John Fletcher – Chairman
Upon his appointment as Chairman of Green Distillation Technologies, John found an experienced and entrepreneurial executive team in place, most of whom had been at the company since March 2009.
John has a distinguished business career. During his eight years from 1993 to 2001 as CEO of Brambles Industries, an international business-to-business industrial services company with over 40,000 employees operating in more than 30 countries worldwide. He led a team that achieved a 41% average annual growth in total shareholder returns (TSR).
In 2001 he was appointed CEO of Coles Myer when it was Australia’s largest private employer with 165,000 people. Over a six-year period, the business delivered an average annual growth in TSR of 31%. In 2007 the Coles Group was acquired by Wesfarmers for $20 billion.
In 2008 John Fletcher co-invested with Lazards in purchasing the national car care chain MIDAS Australia, which was sold to Metcash in June 2014. He was also a non-executive director of Telstra for six years from 2000 to 2006.
John is a Fellow of CPA Australia.
Trevor Bayley – Chief Operating Officer
Trevor holds a Commercial Pilots Licence but says he only flies for fun. When he has the time, he flies himself the three and a half hours from Melbourne to Warren to ‘keep his hours up.”
Trevor worked in the aviation industry in the UK and Australia from 1968 to 1984 on the air freight side with such airlines as Air France, TAA, UTA and Cathay where he was assistant airport manager and cargo sales manager.
A passion for cricket took him to Japan in the 1990s, where he published a bilingual cricket magazine (Japanese/English), was the founder and executive of the Japan Cricket Association, became a promoter of cricket competitions in Japan, and managed the Japanese National Team on three international tours.
Trevor established Japsco Japan in 1992 to develop and support commercial relationships, projects and alliances between Japanese entities in China, Thailand and Korea. He generated sales between Japanese engineering companies and Western customers, principally in the automotive Industry. Trevor was the Project Manager on two major General Motors projects, which generated sales of A$240 million.
He holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Leicester (UK).
Rob Murray – Chief Financial Officer
Rob Murray graduated from the University of Wales in 1983 with a science degree but soon moved over to accounting and qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Management Accounting.
He worked with leading retailer Laura Ashley and experienced the excitement of Thompson Newspapers during the restructuring of the newspaper business in the UK.
He moved to Australia in 2001, where he worked with Elgas and BOC before joining Green Distillation Technologies in 2014 after securing his CPA qualification from Deakin University.
Farhad Hossain – Plant Manager (Warren)
Farhad is a highly experienced Certified Mechanical Engineer with EA – Engineers Australia. He joined GDT in 2017. While undertaking his PhD at QUT he was working at GDT under the stewardship of the GDT plant designer. Farhad not only brings sound plant management skills to GDT, but also a high technical knowledge of the dynamics in thermal chemical reactions and applications.
Farhad also has many published articles around the world on subjects ranging from biofuels, thermochemical analysis and engine operations.
He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from QUT and a Master Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from KUET, Bangladesh.
A Cherished Legacy
Denis Randall – Former Chief Technical Officer
From little things, big things grow. This has certainly been the case with GDT and its Destructive Distillation process, which was built and developed on the dedication of an Australian named Denis Randall, who was GDT’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
Denis was a passionate inventor of waste-to-energy and renewable energy technologies. He invented and refined GDT’s Destructive Distillation technology, based on thirty years of practical research.
Denis started his career while obtaining degrees in Metallurgy, Mathematics, and Chemistry, plus a doctorate in the Biodegradation of Subsurface Phenols. After leaving school, he secured a scholarship from BHP. After obtaining a BSc in Chemistry, he switched to Metallurgy where he also obtained a BSc. He moved to Southeast Asia and worked in the petrochemical and palm oil industries in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia for the next 35 years. He was awarded a PhD in microbiology from the University of Virginia while he was working with Conico.
His development of the Destructive Distillation process began during his work in Indonesia over a 15-year period. He then returned to Australia and was working on wood-to-gas technology (as well as converting agricultural waste to oil) when he was first asked if he could convert old car tyres to oil and carbon.
Denis put his broad experience to work – and the rest, as they say, is history.
GDT’s technology has been diligently recorded and stored for posterity. After his passing in 2022, this is the legacy Denis Randall has left behind, which we at GDT will always cherish.
