.
Denise is a Director of First Super – the $3.5 billion industry superannuation fund for the timber; pulp and paper; furniture and joinery industries.
David McGinness
Deputy Chair
David possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in the timber industry and related sectors, having worked in the field for over 30 years. After starting his career in chartered accounting and auditing, he began working at AKD in the early 1990s, a timber and sawmilling business with 1,200 employees across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. At AKD, David has held top positions in operations, risk management and workplace relations, and served as company secretary for over 25 years.
David has established strong relationships with industry professionals, training providers, and educational institutions to advocate for the development of the timber industry and its people. He holds a Bachelor of Business, a Graduate Diploma in Corporate Governance, a Graduate Certificate in Industrial Relations, is a member of CPA Australia, and an Associate of the Governance Institute of Australia. In addition, he is a founding Director and Secretary of SPE (Management) Pty Ltd, an export woodchip joint venture established in 1996, and currently serves as its Chair.
Tony Price
Director | Member of the Risk, Audit, and Compliance Committee
Tony is a Director of Miller Grove Pty Ltd and was previously the Managing Director of Midway Ltd. He has over 30 years of experience in all facets of the forest industry, and has a particular interest in harvesting, processing, and marketing.
Tony brings a wide range of executive management and board director experience to ForestWorks. He is well connected with industry leaders, which enables him to provide analysis of current industry thinking, issues, and challenges.
Travis Lawson
Director | Chair of the Risk, Audit, and Compliance Committee
Travis is a third-generation timber/forestry worker who commenced with the CFMEU as a union organiser in 2004.
Travis has previously consulted and worked with ForestWorks on the project to Build and Maintain Timber Stacks Unit of Competency and also the Advances in Wood Machining and Saw Doctoring Project which resulted in two updated qualifications for saw technicians and wood machinists.
Travis has also completed various projects with industry stakeholders that have resulted in specialised career paths for mobile plant operators, forestry maintenance workers, treatment plant operators, saw technicians/wood machinists, maintenance personnel, and various other production roles with the goal of achieving industry excellence for the employees and their workplaces.
Travis is extremely passionate about timber and its journey from the forest to the countless products that it is transformed into, and he views timber as the ultimate renewable and sustainable resource which will have a major role to play regarding future global development.
Scott McLean
Director
A born and bred Tasmanian, Scott has worked in the forest and wood products industry for three decades. Scott is the Tasmanian District Secretary of the CFMEU Manufacturing Division.
Scott has been involved in a number of training and safety management issues over the years, including the introduction of mechanical harvesting, the FOLS system, high risk licensing and training packages for forest and timber products workers.
As the former chair of the Tasmanian Forest Industry Training Board (TFITB) for almost a decade, Scott together with the TFITB Board navigated the merger with ForestWorks, in order to enhance training and skills outcomes for workers and the industry.
Sara Bray
Director
Sara is proud to have grown up in regional South Australia and has a passion for natural resource management. She formally trained as a lawyer, practicing in corporate law and governance, predominately working for international clients seeking to capital raise in Australia. Sara has worked as a political adviser for agriculture ministers in the Federal Parliament and the South Australian Parliament and has worked in forestry policy for the past 8 years.
Sara holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Adelaide, and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the same institution. She also holds a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (ANU) and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Corporate Governance (Governance Institute of Australia).
Sara is a Senior Policy Manager at the Australian Forest Products Association.