About Us
First Nations Water had its origins in a cofounding partnership between Michael Woodley and Mike Hollett in 2012 who subsequently introduced Liam Wilson which saw the creation of a successful contracting company Yurra in 2013 that is a majority Yindjibarndi owned business. From these humble beginnings the Yindjibarndi story of self-determination continues and the vision for what needs to be done for the culturally appropriate management and use of water from on country natural surface and groundwater resources, has steadily grown to the point of the commencement of First Nations Water in 2021.
First Nations Water is very well placed as a part of the water industry in Australia to lead the transformation that is necessary to meet the externally driven demands of climate change and the ESG commitments of Boards, shareholders and the wider community expectations.
Our Founding Directors are very experienced leaders in their own right with Mike Hollett as current Co-Founder of The Right Water Company, being a former Chairman of the Water Corporation in Western Australia having earlier lead significant water reform initiatives over many years, in both the public and private sectors. As an Hydrographer, Mike has almost 40 years of experience across the water and property sectors combined and continues his passionate drive for challenging the status quo and finding a better more sustainable way of delivering outcomes that matter. Mike is an experienced Director having being a former Chairman of the Pilbara Development Commission and Ocean Gardens Retirement Village, Mike now serves on private boards being Chairman of Yurra Pty Ltd a majority Yindjibarndi owned contracting company he co-founded in 2013 and has private interests in infrastructure and affordable housing for seniors in regional WA. Mike is a GAICD.
About Us
Greg Millen as Co-Founding Director of The Right Water Company is the CEO of Wave International a business that he Co-Founded in 1999. Wave International over the past two decades has expanded globally as a high performing resource development consultancy business with international experience in engineering, project delivery, project and asset management with a solid industry wide reputation for providing innovative, flexible and value add solutions. Greg brings more than 25 years international experience in engineering projects across the breath of Natural Resources sectors including Mining and Metals, Oil and Gas, Agriculture, Renewables, Power and Water. Greg holds an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from UWA and is a Chartered (CPEng), Fellow (FIEAust) and Engineering Executive (EngExec) of the Institute of Engineers Australia. Greg is a member of Consult Australia, AusIMM and the AICD.
Michael Woodley is the longstanding CEO of Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) and Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) and his leadership of the Yindjibarndi people through challenging times is unsurpassed standing on and advocating respect for the betterment of cultural and community values along with charting self-determination outcomes for the Yindjibarndi people with successful commercial partnerships. Michael’s experience in managing the Yindjibarndi Corporations and his interests as a Co-Founder of Juluwarlu which documents and manages Yindjibarndi cultural history, is to the strategic advantage of First Nations Water in his Directorship capacity.
Graeme Sheard is a recent former specialist tax partner of KPMG and has extensive experience internationally throughout his over 30 year career with KPMG, having worked in PNG, Vietnam and Thailand. Graeme’s experience and knowledge of medium and larger business and financial management matters serves him and his role as a Yindjibarndi Wealth Trust Director and Director of First Nations Water well.