Debra Thomas - Manager and Principal Hydrogeologist
Debra is manager of EarthEon and principal hydrogeologist. Deb graduated with degree in Geology from RMIT and worked in the exploration and petroleum industries before completing a masters degree in Hydrogeology at University College London.
Deb has 20 years consulting and contracting experience in groundwater and environmental industries and joined EarthEon in 2008. Deb has been fortunate in her career to have worked on a variety of interesting projects around the country allowing her to develop strong physical and environmental hydrogeological skills. Working with the Victorian Government in recent years on their groundwater management reforms has been a highlight.
Deb provides specialist and strategic environmental and hydrogeological advice and project management services to government, environmental consulting companies and developers.
Ben Hall – Principal Hydrogeologist
Ben cut his teeth in the world of hydrogeology exploring for groundwater in Western Australia. This ranged from geophysical and drilling programs targeting palaeochannel and fractured rock aquifers for mining developments and sedimentary basins for large scale town water supplies.
Ben joined Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2005, going on to lead the groundwater team in Melbourne. This brought a great range of groundwater projects from contaminated site investigations and fate and transport modelling, to support of large scale infrastructure projects and groundwater resource investigations for government agencies.
Ben joined forces with EarthEon in 2012 and has enjoyed every minute, especially the flexibility and independence to pursue a variety of opportunities as they arise. Ben’s particular areas of expertise include conceptualisation of complex flow systems, fate and transport analysis of contaminated groundwater, groundwater resource development, drilling program design and supervision.
Ben is also completing a PhD at RMIT researching the impacts of urbanisation on groundwater resources.
Jennifer Fraser – Water Policy, Public Policy and Project Manager
Jennifer Fraser is a highly skilled policy practitioner with extensive government experience in policy development and legislative reform in a natural resources context. She joined EarthEon in 2013 after many years in the public service and is enjoying the change of pace;
Her last position was as Director of the Groundwater and Licensing Branch at Victoria’s Department of Sustainability and Environment. Jennifer is a recognised expert in water planning and all facets of groundwater management across the state of Victoria particularly in terms of Commonwealth State relations.
She has a background in forests policy, growth area planning, crown land issues and infrastructure development.
Mark Wilkin – Director
After a career keeping fighter jets in battle readiness for the Royal Australian Air Force, Mark went on to diversify his professional consulting skills and build his business management capabilities.
He has worked in strategy consulting for one of the global management consulting firms and held numerous strategy, operational and P&L roles at one of the major Australian banks. In a change of direction, Mark left the corporate world and started EarthEon in 2006 where he has subsequently worked on projects that leveraged his ability to understand technical issues and apply business and management principles.
His diverse project experience includes Strategic Planning, Tsunami Warning and Sea Level Monitoring projects for the Bureau of Meteorology; Establishment and Management of Smart Electricity Meter deployment programme; Business diagnosis and improvement projects for IT, Credit Union and Telecommunications companies.