ANPC Staff

Jo Lynch – Business Manager

Jo Lynch has been the Business Manager at the ANPC since 2013. She is passionate about the protection and restoration of natural areas including bushland regeneration, weed management and increased awareness and appreciation of endangered plant species. After graduating from Southern Cross University and 18 years working in Tasmania and Sydney in the rehabilitation of natural areas and regional weed management, Jo moved to Canberra in 2007 and is responsible for seeking grants, sponsorship and donations at the ANPC along with promoting and raising awareness of the ANPC and native plant conservation in Australia. Jo’s love of plants was cemented in the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania and resulted in many overseas trips to see such botanical wonders as the redwoods of California, the rainforests of New Zealand and Patagonia, the remnant European laurel forests of the Canary Islands and the tropical rainforests of Borneo.

Richie Southerton – Communications Manager

Richie Southerton has been the Communications Manager at the ANPC since August 2023. He has worked for the last two years with CSIRO at Black Mountain working on photography and communications material for the new weed identification app WeedScan. He has tertiary qualifications in sustainability and environmental science and is currently completing his Masters in Science Communication. He is also an excellent nature photographer which can be evidenced here https://www.richpixelphotography.com/. He is well acquainted with the outdoors, having worked as a park ranger with Parks Victoria in Gippsland and on various field expeditions with CSIRO and others.

Paul Donatiu – Project Manager (QTPN)

Paul Donatiu manages the Queensland Threatened Plant Network, a new organisation focussed on best practice conservation for listed plant species. Paul has a study background in architecture, psychology and environmental management, and has practised community development and community education. He has worked for WWF, Greening Australia, Queensland National Parks Association, Griffith University and Healthy Land and Water. Apart from species recovery, Paul’s fields of interest include ecological restoration, fire ecology, landscape ecology, and the management and preservation of cultural landscapes. Paul has also completed a Churchill Fellowship that examined how five national agencies in Europe, USA and South Africa were dealing with climate impacts on their protected areas. In his spare time, Paul can be found wandering the bush adding to his personal visual herbarium (which now totals over 2000 species), gardening, reading or wrangling his two daughters (not necessarily in that order!).

Pip Walsh – Project Manager (Myrtle Rust Recovery)

Pip Walsh joined the ANPC in November 2024 as the Myrtle Rust Recovery Coordinator. Pip has over 30 years’ experience in the not for profit sector working in senior roles at WWF, Greening Australia and Bush Heritage. Since 2016 Pip has specialised in working with project teams to develop, implement and improve conservation and community projects using the Open Standards for Conservation. In her spare time Pip is a keen bushwalker, still potters around a soccer field and gets her hands dirty with Narrowneck Bushcare group.