Ken Munro
| UDIA Course Facilitator

General Manager

Oreana Group

Oreana General Manager Ken Munro has enjoyed a stellar career spanning two continents and almost 40 years – first as an architect and then as a development expert.

Ken has held executive roles with Development Victoria and several of Australia’s leading private and publicly listed developers including MAB Corporation, Australand, Dennis Family Corporation and Dahua Group Australia.

While he loves city shaping, with some of Victoria’s most notable and awarded projects to his name, he also loves to mold the next generation of development managers and devotes much of his time to mentoring up and coming talent. Ken volunteers as a course facilitator for UDIA’s property development program and a UDIA Victoria judge.

Ben De Waard

Director

Sustainable Development Consultants

Ben is an experienced environmental professional who is a founding Director of Sustainable Development Consultants, one of Melbourne’s largest ESD/environmental engineering practices.

For the past 20 years, Ben has been involved in numerous projects and is experienced in the development of green buildings, integrated sustainable development policies and strategies, environmental management plans, water management strategies and expert witness roles. Previously, Ben has held roles in statutory planning, strategic planning, economic development and environmental planning.

Ben’s experience increasingly seeks to integrate the economic, environmental and social/cultural aspects of any given development/building project with a focus on outcomes that promote sustainability.

Andrew Gibbons

Lawyer

Clayton Utz

Andrew is a lawyer in the Clayton Utz Melbourne Real Estate Team. He acts as an advisor for clients on all matters relating to commercial, retail and industrial properties, assisting with the full-cycle management of acquisitions and disposals of high value projects, including conducting due-diligence investigations across multiple state jurisdictions. Andrew is involved in day-to-day negotiations, drafting and reviewing transactional documents and providing solution-based commercial advice.

Jabin Henderson

Research Manager

Yarraport

Jabin Henderson is the co-founder and Managing Director of Yarraport. He has in excess of 20 years experience in structured real estate funding and direct property transactions within Australia and the USA. Jabin has held various senior and director level roles across the industry including that of State Manager and Director of Real Estate Structured Finance and licensed representative in California for Macquarie Group.

With an extensive background across real estate investment banking, private equity and real estate development, Jabin’s experience encompasses a range of functions leading the origination, structuring and deal execution of numerous capital positions including senior debt, mezzanine debt, equity and joint venture investments, including project acquisition and due diligence throughout Australia and the western USA.

Andrew Hoyne

Founder & Principal

Hoyne

Andrew Hoyne is the Founder and Principal of Place Visioning, Property Branding and Marketing agency Hoyne.

He consults to major Australian, New Zealand and international asset owners, developers and local councils to create recognisable landmarks and destinations across Australasia. These projects range from residential towers and master-planned communities to commercial developments, new mixed-use precincts, and even cities.

Andrew is a proponent of the categorical link between good placemaking and significantly higher profits (both economic and social). This passion that has led him to produce The Place Economy; a series of resource books which look at best practice placemaking around the world.

Alison Kennedy

Partner

Clayton Utz

Alison has experience acting on a range of property-related matters, from project development and structuring, including joint ventures and development agreements, through to property acquisitions and disposals, leasing and general property advisory work.

She provides clear insight into complex commercial arrangements, and expresses them in simple and effective documentation.

Stewart McKenzie

Director, Valuations – Residential Subdivision

Charter Keck Cramer

Stewart has valued or provided property related advice to financial institutions, investors, government organisations, community groups, prospective purchasers, vendors and developers.

Areas of specialisation for Residential Prestige & Projects predominantly include metropolitan Melbourne.

Jacob Peterson

Director, Innovation and Design

Mesh

Winning a local urban design competition at 14 began Jacobs life-long pursuit for quality well considered and clearly communicated design. Now a well-established urban design leader, Jacob has broad experience and qualifications in urban design, landscape architecture and planning in both the public and private sectors, and is considered a meshy all-rounder.

This life-long pursuit continues at Mesh in every project Jacob works on, firing his passion for reimagining how we should plan and design our cities and towns. Jacob also works collaboratively with communities in remote areas of Nepal, not-for profit, believing in sharing his skills where they will be of most value.

Bronwyn Pettitt

Director

Mesh

Bronwyn Pettitt has over 20 years experience working in both the public and private sectors as a planner, and formerly in the planning and local government law sector. Bronwyn has high levels of skills in both statutory and strategic planning and has the ability to balance the needs of both local government and developers.

Bronwyn has extensive experience in advocating for preferred development outcomes and the implementation and delivery of growth areas in previous roles within local government and on behalf of developers. An additional skill of Bronwyn’s is her strong understanding of legal implications in regards to planning. Bronwyn has significant experience in drafting, negotiating and implementing development outcomes (including infrastructure needs) into legal agreements such as Section 173 Agreements.

Ben Stewart

Senior Project Manager

Core Projects

Geelong born and bred with over 16 years in the industry under his belt and experience “on-the-ground”; as our Estate Manager at Warralily – Armstrong Creek. And then in turn moving into the project management team as a Senior Project Manager, Ben brings a huge amount of knowledge and leadership to Core Projects. Having been with the team since 2016, he has established himself as a strong team-builder who always leads by example. With an unrivalled work ethic and unfailing optimism. Currently project managing master planned communities in Armstrong Creek, Beveridge, and Ballarat as well a pipeline of close to 20,000 lots in the Greater Geelong area  

Amy Watson

Senior Associate

Clayton Utz

Amy worked as a commercial property lawyer in Auckland, NZ and Perth, WA before joining the Melbourne Real Estate team of Clayton Utz in May 2019. She assists with advising clients in relation to a variety of property-related matters, including owners corporation structuring and development arrangements, undertaking legal due diligence for and completing acquisitions and disposals, and negotiating leases for both landlords and tenants.

Sara Williamson

Senior Project Manager

Core Projects

With over a decade of marketing experience in property, Sara has worked across some iconic landmarks across Australia. Passionate about building projects from an idea on a piece of paper, to watching them transform into living communities. She has extensive project marketing experience having worked on some of Victoria’s largest greenfield developments, and is driven by a passion for community development and engagement.

Past Chair of the Urban Development Institute’s Women in Property Committee and active contributor to a range of industry learning and development initiatives including UDIA’s Leadership, Industry Workforce and Diversity committee.

Leah Wittingslow

Managing Director

Mesh

Leah is recognised as a leader in growth area planning, from strategic conception to detailed implementation.

Leah Wittingslow has worked as a statutory and strategic planner in both the private and public sectors.

Leah’s specialisation is undertaking large scale development projects in metro and regional growth areas.

Leah’s experience working for a rapidly growing Local Government area (where Leah worked directly with developers to manage and facilitate their projects through the approvals process) gave her a nuanced understanding of the strategic planning and statutory assessment needs of Council.

Now in the private sector, Leah works with both State and Local Government on a range of growth area issues (Structure Planning, Development Contributions, Service Process Review etc) as well as with large and small scale developer clients on complex planning permit application processes. Leah has experience at providing expert evidence in Panel contexts, particularly in relation to growth area structure planning, implementation and development contributions.

John Yuen

Acquisitions Manager

Villawood Properties

John joined Villawood Properties in 2008 after more than 5 years at CB Richard Ellis undertaking valuations of residential development sites. He has been exposed to all facets of the residential development cycle on a diverse range of projects. His experience includes site acquisitions, town planning processes, project management, sales and marketing. John’s role with Villawood Properties is to actively establish relationships with vendors, agents and consultants and to seek opportunities for acquisition/joint venture of suitable development sites throughout Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.