The most important conservation problems are the ones nobody has figured out how to structure yet.
That's where we start.
Conservation problems are wicked problems. The instinct is to run a pilot, demonstrate impact, and assume the hard part is done. It isn't. A successful pilot tells you something is possible. It doesn't tell you how to build the conditions for it to happen at scale, or whether your organisation is the right one to do it.
Wicked problems aren't solved by good intentions or good projects. They're solved by people who can see across systems, articulate what genuine impact looks like, and figure out how to change the conditions that make the problem persist.
That's the work I do. Helping conservation organisations and funders think clearly about what they're actually trying to build, which pathway will get them there, and what it takes to make impact last.
Services
Program Design
Some problems resist conventional approaches because nobody has figured out how to structure them yet. Others get structured around the wrong thing, for example, an emerging solution like nature markets that seems promising, but doesn't quite fit the problem that needs solving. I help organisations get clear on what they're really trying to change, design programs that move the needle on that specific thing, and build the coherence between what they're doing and why it will work.
Over the last five years, I designed and fundraised for most of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s project portfolio, including:
The TED Audacious ReefSeeding Initiative - an international program bringing emerging reef restoration technology, community led-implementation and sustainable finance for the Great Barrier Reef and the Pacific
Blue Carbon Program - the first blue carbon program along the Great Barrier Reef, designed to unlock barriers to implementation of blue carbon projects across the reef.
Traditional Owner-led Nature Based Solutions Program - a program focused entirely on Traditional Owner-led conservation and economic development
Scaling Strategy
A successful project is not the same as a scaled solution. When an organisation has figured out something that works, the next questions (how do we scale this, and what does scale even mean for us) is harder than it looks. I work at the project, program, and organisational level, because in the most effective organisations these strategies are the same thing: a coherent line from what you do on the ground to what you're trying to change in the world. Conservation is complex, and many organisations are trying to do multiple things simultaneously. I help them build the strategic coherence that makes sure all of it is driving toward impact, and identify which scaling pathway is genuinely theirs, what they need to build or partner to get there, and how to grow without losing the integrity that made the work worth doing.
Investment Advisory
For funders and philanthropists who want their capital to build something real, not just fund activity. Conservation and nature finance is complex, and the gap between a well-intentioned investment and one that actually shifts the system is wider than it looks from the outside. I bring two lenses that most advisors don't: the systems thinking of someone who has designed large-scale programs from scratch, and the on-ground perspective of someone who has implemented them and understands what meaningful change actually requires to deliver. Whether you're assessing a specific program, building a portfolio strategy across scaling pathways, or trying to understand whether the organisations you fund have what it takes to deliver impact at scale - I help you invest with clarity about what you're building.
Writing
Have We Been Asking the Wrong Question in Nature Finance
Nature Has No Single Price. That’s Why Place is the Only Strategy That Works
Without Government, Nature Finance Stays a Niche
Restoration is a Long Game, but We’re Funding it Like a Sprint
Building the Restoration Industry: A Framework for Conservation Leaders
About Me
I've spent my career at the intersection of conservation science, program design, and systems change - most recently leading large-scale restoration programs on the Great Barrier Reef, where I learned that the hardest problems aren't technical. They're structural. I started Parallel Threads because the work I find most interesting, figuring out how to design programs that don't exist yet, and helping organisations think clearly about how to scale what works rarely fits neatly inside a single organisation. It fits better here. I primarily work across Australia and New Zealand, and love to collaborate with international partners.
How I work
I move quickly. After 15 years navigating complex conservation challenges, I can read a situation fast, identify what actually matters, and get to work, without extensive ramp-up time. I work across the full spectrum, from high-level strategy through to implementation, and I don't hand over a document and disappear. I take a big, messy idea, build the framework that gives it order, and stay with it until it works in the real world. The most important conservation challenges are messy, contested, and uncertain - and I don't flinch when things get hard. I'll challenge the thinking in a room, reframe when needed, and keep going until we find a path through. And I know when to bring others in: I'm not territorial about expertise.
I'm a systems thinker who stays grounded in people. I hold the big strategic picture, institutions, incentives, governance, relationships, alongside the human realities on the ground, and I help rooms find clarity rather than imposing it. A significant part of how I work is through facilitation: whether it's a program design workshop, a theory of change session, or a multi-stakeholder co-design process, I bring structure to conversations that might otherwise go in circles, and help groups reach decisions they can actually act on.
Current clients include The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Watershed Change, Kinship Foundation and Southern Cross University.
