2023-2024 GMC Directors & Office Bearers

November 30, 2023

We are pleased to announce our 2023-2024 Board members and office bearers were elected at the GMC AGM this week.

Thys Heyns was elected as Chair, with Rob Backwell elected as Deputy Chair.

Thys has 35 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, most recently with Viva Energy as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Viva Energy in 2015, Thys was with BP for 28 years in an international career across four continents that covered Supply Chain, Oil Trading and Refining. Thys is an experienced refining executive with recent roles including General Manager of the 120 kb/d Viva Energy Geelong Refinery, the 400kb/d BP Rotterdam Refinery and the 140kb/d BP Kwinana Refinery in Western Australia. Prior to that, Thys was the Commercial General Manager for BP’s global refining portfolio.

We welcome new Director Jane Fletcher to the Board. Jane is Godfrey Hirst’s most senior leader in Australia. She took on the role of COO in January 2021, having been with the company in various roles almost 30 years. The 158-year-old company, acquired by the US-owned Mohawk Group in 2018, employs 360 people locally at three sites, and more than 500 nationally, and is the largest carpet maker in Oceania, with around 40 per cent market share in Australia. Godfrey Hirst produces 16 kilometres of carpet a day – all in Geelong.

We would like to thank Lyn George for her contribution as Chairperson for the past four years and are pleased to welcome her back as a Director.

We also welcome back Greg Hughes, Tuba Kocaturk and Glen Pasque as Directors and Office Bearers for the 2023-24 period.

Thank you to retiring Director Jamie Baensch for his contributions and industry leadership over the past 12 months.