Our People

Tom Sanders

Chief Executive Officer

Tom is a qualified Professional Civil Engineer with over 17 years of hands-on experience supporting councils across Queensland and New South Wales. Throughout his career, he has focused on helping local governments improve infrastructure decisions, optimise asset management, and deliver better outcomes for their communities.

As Chief Executive Officer of SHEPHERD, Tom leads the strategic direction of the business – driving innovation across our road management solutions, including the continued evolution of RACAS®. His leadership is grounded in practical insight, strong relationships, and a deep commitment to regional impact.

Cameron Shields

General Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery Projects

Cameron is a qualified Civil Engineering Technologist with over 20 years’ experience, including over 10 years in Local Government in the areas of civil works and asset management. In his position as General Manager Civil and Disaster Recovery Projects, Cameron uses his proven people management skills, effective communication, and innovative thinking to successfully deliver projects on time and as prescribed.

Justin Fischer

General Manager – Client & Corporate

Justin is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer with over 18 years’ practical experience in Local Government. His areas of expertise include asset management and project management – specifically the planning, design, and delivery of civil infrastructure projects.

David Watkins

Manager – National Projects Civil & Disaster Recovery

David draws from over 30 years’ experience in both the civil and mining sector and has a proven background in delivering road, rail and civil infrastructure projects across the country, at both management and operational levels.

Patrick McGuire

Manager – Asset & GIS Projects

Patrick is a Spatial Sciences professional with a long history working in the local government sector promoting best practice in Surveying, GIS and Asset Management. Prior moving into local government, Patrick worked in a private land surveying business completing cadastral surveys, detailed surveys for design and as-constructed surveys.

Daniel Willis

Manager – Road Projects

Daniel is a project management professional with over 20 years’ experience working in local government and the private sector. Daniel has an extensive career in project management, strategic business leadership, capital works (civil) project delivery, operations excellence and ICT Systems. He is also an active member of IPWEA and Asset Management Council Australia.

Sujatha Rajagopalan

Manager – Software Development

Sujatha is an accomplished Software Development Manager with over 19 years’ experience delivering technology solutions across a range of industries. She leads SHEPHERD’s RACAS Research and Development team, supporting the ongoing improvement of RACAS to help councils and communities make better decisions through reliable, data-driven insights. Sujatha is recognised for turning complex requirements into practical, user-focused solutions that deliver measurable results.

Chris Buenen

Senior Product Engineer

Chris is a GIS Professional and Asset Management Specialist with a wealth of experience assisting councils to achieve best practice in these areas. Chris has a passion for GIS software and data management, helping organisations to use these tools to maximise their efficiency and decision-making processes.

Doug Beal

Manager – RACAS Customer Support

Doug has been providing system support to Local and State Government clients for over 30 years for both maintenance and asset management systems across the Eastern States of Australia. In his position as Manager RACAS Customer Support, Doug drives the interaction with our clients to facilitate prompt response to their requests.

Ashley Higman

Manager – Contracts

Ashley is a Chartered Civil Engineer with 25 years of experience across the public and private sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom. As Manager – Contracts in SHEPHERD’s Civil and Disaster Recovery team, Ashley supports infrastructure and recovery projects by strengthening procurement and contract delivery, helping clients achieve compliant, efficient outcomes while managing risk and maximising value.

Ashley is recognised for his practical approach and client-focused mindset, bringing clarity and confidence to complex contracts across all stages of project delivery.

Ashley Edmistone

Manager – Disaster Recovery Systems

Ashley is a data management professional with over 10 years’ experience in State and Local Government within Queensland, Northern Territory, and Victoria.

Ashley brings a comprehensive knowledge of the local government industry, specifically roads and drainage reconstruction works, data management and compliance reporting associated with DRFA and its systems such as MARS.

Kerri Behrens

Manager – Strategy and Marketing

Kerri is a results-oriented and people-focused Executive Professional who brings a wealth of experience in strategic planning, operational performance, communication, marketing and media as well as corporate governance and customer service. Kerri enjoys working with all levels of an organisation to get the right message, to the right people, at the right time.

Melissa Gladman

Manager – Corporate Services

Melissa is a qualified HR professional with proven expertise in providing strategic organisational advice and solutions in the areas of HR, Training and Corporate Services. Melissa has worked extensively across local government, not for profit and private organisations, and is committed to delivering and improving services.

Jonathan Walmsley

Regional Project Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery

Jonathan is a Civil Construction Inspector and Supervisor with over 12 years’ practical experience in the construction industry, having worked for both private enterprise and Local Government.

He has extensive experience in the delivery of capital works programs, particularly road assets, and the quality inspection of constructed infrastructure assets.

