Brendan Weinert is the Head of Sustainable Business Energy Solutions at AGL Energy, bringing over 19 years of experience in the energy sector. Having started at AGL Energy in 2006 as a Business Development Manager and Client Relationships Manager for Commercial and Industrial customers, Brendan quickly gained expertise in driving business growth. With his deep understanding of the industry, he later transitioned to the role of Head of Business Customers, managing a portfolio exceeding $3 billion annually.

 

In the last five years, Brendan has played a pivotal role in leading multiple acquisitions and integrating the Sustainable Business Energy Solutions team at AGL. Under his leadership, AGL’s behind-the-meter technology division has grown to become the largest supplier of commercial solar and storage solutions in Australia.

 

His team, consisting of over 160 professionals, focuses on energy efficiency and on-site generation solutions to help customers reduce energy costs while supporting their transition to a decarbonized future. Brendan's experience in leading complex business operations and sustainable energy projects continues to make a significant impact in the sector.

Peter is a retired Mechanical Engineer who worked for over 30 years on energy supply and energy management projects.

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He worked for Amcor and later Orora for over 20 years until he retired.

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Peter was Amcor’s Group General Manager for Energy for energy supply, energy efficiency, sustainability and CO2 emission reductions.  

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In 2000 when Peter commenced work at Amcor they spent over $200M on electricity and gas. He reduced this by 25% by implementing energy efficiency in many of their manufacturing plants and won the Australian Energy Efficiency Council’s award for Sustainability in Manufacturing in 2014 and in 2016 the New Zealand Energy Efficiency Award.

 

Peter was the founding President of the Energy User Association of Australia (EUAA) and was EUAA’s committee member for Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). He was a member of the EUAA Board for 20 years.

 

As well as managing energy use and efficiency of Amcor’s existing manufacturing plants Peter was involved in the construction of Amcor’s Glass Plant at Gawler in South Australia; the largest manufacturing facility of wine bottles in Australia.

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Peter often spent time meeting with some of Amcor’s (later Orora’s), wine customer’s providing them with some ideas to reduce the energy usage at their wine plants.

 

One of the last projects that Peter worked on at Orora’s Botany Paper Mill in NSW was a waste to energy plant to generate renewable electricity from their waste water emissions. (recycled paper starts out at about 98% water).

 

The system cost several $M and as the energy was classified as renewable and was exported to the grid the project had a 12 month payback. Not all energy projects have a 12 month payback but this one did.

 

On a part time basis Peter was also involved in the construction and management of an on shore Abalone Farm on the Bellarine Peninsula near St Leonards in Victoria. They had to provide a backup power generator in case the power went off, otherwise the abalone would not have survived if the water in their pools got too hot.

 

Peter likes most wines; particularly Cool Climate wines.

Terryn studied Science, majoring in Botany and Microbiology.  On completing her BSc she was employed at the Melbourne University Botany Dept in the Pollen Biology Centre of Excellence for 13 years.

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For 5 years, the Hickinbotham family ran the Mt Anakie Vineyard owned by the Maltby family near Geelong. This is where Terryn & her husband Andrew, spent their weekends, at the vineyard, in the winery and in the cellar door learning everything about the wine industry from soil to bottle. This time was an experiment in wine regions, with fruit sourced from Gippsland, Tasmania, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine, and Avoca to assess the flavour profiles, and structure inherent in wines from these regions.

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Without fail the wines from the Mornington Peninsula came up trumps year in year out, particularly with regards to Pinot noir and Chardonnay, hence their preference for purchasing land at Dromana, and for championing these varieties.

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They moved permanently to their Dromana vineyard in 1990 where we grew vine rootlings in their on-site nursery for other vineyard plantings on the Mornington Peninsula. During this time, in conjunction with Chisholm TAFE, they conducted classes and on-site training sessions for vineyard trainees on pruning techniques, vine physiology and general vine maintenance.

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Terryn has travelled overseas to various viticultural regions to improve their knowledge of growing and wine making techniques for Pinot and Chardonnay.

Each weekend they conduct wine tastings with education as a great part of their offering. This has been integral to their cellar door experience. 

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Terryn is looking forward to bringing her broad experience within the industry, and as a wine show competitor, to the Committee of Management.

Jeni Port is a Melbourne-based wine journalist who was a cadet on The Sun News-Pictorial (now Herald-Sun) when she caught the wine bug. While working in the paper’s Women’s Section she started writing about the role of women – including some of the very few women winemakers at the time – and eventually started the paper’s first wine column. She then moved to The Age where she was a member of the wine writing team for 30 years.

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She now works as a writer/critic for the Halliday Wine Companion and WinePilot and writes for a number of magazines.

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Apart from writing books on wine, she has been an active wine judge working within the Australian wine show system as well as overseas for Mundus Vini (Germany) and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine, a group devoted to fighting for better opportunities, including equal pay, for women employed in the Australian wine industry.

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Awards/Positions:

* WCA Wine Communicator of the Year 2014

* Legend of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2014

* Deputy Chair Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards / China’s Wine List of the Year Awards

* Tasting Panel Member: Halliday Wine Companion/ WinePilot

 

Books:

* Choosing Australian Wines (Penguin);

* Crushed By Women: Women and Wine (Arcadia),    * Australian/NZ contributor, Wines of the World (Dorling Kindersley),

* contributor to The Wine Lover’s Bucket List (Universe),

* contributor,  Melbourne: The Making of a Eating & Drinking Capital (Hardie Grant),

* annual contributor, Halliday Wine Companion (Hardie Grant)

Hayley Purbrick is a proud fifth generation family member of one of the oldest wine-making families and carbon neutral wineries in Australia, celebrating 100 years of ownership this year. Hayley led the winery to achieve net-zero status, making it one of the first wineries globally to reach this milestone.

 

Outside of the winery Hayley lives in Echuca and is an advocate for a nature positive future, growing strong agricultural industries and thriving rural communities. In 2015 she founded social enterprise Big Sky Ideas to champion entrepreneurial spirit in rural Australia and is due to release her first book 'Green Future' in July 2025.

 

In 2017 she was a Finalist of both the Regional Australia Institute Light Bulb Moments Competition and NSW/ACT Agrifutures Rural Woman of the Year. In 2019 she graduated from the Wine Australia Future Leaders Program.

 

Hayley is a current judge of the National Banksia Sustainability Awards and in 2022 was recognised for her contribution to sustainability work by the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival as Sustainability Legend, she holds qualifications in Sustainability and Social Impact, Marketing, Service Design, Commerce and Agriculture.