Further Enquiries
Wine Innovation Cluster
Executive Officer
Roxanne Portolesi
Location Level 2, Wine Innovation Central Building,
Waite Campus
Corner of Hartley Grove and Paratoo Road
Urrbrae SA 5064 Postal Address
PO Box 197 Glen Osmond South Australia 5064
Email
Telephone: +61 8 8303 6600
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The Leadership Group
The Leadership Group comprises senior representatives from the five partner organisations plus two industry representatives, one who is the independent Chair.
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Dr Stuart McNab, BSc Agric (Hons) PhD (Chairman)
Stuart is Director, Wine Production, Australia and New Zealand for Fosters and is based at Magill in South Australia.
Born in Victoria, Stuart grew up on family orchards in the Goulburn Valley in New South Wales. Developing his knowledge and fuelling his interest in the agricultural field, he studied at the University of Melbourne, where he gained a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours), and then a PhD in Agriculture.
From 1987 to 1994, Stuart worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the Department of Primary Industries (Tatura, Victoria), specialising in research in integrated pest management (IPM), irrigation and nutrition in horticulture and viticulture.
Stuart was appointed Grower Relations Manager, Victoria and Manager of Yarra Valley Vineyards with Southcorp Wines in 1994, was later promoted to a Regional Manager position and General Manager of Grape Resources, and then Executive General Manager of Grape Resources.
In September 2005, Stuart was appointed Director Viticulture, Asia-Pacific with Foster’s and in December 2006 he was appointed Director, Wine Production, Australia and New Zealand.
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Professor Isak (Sakkie) Pretorius, BSc Agric (Hons) PhD
Managing Director, The Australian Wine Research Institute, Professor Extraordinary in Oenology, University of Stellenbosch, Affiliate Professor in Oenology, The University of Adelaide. Previously, Professor Pretorius was the founding Director of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology at the University of Stellenbosh in South Africa. He obtained his PhD in Microbiology under the supervision of Prof Julius Marmur from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1986. The main focus of his research has been on Wine Microbiology and Biotechnology and has extensively published in that area. His viewpoint is that grape and wine research should be directed toward increasing fundamental understanding in a context responsive to the applied needs of producers and consumers at levels of both problem selection and experimental design. Therefore, he believes that grape and wine research inspired by both the quest for understanding the fundamentals and by considerations of future use, promises to deliver the most effective outcomes for the Australian wine sector. Such outcomes support the cost-effective production of wine with minimised resource inputs, improved product quality, increased health and societal benefits and low environmental impact.
For further information, visit the AWRI website.
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Dr Jeremy Burdon BSc PhD
Chief, CSIRO Plant Industry. Dr Burdon is an evolutionary biologist with particular interest in plant-microbe interactions. His active research interests include problems involving pathogens of agricultural crops, using fungi as biological control agents for controlling invasive weeds and understanding the complexities of the interplay of parasitic and symbiotic interactions in natural systems.
Dr Burdon's work has been internationally recognised through the award of the Gottschalk Medal by the Australian Academy of Science (1987), an honorary Doctorate by Umeå University, Sweden (1996), election to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science (1996), the American Phytopathological Society (2003), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2004) and the EC Stakman Award from the University of Minnesota (2003).
For further information, visit the CSIRO website.
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Dr Pauline Mooney
Dr Pauline Mooney is the Deputy Executive Director of the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the SA Government's principal primary industries research agency. Pauline has a BSc (Honours) and MSc in the disciplines of botany, genetics, microbiology, plant pathology and phycology from the University of Natal, in South Africa, and completed her PhD majoring in molecular biology at Sydney University. Prior to joining SARDI, Pauline spent 17 years working for HortResearch in New Zealand, where amongst other things she helped set up the NZ Citrus Budwood Improvement Scheme and the CTV mild strain cross protection programme.
As Deputy Executive Director of SARDI, Pauline oversees highly skilled scientists, technicians and post-graduate students, located at 14 state-of-the-art research facilities throughout the State. SARDI’s focus is innovative, cost-effective technologies to enhance the food, marine, bioscience and ecosystem industries in South Australia.
For further information, visit the SARDI website.
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Professor Roger Leigh BSc MA PhD
Head, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide. Professor Leigh is a plant biologist with a particular interest in nutrient-use in crop plants, especially the molecular and physiological processes underpinning nutrient uptake, storage and remobilisation. He was trained at the University of Wales, Harvard University and the University of Cambridge before joining Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK as a research scientist. He spent 18 years there in various roles, eventually becoming Deputy Director. He then became Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge and moved to his present post in 2006. He was President of the UK's Society for Experimental Biology in 2005-2007 and has served on various committees of UK and Australian funding bodies.
For further information, visit the University of Adelaide website.
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Russell Johnstone
Russell Johnstone is the Environmental Sustainability Manager for Pernod Ricard Pacific, located at Rowland Flat, South Australia. In this role, he is responsible for the development and continuing evaluation of environmental sustainability strategy for the business and working with the subsidiaries to facilitate the adoption of this strategy in the region.
Since commencing his career in wine in 1985, Russell has worked for S. Smith & Sons, Yalumba as Vine Improvements Officer, as Vineyard Manager for St Hallett in the Barossa Valley, and in 1990 he took up the newly created role of Viticulturist liaising between the grape scientists of CSIRO Division of Horticulture and the wine scientists of The Australian Wine Research Institute. During his time there Russell developed the Agrochemicals Grid, an aid for use by exporters of wine to help avoid illegal pesticide residues.
In 1994 Russell joined the then Orlando Wyndham Group as SA Viticulturist with grape purchasing and technical viticulture responsibilities. He was promoted to National Technical Services Manager, Viticulture in 1998 and to Group Viticulturist of Orlando Wines in 2002.
Russell is President of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology, the wine industry’s membership body and Chair of the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. He also serves on the Wine Industry National Environment Committee and the Strategic Directions Group.
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