John Ipsen
Chief Executive Officer
John brings a wealth of management, supply chain and forestry experience to RuralAus, with over 24 years experience in the commercial forestry sector. During this time he has held senior positions in the areas of production planning, land acquisition, project management, harvesting and wood marketing. In addition to large-scale commercial forestry board and management expertise, John brings an extraordinary network of long-held vendor and customer relationships. Before joining RuralAus, John was Director of Operations for Elementree Group Limited, an Australian company formed with the aim of becoming the leading provider of carbon and renewable biomass plantations in Australia, and was responsible for the management of the company's forestry operations throughout Australia. Until 2008, he was Infrastructure, Wood Marketing and Operations Manager for ITC Limited. He was also Director and Company Secretary for Plantation Pulpwood Terminals and Plantation Pulpwood Exports.
Scott Wallace CA, B Com
Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretary
Scott is a Chartered Accountant with more than 13 years experience in the corporate reconstruction divisions of several major accounting firms including KPMG, Ernst & Young and most recently as an Associate Director at KordaMentha. During this time, Scott spent two years on secondment as a Senior Manager at National Australia Bank in their Specialised Business Services area. Since 2005, Scott has been RuralAus' Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer.
Ian Knobel
Operations Manager
Ian has over 28 years experience as a professional forester within the Australian domestic and export sectors. Most recently he was involved in project and business development for new forestry projects with Pentarch Forest Products, including a proposed export woodchip facility. Ian has had experience managing a number of large-scale resource operations around Australia including managing the sawlog and export woodchip operations at Caboolture with CSR Timber and then with Wesfi in Western Australia. Ian was also involved in the construction of a world-scale wood yard and managing the establishment of blue gum plantations for Australian Plantation Timber.
