Floating Islands Australasia
natural, efficient and economic purification of contaminated water bodies
People
Bernie Masters is a geologist and zoologist with experience in various parts of southern Australia and he has worked in state government conservation and environmental agencies. He has held responsibilities for mineral exploration, minesite rehabilitation, public relations, business development and environmental protection. He commenced a private consulting business, providing geological and environmental advice to government and private clients and in 1989 was elected to the Western Australian parliament as the member for Vasse. He was a member of the select committee that inquired into Perth’s air quality and chaired the Busselton Wetlands Steering Committee. He was also a member of various environmental, planning and industry committees and was the shadow minister for the environment from 2001 to 2004. After losing his seat in 2005, he returned to private consulting.
In 2005, he became involved with Bruce Kania of Floating Island International (FII), a Montana-based inventor of a new design of floating island. Over the following three years, he conducted field trials of the company’s BioHaven vegetated floating islands, provided research assistance to the company’s long-term monitoring and evaluation program in Montana, visited the company’s USA operations to receive training in island construction and installation, and installed demonstration islands in a water supply reservoir in Singapore managed by the Public Utilities Board.
Alfred Eiden is a versatile research and development manager with sound commercial application understanding and extensive experience in the field of rubber and plastics. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials and of the APRI and an Honorary Research Fellow of Monash University – Materials Engineering.
Alfred has extensive industrial experience in the rubber & plastics industries in the manufacture of footwear, industrial products, tires and electrical cable; working in Germany, UK, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. As a Consultant, Alfred has conducted numerous material research projects in affiliation with Monash University since 1998. His consulting includes research covering a range of recycling technologies for value added recycling processes and in-house utilization of industrial waste for a number of national and international clients. Alfred has a number of patents to his name, covering recycling technologies as well as new polymer developments.
Kevin O’Donnell is an experienced technical and manufacturing manager with 35 years’ experience in the chemical and plastics industries with a demonstrated ability to manage teams to achieve quality and productivity improvements. Most recent positions include Operations Manager of a plastics compounding facility and manager of a large technical centre in Australia, having previously led the team to construct the centre. Overseas experience includes six years in Japan leading a technical service team. Key strengths include a broad knowledge of chemical manufacturing processes, problem-solving capability supported by statistical knowledge, polymer technology knowledge and ability to interact with people in a wide range of functions. Now self-employed, Kevin is also a director of Sarnia Industries.
We would also like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of one of our founding members, Jamie Woodford for his work in facilitating the start-up and marketing of the company. Jamie passed away on 5 May, 2009.