Clinton Mervis

Regional Project Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery

Clinton is a Civil Construction Supervision with over 7 years’ experience overseeing large-scale and complex telecommunication installation projects.

At SHEPHERD Clinton is responsible for managing large-scale flood restoration projects and uses his proven people management and communication skills to coordinate between all key stakeholders to ensure the project requirements are met.

Stephen Bell

Regional Project Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery

Stephen is a highly experienced Civil Engineer with over 30 years of leadership across local government and the private sector in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales. His expertise spans road infrastructure delivery, disaster recovery, asset management and strategic planning, and he is known for building strong teams that deliver practical community outcomes. Stephen has held Director-level roles in major councils and contributed to nationally recognised innovation in flood response and asset resilience.

Mark Christian

Project Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery

Mark is a highly experienced workplace safety professional with over 30 years’ experience in managing teams to deliver large Civil Infrastructure projects for both State and Local Government. Mark has a track record in delivering projects on time, on budget, and meeting stakeholder expectations. He is driven to design effective construction safety standards whilst overseeing and effectively implementing SHEPHERD standards of practice.

Aaron Markham

Project Manager – Civil & Disaster Recovery

Aaron is a highly experienced civil construction professional with over 32 years in the industry, including the past five years with SHEPHERD. He has led major civil and flood reconstruction projects for local government across New South Wales and Queensland, ensuring quality delivery, safety and compliance. Aaron’s expertise includes engineering inspections, contract administration, QRA claims, WHS compliance and client reporting, supported by strong leadership experience as a former State Emergency Service Team Leader.

Julianne Peacock

Senior Management Accountant

Julianne Peacock is a CPA qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience in management and financial accounting. Most of this time has been spent in the civil construction industry with State Government and the remaining years in the private sector. Julianne enjoys working with her clients and project teams to ensure financial processes are achieving favourable outcomes throughout project delivery.

Dr Kylie Munn

Senior Asset Engineer

Kylie is a highly qualified and proven RPEQ Engineer (Civil and Environmental) with over 28 years’ of experience in successfully delivering projects in accordance with technical standards, client specifications, and stakeholder expectations. Kylie has worked across all levels of government, as well as within private sector for large-scale consultants. In her role with SHEPHERD, Kylie prides herself on innovative thinking and leading by example, through fostering a supportive and safe work environment.

Jodie Tydings

Senior Asset Accountant

Jodie is an Asset Accountant with 5 years of local government experience. Throughout her career Jodie has held positions in Finance and Asset Management and has a wealth of experience in Asset Accounting and Audit Compliance and enjoys collaborating with councils to improve their asset management maturity and long-term financial sustainability.

Nathan Woolley

Asset Accountant

Nathan is a qualified accountant with over 19 years’ experience across both Local Government and private enterprise. Throughout his career Nathan has specialised in asset accounting using his strong analytical skills and ability to interpret financial data to achieve sustainable asset management for clients.

Tim Munn

Asset Accountant

Tim is a qualified accountant with 30 years’ experience in the Civil Construction and Engineering Industry, working across both state and local government and private industry.

He is a performance driven accountant with a keen interest in financial management and analysis to help clients achieve sustainable asset management and project delivery.

Craig Smit

GIS Specialist

Craig is a Civil Engineer with extensive experience in the local government environment, specifically engineering and infrastructure. Craig understands Asset Management from the practical aspect of working in the field and managing data to strategic planning and project management within an organisation. He enjoys helping councils optimise their assets with hands-on advice that works.

Marlaina Pickering

GIS Specialist

Marlaina is an Asset Management and Spatial Sciences professional with over 17 years’ experience working in local and state government as well as private sectors.

Marlaina is a highly skilled geospatial professional who prides herself on achieving excellence in attention to detail and accuracy and has extensive experience in the administration of the Esri ArcGIS enterprise suite.

Jo Fraser

Human Resources Coordinator

Jo is a Human Resources Generalist with experience in employee relations, HR compliance, recruitment, performance management, and training/development programs. Jo has a passion for fostering a positive workplace culture and has worked in both the private and not-for-profit sectors.

Karen Hegedus

Finance Coordinator

Karen holds a Bachelor of Education and has transitioned from a successful career in teaching to provide essential administrative support to the SHEPHERD Team. Karen plays a pivotal role in the financial management of the business and enjoys working closely with all departments to achieve efficiencies in this area.

Erin Tompkins

National Project Support Officer

Erin is a corporate professional with 20 years of administrative experience across Queensland local and state governments and private industry. She coordinates essential administrative support, travel and fleet logistics for SHEPHERD’s National Civil and Disaster team, working closely with onsite project managers and teams to ensure they have the resources needed to deliver successful outcomes.