2025 EOA Management Committee Elections

Voting in the 2025 EOA Management Committee elections opens today.

All current EOA members are eligible to vote and will receive an email with a unique code to access the ballot.

Voting will close at the finish of our 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday 6 November 2025 at 13:00 AEDT (UTC +11).

We encourage you to vote for your preferred candidates for:

  • Vice-President

  • 4 x Non-Executive members

Please find our nominees’ profiles below.

Candidate for Vice-President

Vice-President Candidate

Professor Bradley Evans

I teach Earth Observation at UNE. I am an advocate for all things EO in education and industry. I specialise in Hyperspectral Imaging Spectroscopy in my own research and have been Vice President of EOA for the last two years.

Bradley’s nomination is endorsed by Sylvia Michael and Alex Held.

Vice-President Candidate

Fang Yuan

As the Earth Observation Technical Lead at FrontierSI, Fang provides scientific and industry leadership in EO. Fang developed her deep technical expertise in remote sensing, image analysis, and machine learning through her career as an astrophysicist and Earth observation scientist. With nearly 20 years of experience across academia, government, and industry, Fang has a proven track record of leading diverse, multidisciplinary teams to develop innovative technical solutions, including EO-based products for natural resources mapping, disaster management, and land cover change monitoring in Australia and Africa.

Fang has been an active member of the EOA Management Committee from late 2022 to 2024. She is renominating herself for a position on the MC to continue serving the community. Specifically, Fang is keen to leverage her broad background and experience working with industry to broaden EOA’s impact, strengthen the connection between EOA and other professional associations and communities, and enhance EOA’s role in raising awareness of EO technology and developing a skilled workforce.

Fang’s nomination is endorsed by George Dyke and Alex Leith.

Candidate for Treasurer

Treasurer Candidate

Alex Leith

Alex is an open geospatial technologist specializing in software development, cloud infrastructure and program governance with an emphasis on Earth observation data. As Executive Director at Auspatious, Alex focuses on making data more accessible and works to support informed decision-making and promote sustainable development.

Alex volunteers as a Non-Executive Board Director at OSGeo Oceania and at Earth Observation Australia where he has performed the role of Treasurer for the last two years. He is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute Company Directors and has significant experience in organisational governance.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-leith/

Alex’s nomination is endorsed by Fang Yuan and George Dyke.

Stands uncontested.

Candidates for Non-Executive Positions

Non-Executive Candidate 1

Lavender Liu

I am a Principal Remote Sensing Analyst passionate about leveraging Earth observation (EO) to support environmental sustainability and evidence-based decision-making. With a Bachelor’s degree in Surveying and Mapping and a PhD in Remote Sensing, I apply EO data and analytics across diverse domains including ecosystem assessment, agricultural monitoring, and mine rehabilitation. Over the past few years, I have technically led and contributed to multiple projects in collaboration with industry partners and government agencies.

Beyond my professional work, I actively engage with the EO community through conferences, webinars, and workshops, sharing knowledge and fostering connections. I strongly believe that Australia’s EO capability depends not only on technological innovation but also on open communication and collaboration—linking researchers, industry, and government through shared data, standards, and learning opportunities.

I see Earth Observation Australia (EOA) as a vital platform for uniting our community and advancing how we collectively address national and global challenges through EO. Joining the EOA Management Committee would allow me to contribute my experience, networks, and commitment to strengthening collaboration, inclusivity, and knowledge exchange within the EO sector.

Feel free to check my experience and activities through my LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lavenderliu.

Lavender’s nomination is endorsed by Fang Yuan and Caitlin Adams.

Gordon Sumerling

Non-Executive Candidate 2

My Role at Esri Australia is Principal Consultant, Imagery and Remote Sensing. I lead a team of dedicated imagery specialists, delivering modern imagery solutions to the Esri / ArcGIS customer users. In this role I am involved in promoting Imagery and Remote Sensing techniques from capture with Drone, Aerial and Satellites, managing and serving imagery as web service, through to extracting insights with Image Analytics and AI techniques. I am keen to promote awareness and understanding of all aspects of the image lifecycle in Education, Government and Industry by demystifying image analytics and democratising large imagery archives.

My profile is available here : https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordon-sumerling-4478259/

Gordon’s nomination is endorsed by Fabrice Marre and Dipak Paudyal.

Non-Executive Candidate 3

Fabrice Marre

My Earth Observation journey began around age 6, watching my dad build his own weather satellite receiving station in our backyard. While my primary contribution was likely just handing him the wrong tools, seeing those noisy signals transform into incredible images of our planet ignited a lifelong passion.

