Our Board

Theodore Water Board comprises both new and familiar faces. All directors are looking forward to guiding the future direction of water delivery in the area on behalf of the Theodore channel irrigators and helping to grow and support the local community.

Chairman Malcolm Finlayson

Malcolm is a finance specialist with over 30 years’ experience steering the financial management and strategies of businesses in the agricultural industry. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Business (Accounting) and an MBA. He is a CPA and has completed the AICD Company Director course. An experienced director with more than 15 years on the Boards of not-for-profit and commercial companies, Malcolm is currently a director of Plant Health Australia, Grain Trade Australia Ltd (GTA) and Wheat Quality Australia Ltd. He also chairs their Audit and Finance Subcommittees. He runs his own consultancy firm, Finesse Solutions Pty Ltd, which has assisted clients with systems development and implementation as well as risk management and controls. He has been a CFO for over 20 years, responsible for group-wide reporting and administration, as well as finance and strategy.

Deputy Chair Peter French

Peter has been growing irrigated crops, particularly cotton, at Theodore for 41 years. He has a strong commitment to the irrigation industry having held all executive positions on the Dawson Valley Cotton Growers Association. His family enterprise is certified under the cotton industry’s myBMP program, and Peter was recognized as a finalist in the AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year category of the 2014 Australian Cotton Industry Awards. Peter has been a member of Theodore’s Irrigation Advisory Board, now the SunWater Customer Council, since the mid-1980’s and is its current chair. He has guided the local management process since 2012, initially as Theodore’s representative on the LMA Working Group, and then as director on the Stage 2 Theodore LMA Board. Peter completed the AICD Company Director course in 2015.

Greg Austin

A second-generation Theodore farmer, Greg has been farming since 1968 and is now proprietor of three cotton-growing businesses in the Dawson Valley. Greg and his family are certified under the cotton industry’s Best Management Practice (myBMP) environmental program, which contributes to their success. Greg has been actively involved in the irrigation industry as president of the Dawson Valley Cotton Growers Association for four years, and as a member of previous irrigation advisory panels including the Dawson Valley Irrigators’ Advisory Committee and the Channel Irrigators’ Advisory Group to SunWater. Greg also was a director on the Stage 2 Theodore LMA Board.

Kirk Anderson

Kirk is a third-generation farmer in the Dawson Valley and a director in his family business. Kirk is an active community member and is passionate about the future of irrigation in the Dawson Valley, not only in his own business, but also for the future of the local communities. With a young family, Kirk is particularly committed to sustainable management of all our local resources. Kirk has held many local positions including roles on the management committees of the Dawson Catchment Coordinating Association and the Dawson Valley Cotton Growers and Irrigators Association. Kirk was a director on the Stage 2 Theodore LMA Board.

Ed Donohue

A registered professional engineer, Ed Donohue has 40 years’ experience in water resource management across the fields of investigation, planning, design, operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage schemes; water supply; water allocation; policy and legislation. In 1997, after six years as the district manager in charge of the operation of the Burdekin River Irrigation Area, Ed returned to Central Queensland as the Department’s Regional Manager, Water Services. In that role he was involved with the development and implementation of the seven Water Resource Plans and Resource Operations Plans in Central West Region as well as the Central Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy.

Sarah Cox

Raised on a beef cattle property near Tenterfield in northern NSW, Sarah now owns and operates an 11,000 ha beef breeding operation near Cracow, 60km south east of Theodore, with her husband Richard. She has a background in rural journalism and spent many years working for Rural Press (Fairfax) publications Queensland Country Life, Australian Farm Journal, Australian Cotton Outlook, Queensland Graingrower and the Queensland Farmer and Grazier. As a senior rural reporter based on the Darling Downs and Central Highlands, she covered issues such as irrigation development and sustainability, grain and cotton research and development, soil fertility, sustainable cropping systems, industry viability and conservation farming practices. Sarah operates a rural communications business, assisting clients such as the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) with external communications and media relations.