THE EXECUTIVE TEAM
Finn Mackesy
Bachelor of Anthropology and Bachelor of Psychology (University of British Columbia, Canada); Post Graduate Diploma of Teaching (University of Victoria, Wellington); Permaculture for Third World and Indigenous Peoples (Erda Institute, NSW); Advanced Permaculture Design training (Golden Bay and Matakana).
Finn is a qualified educator, facilitator and design consultant with a passion for community empowerment and resilience. After completing his Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2002 with Robin Francis, he completed a 6 month internship at Djanbung Gardens, NSW, Australia. Finn also spent time living and working with David Holmgren and his family on their property in Victoria. In 2003 he completed an advanced permaculture course in Golden Bay and trained in accelerated learning and facilitation under the tutelage of Robyn Clayfield. Since that time Finn has been actively involved in permaculture education, community development and facilitating change throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
He is the founder of GORSE Ltd, a design consultancy specializing in education, facilitation and community empowerment. He is the outgoing chairperson of Permaculture in New Zealand, as well as a co-founder of CommonGround Community Gardens, Transition Pt. Chevalier, Grey Lynn 2030 and All Good Education Ltd. Starting in 2011, Finn now works as an Environmental Education Advisor for Auckland Council.
Finn brings to APW a thorough understanding of teaching pedagogy and practice, dynamic facilitation and accelerating learning practices, a love of human cultures and a breadth of experience and exposure to indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices from around the globe.
Gary Marshall
Bachelor of 3-Dimensional Design (UNITEC, New Zealand), Masters Landscape Architecture, (Lincoln, Canterbury); Advanced Permaculture Design training (Golden Bay and Victoria, Australia).
Gary is a passionate designer who discovered permaculture through his ongoing investigations into all things design. After completing his Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2003, Gary completed an advanced permaculture course in Golden Bay, which included living and working with David Holmgren and his family on their property in Victoria, Australia. Having spent a year immersed in permaculture, he went on to complete a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture. After completing his masters in 2006, Gary works at Jasmax where he is team leader of the Auckland Landscape team. He is co-founder of Grey Lynn 2030 and Marshall Design Studio Ltd, a permaculture design consultancy.
Gary brings to APW an extensive understanding and working knowledge of landscape design, urban design, design history and theory, landscape ecology, permaculture, water sensitive design and design education.
Rilke de Vos
Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental), Hons 1(University of Queensland).
Rilke is an environmental / process engineer seeking to identify solutions to future problems before they arise. For Rilke, exposure to the concepts of permaculture came at an early age – he grew up on an almost self-sufficient small farm in Auckland's rural fringe. His desire to protect wildlife and live from the land, sent him in pursuit of an Environmental Engineering degree from the University of Queensland, Australia. This background provided the basis for consulting as a chemical engineer in the design of facilities such as: offshore / onshore oil and gas petroleum refining, municipal solid waste gasifier and bio-fermenter design, fertiliser prilling and metals recovery.
Rilke is now a director of Regenovations Limited - a consultancy which seeks to identify how energy sector developments interact with the 'economic' and 'environmental' aspects of our society. Some of this work involves interpreting and communicating how energy choices and developments will affect our future (e.g. Methane hydrate development, electric car uptake, smart urban growth). Other work focuses on supporting the development of energy technologies such as: biogas utilisation; sunflower biodiesel, passive solar, gasification of municipal solid waste and algae biomass conversion.
In order to complement his theoretical knowledge with applied skills, Rilke devotes substantial time to supporting transition town movement, planting of community gardens, developing eco-villages and applying sustainability principles to his own life. The outreach to permaculture education is a new and exciting dimension of this.
Rilke brings a highly pragmatic and strategic under understanding of energy-economic-environment interaction to the APW workshops. Dynamic tutoring and challenging design exercises characterise his workshops.
