Adjunct Professor Martin Hallowell Thomas
Chair, AM FTSE HonFIEAust FAIE

AM FTSE HonFIEAust FAIE
Board Member, Asia Pacific International College
Chairman, Dulhunty Power
Non-Executive Director, EnviroMission Limited

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Martin Thomas was appointed an Adjunct Professor of Asia Pacific International College in 2006. Martin Thomas gained his degree in Mechanical Sciences from Cambridge University in 1957. He came to Australia in 1967, following a career in consulting engineering in the power and energy sector with Merz Australia in Perth before becoming a Director of the firm in Sydney in 1977. Following a merger in 1993 he became a Principal of Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM).

During his consulting career he was responsible for a number of power generation, cogeneration and energy management projects in Australia, the Pacific Islands, South East Asia, Africa and India. He developed the firm´s expertise in industrial energy efficiency management, leading on to leading major World Bank industrial energy assignments in Kenya and India in the late 1980s. After his appointment as Director International Business in Merz he became a regular visitor to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as well as being Director responsible for regional power and energy efficiency and end use assignments for AusAID.

In 1995 Martin Thomas led the successful competitive proposal for the establishment of the Australian Co-operative Research Centre for Renewable Energy and Greenhouse Gas Abatement Technologies (ACRE), becoming its initial Chairman then Managing Director from 1996 to 1998. In 1997 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor of Murdoch University. During this time he helped to establish of the Sustainable Energy Industry Association Australia (SEIA) to draw together an otherwise fragmented young industry. He has more recently taken a similar role in helping to develop the Renewable Energy Roundtable, a coalition of peak sustainable and renewable energy industry bodies, on which he now serves as Vice Chairman.

Martin Thomas was President of the Institution of Engineers Australia (IEAust) from 1991 to 1992 and was elected an Honorary Fellow in 1996. He served as President of the Federation of Engineering Institutions of South East Asia and the Pacific (FEISEAP) from 1992 until 1994. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 1991 and appointed a Vice President from 1996 to 2000.

In 1992 he was awarded the James Kirby Memorial Award of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Australasian Region. In 1994 he was appointed Australian Visiting Fellow on Energy Management to the Centre for Advanced Engineering at Canterbury University, giving a series of lectures and workshops on efficient industrial energy use throughout New Zealand. In 1998 he was awarded the Medal of the Australian Institute of Energy (AIE), becoming the Institute's President from 2000 until 2002. He is past Chairman of the Australian National Team of the International Energy Agency's Centre for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies (CADDET) and a past member of the Australian National Committee of the World Energy Council.

During the 1980´s Martin Thomas established, with Austrade support, the industry association Austenergy, remaining as founding Chairman for six years. The vision of Austenergy was to bring together the fragmented ´sub critical mass´ of Australian energy industries to enhance export success. He led a number of missions to help build enduring technological, institutional and potential export relationships, particularly in the Asia Pacific region.

From 1988 to 1994 he was Chairman of the New South Wales Electricity Council to advise the NSW Minister for Energy on matters of industry corporatisation, deregulation and competition.

In 1995 he was appointed Chairman of the Olympic Energy Panel responsible for advising on energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy for the Sydney 2000 Olympic ´Green Games´. This task concluded with the highly successful Olympic and Paralympic events.

In 1993 Martin Thomas was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the engineering profession and to energy management. In 2003 he was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal for services to energy and engineering.