Our Board brings a wealth of experience to managing the strategic direction of AWC USA, focusing on driving the effective conservation of all Australian animal species and the habitats in which they live.
Nick has been a Director of AWC since 2020 and was elected Chairperson in 2022. Nick is a member of the AWC Board Executive, and Audit & Risk Committees.
He has spent 25 years in investment banking at Macquarie Group, holding a number of senior management positions during that time including Global Co-Head of Macquarie Capital’s Infrastructure and Energy Group. He is experienced in corporate acquisitions, project finance and principal investing and in the development of infrastructure and renewable energy projects globally. He has a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of New South Wales.
He is Chairman of Australian Wildlife Conservancy USA, and a member of the National Council of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the BirdLife International Advisory Group.
Nick has a lifelong passion for the environment and its conservation. He has been involved in a range of environmental causes in Australia and internationally.
Odaria has been an active global philanthropist for the last 20 years. Her philanthropy is focused on the environment, education, the arts, and medical research.
Born and raised in Sydney, she is a committed conservationist and advocate for biodiversity loss and has served as a Director on the Board of Australian Wildlife Conservancy in both the UK and the USA for over ten years.
Odaria holds a BA from the University of Sydney, a BLaws from the University of Technology and a Master in Environmental Law from Pace University, NY. She is a solicitor admitted to practice in NSW.
She is currently the Ambassador for Advance – Connecting Australian Globally based in New York.
Skye is passionate about environmental sustainability and biodiversity and has spent the last 12 years working in climate policy, renewable energy and sustainable finance for private, government and non-profit organizations.
As a Senior Vice President in Macquarie’s New York office, Skye leads investor coverage for the Green Investment Group in the Americas where she manages relationships with infrastructure and private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and strategic investors. In prior roles, she developed and managed a sustainable infrastructure finance program for a global network of megacities and also advised the Australian Government on climate policy and renewables. Skye has a Master of International Finance, a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Business.
For over a decade, Monika McLennan has been an ardent advocate and supporter of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy as the Director of the USA Board of the AWC in New York.
Her philanthropy and collecting span four continents, ranging from art, architecture, supporting living artists, innovation in global health and environmental conservation.
Educated in Australia and Japan, Monika has lived in Poland, London and New York for over twenty years. Monika’s philosophy is to engage with organizations that touch her and her family as well as places close to her heart and heritage such as Australia and Poland. With her expertise, generosity and ability to connect people to ideas, Monika strives to make a difference and leave institutions in a better place than when she found them.
Sid Ray is a professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at Pace University.
She is married to an Australian and like-minded conservationist, Philip Kearns and have three children and two dogs. The family spent Sid’s sabbatical year, 2010-2011, living in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They have been actively involved with AWC since 2008 and have visited several AWC sanctuaries including, indelibly, Mornington in the Kimberley.
Having received her BA from Wesleyan University and her MA and PhD from the University of Rochester, Sid has published two books on Shakespeare’s plays, Holy Estates: Marriage and Monarchy in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (2004) and Mother Queens and Princely Sons: Rogue Madonnas in the Age of Shakespeare (2012), and has co-edited multiple essay collections.