TAS Division Committee

Michael Purves MPIA (Fellow) | President

Town Planning Solutions

Starting in architecture 24 years ago, Mick identified that planning was like architecture at the macro scale and the range of the profession allowed a complete change of jobs without having to retrain. Those expectations proved correct, and he sees planning as one of the few jobs where you still get to be the generalist who works across a range of professions and communities in both strategic and statutory work.

Jason Byrne MPIA (Fellow)

University of Tasmania

Jason decided to become a planner to make a positive impact on the world. Loving geography at school, Jason can still remember looking through the careers handbook for jobs that geographers can do. Planner was listed and when I looked it up, I went - yes, that's me! I worked as a planner with the state government in WA for nearly 10 years, before deciding to do my PhD so I could contribute to evidence-based decision-making.

Claire Fawdry MPIA

City of Launceston

Claire is a passionate planner dedicated to achieving positive outcomes for people and places. With extensive statutory and strategic planning experience in both local government and consulting, Claire brings a balanced approach to development and community growth. Claire's focus extends to planning for the creation and enhancement of vibrant neighbourhoods. Claire is committed to shaping places that foster connection, sustainability and a high quality of life.

Katrina Hill MPIA

pitt&sherry

Katrina is a town planner with a strong interest in heritage planning and adaptive reuse. Katrina has community engagement experience and is an advocate for sustainable living.

Emily Killin MPIA

Mesh Planning

Emily is Senior Associate Urban Planner at Mesh, she is a passionate and knowledgeable strategic planner with experience working at both a local and state government level. Formerly a Strategic Planning Manager for the VPA Regional team, Emily has worked across the state with local government and state agencies - responding to and planning for growth. Emily has developed particular experience in project managing complex strategic planning processes. Emily has an interest in streamlining planning processes, and infrastructure funding and delivery. She has an article published in the Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance on this topic.

Fintan Langan-Clarke MPIA

City of Launceston

Fintan is a Senior Strategic Planner at the City of Launceston, bringing over 8 years of local government planning experience across New South Wales and Tasmania. Having recently moved to Tasmania, Fintan is committed to bringing his experience in New South Wales to shape a better future for communities in Launceston and Tasmania more broadly.

Emma Little MPIA

University of Tasmania

Emma moved from landscape ecology into planning to better understand how decisions were made about land use. Fast forward 15 years and Emma is teaching environmental planning at UTAS and has been working for a small environmental consultancy doing landscape impact assessments and management plans. Emma loves working with students to help them learn to be high functioning planners and enjoys discussing how planning can keep evolving to better sustain nature and humans. Emma is the planning courses coordinator at UTAS and enjoys engaging with colleagues to design classes that best equip graduate planners.

Bunfu Yu MPIA

Entura

Bunfu is a Senior Environmental Planner at Entura. She has been involved in a number of key projects across Australia, including a pumped hydro project in Queensland, a critical water supply development for a remote town in New South Wales, managing approvals for a Victorian wind farm, and her ongoing work on the landmark Battery of the Nation project and Marinus Link.

Dan Marr RPIA

Clarence City Council

Dan is the Head of City Planning at Clarence City Council. He has 30 years of experience in Planning sector, including lecturing for the Master of Planning course at the University of Tasmania, taking on the role of Senior Planning Consultant at Entura, and now returning to Clarence City Council as Head of City Planning. 

Connie Steers MPIA

Era Advisory

Connie’s experience spans the planning and engagement fields, specialising in place-based strategy and community consultation. My focus is delivering meaningful outcomes for Tasmanian communities.

Jen Welch MPIA

GHD Pty Ltd

Jen is a Planning Technical Leader, joining GHD in 2019. Jen has over 16 years of experience in land use planning with extensive knowledge in environmental planning and architecture and has worked on various projects across Tasmania. She has broad experience in the requirements and processes necessary across a range of relevant legislation. Jen regularly engages with various authorities and stakeholders to assist in the effective delivery of land use planning projects.

Brian White MPIA

Brighton Council

Brian White is a Strategic Planner at Brighton Council, where he is involved in growth area planning and strategic land use policies shaping the municipality’s exciting future. Prior to joining Brighton Council, Brian worked at the City of Launceston, contributing to planning and policy initiatives. He is passionate about fostering growth that revitalises activity centres, supports ecological sustainability, and advances social equity by addressing the needs of lower socio-economic communities.

Sandra Hogue RPIA (Fellow) | National Board Director

Infrastructure Tasmania

Sandra is a qualified planner with over 35 years’ experience in the private and public sectors. She has significant strategic, policy and statutory experience; along with economic, environmental and resource management, negotiation, stakeholder and communication skills. Sandra holds qualifications in Economics, Law, and Town Planning.

Grace Elliott PIA (Assoc.) | Tasmanian Emerging Planners Convenor

Era Advisory

Grace is an early-career planner who is passionate about planning for sustainable and liveable communities. She has a Bachelor of Natural Environment and Wilderness Studies and a Master of Planning from the University of Tasmania. She currently works as a Planner at Era Advisory.