For over 20 years, I have translated that fascination into a career that spans the entire EO value-chain, from ground-based sensors to airborne and spaceborne platforms. I’ve had the privilege of working across the full product development lifecycle, from driving national EO research portfolios and satellite mission (Kanyini) to leading AI-driven product innovation and commercialisation. This commitment to practical impact also extends to my volunteer leadership on global education programs with Earthwatchers for DeforestACTION, where I applied satellite and drone technology in the field to support grassroots conservation efforts in Borneo.

As a regular public speaker at space and geospatial conferences, my core interest is communication. I believe the greatest challenge—and opportunity—lies in bridging the gap between brilliant technical research and its real-world application. I am passionate about translating our powerful technology into accessible, valuable solutions that can solve tangible problems.

I wish to join the EOA Management Committee to actively contribute to this mission. My goal is to help champion Australian EO innovation, foster stronger collaborations between researchers and industry, and work to clearly communicate the incredible, and often hidden, value our work brings to the world to a much wider audience.

my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabricemarre/

Fabrice’s nomination is endorsed by Therese Anne Rollan and Gordon Sumerling.

Non-Executive Candidate 4

Terri Freemantle

I am pleased to nominate myself for a position on Earth Observation Australia’s Management Committee. I am passionate about leveraging Earth Observation (EO) to create impactful, community-driven solutions, particularly within the downstream EO sector.

My career began in the UK, working in both industry and the non-profit sector, where I collaborated with humanitarian, government and small-business partners both nationally and internationally, to deliver EO-based solutions for disaster and humanitarian response, environmental monitoring, and sustainable development. These projects required coordinating complex partnerships across sectors and taught me the importance of inclusive, evidence-based decision-making in shaping effective policy.

Since relocating to Australia, I have focused on applying EO to regional challenges in Queensland and across the country. As a Senior Earth Observation Consultant, I currently lead statewide Planet imagery programs for the Queensland and NSW Governments, as part of a Partnership between Planet and NGIS, supporting data integration, stakeholder engagement and capacity development that builds institutional capability, community resilience, and operational uptake across civil government.

With the rapid emergence of generative AI and geospatial foundation models, I am committed to helping Australia’s EO community adapt to this evolving landscape in a way that benefits society broadly. I am passionate about science communication—recognising that EO can tell powerful stories that connect science, policy, and the public—and advocate for ethical, transparent use of satellite imagery in media and global discourse.

If elected, I will contribute strategic insight, cross-sector experience, and a collaborative mindset to strengthen EOA’s mission of making EO accessible, responsible, and impactful for all Australians.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terri-freemantle/

Terri’s nomination is endorsed by Alex Leith and Gavin Kennedy.

Non-Executive Candidate 5

Stuart Whitman

As the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of Earth Observation Australia (EOA), I am seeking election as a non-executive member of the Management Committee to continue contributing insights and initiatives that strengthen the capability and impact of Australia’s EO community.

During my tenure as CEO, I expanded EOA’s visibility and influence across government, academia, and industry by fostering university support for establishing a formal Australian University EO Network, launching the State of EO Roundtable series to identify state and territory priorities, opening collaboration opportunities with EO colleagues in Japan and the Pacific, and supporting the renewal of the EOA Careers and Capabilities program.

My leadership experience across the university and government sectors enabled me to engage deeply with Australian universities teaching and researching EO across diverse disciplines. This engagement highlighted the higher-education sector’s potential to anchor EOA’s future by linking EO research, innovation, and skills development with national priorities and workforce needs. Universities consistently expressed a desire for greater coordination between EO-focused institutions as a unified voice to government and industry.

As government funding remains constrained, EOA has necessarily returned to its volunteer-led roots. With strong foundations and a clear strategic program already in place, we can still advance key goals: consolidating university partnerships, amplifying advocacy, and connecting Australia’s EO community with renewed momentum. I seek your support to ensure EO education and research remain central to EOA’s national agenda.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stuart-whitman-12548222/

Stuart’s nomination is endorsed by Ben Jarihani and Christian Eckert

Non-Executive Candidate 6

Professor Bradley Evans

I teach Earth Observation at UNE. I am an advocate for all things EO in education and industry. I specialise in Hyperspectral Imaging Spectroscopy in my own research and have been Vice President of EOA for the last two years.

Bradley’s nomination is endorsed by Terry Cocks and Alex Held.