Tellus continues to expand with key leadership appointments

Tellus Holdings Ltd (Tellus), Australia’s only government-approved developer and operator of commercial geological repositories for hazardous waste, has announced two senior leadership appointments as the company continues to expand and equip itself for growth.

Following the appointment of Nick Williams as Chief Financial Officer last December, Tellus has appointed Sterling Brain to the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer (focusing, in particular, on driving Sales and Marketing) and Barbara King as General Counsel & Company Secretary.

These appointments mark another critical step to building a world-class leadership team to assist in Tellus’ transition from development phase to operational phase, following the opening of the company’s first geological repository, Sandy Ridge, in Western Australia.

Sterling Brain brings over 30 years’ experience in finance and strategy to the Group, having most recently held the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Velocity Frequent Flyer. He has previously held roles as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Velocity Frequent Flyer as well as senior positions at NAB, The Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Similarly, Barbara King brings more than 25 years’ experience to the Group as a senior corporate lawyer and senior manager in top tier global firms and large corporates, particularly over a decade at Banpu PCL’s Australian mining and logistics operations. She has extensive governance experience, including as a Non- Executive Director on the board of several charities. Ms King’s private practice roles were at Clifford Chance, Norton Rose Fulbright and King & Wood Mallesons.

Tellus Chief Executive Officer Nate Smith said: “These are significant appointments for Tellus as we equip ourselves for the next phase of our growth.

The strength of the foregoing hires and the excellent candidates who were (and are) eager to join Tellus highlights the growing excitement about our mission to clean-up Australia of hazardous waste and reinvest in our communities through the circular economy.

“To reach our goals of making Australia a safer and cleaner place, we need a deeply experienced and highly motivated team. I’m excited to say that both Sterling and Barbara are precisely that. Everyone at Tellus looks forward to working with them as our journey progresses”, he said.

Sterling Brain has previously held roles as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Velocity Frequent Flyer as well as senior positions at NAB, The Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He holds an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD, France and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales. He is also a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Barbara King is a highly experienced corporate lawyer and governance specialist, qualifying as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales in 1995. Her career spanning 25 years has focussed primarily on high value projects in the environmental, energy and mining sectors, firstly in global law firms Clifford Chance, Norton Rose Fulbright and King & Wood Mallesons, and since 2001 in international corporates.

For ten years she was senior in-house counsel (including as Acting General Counsel) in Banpu PCL’s Australian underground mining and logistics operations. She has also been a merchant banker at Rothschild Bank in the early 2000s and her most recent role was as General Counsel & Company Secretary for large, aged care provider RSL LifeCare.

Barbara is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW and is a member of the Law Society of NSW and of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Tellus Holdings Ltd (“Tellus”) mission is to contribute towards a safer and cleaner Australia by developing a portfolio of geological repositories that provide waste storage, recycling, recovery, permanent isolation services and related commodity by-products.

Visit our project website – www.tellusholdings.com

Phone us at: +61 (0)2 8257 3395

E-mail us at: info@tellusholdings.com