Board & Governance

Our Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is responsible for the overall governance and strategic direction of VicReturn.

The VicReturn Board is currently made up of eight Board Members – including an Independent Chair, six Directors appointed by our founding members (Asahi Beverages, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Lion Pty Ltd), and one director representing the interests of small beverage suppliers.

We are excited to announce that we will be shortly expanding our board to include ten esteemed members, including a second Director representing the interests of small beverage suppliers and one Director who is independent of the beverage industry with a background in the waste and recycling industry.

Board Members

Paul Klymenko

Chair

Paul Klymenko

Chair

Co-founder, Chief Sustainability Advisor and Director at Planet Ark, Paul Klymenko is one of Australia’s leading…

Co-founder, Chief Sustainability Advisor and Director at Planet Ark, Paul Klymenko is one of Australia’s leading environmental advocates.

Paul has worked in the environment sector for more than 30 years, and made a lasting contribution as an environmental campaigner, researcher and ethical investment fund manager.

Paul co-founded Planet Ark in 1992 and has been instrumental in it becoming one of Australia’s most trusted not-for-profit environmental behaviour change organisations, through initiatives such as National Tree Day, the Australasian Recycling Label, Recycling Near You and the recently launched Australian Circular Economy Hub.

He is a member of a number of Boards and committees including the Australian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group and APCO’s Collective Action Group.

Prior to moving into the environmental field in 1990, Paul spent eleven years in the financial services industry in research and advising roles. In 1986 he co-founded Australia’s first socially responsible fund manager, Australian Ethical which now has over $9b under management. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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Edward Dowse

Director

Edward Dowse

Director

Edward Dowse is an experienced finance and commercial leader with 20 years of experience across a range of industries.

Edward Dowse is an experienced finance and commercial leader with 20 years of experience across a range of industries.

Edwards’s industry experience includes fast moving consumer goods, manufacturing, transportation, and recycling. He has been with Lion for over nine years and currently leads their involvement in container deposit schemes across Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to Lion, Edward spent over 10 years at Ernst & Young advising major lenders, investors, and corporates in relation to business performance, strategic options analysis, financial restructures, and turnarounds in both Australia and Europe.

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Jeff Maguire

Director

Jeff Maguire

Director

Jeff Maguire is a senior executive with 35 years of experience in supply chain management,…

Jeff Maguire is a senior executive with 35 years of experience in supply chain management, encompassing manufacturing and logistics in a variety of roles and functions.

Jeff has been with Coca-Cola Amatil/Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and has held a number of roles throughout this career including senior executive management roles. Jeff leads Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ involvement in container deposit schemes across the Australia, and is responsible for the establishment of container collection and recycling in the CCEP Pacific and Indonesian regions.

Jeff is a director of Statewide Recycling and has been involved with the container deposit schemes in South Australia and the Northern Territory in various roles over the last 25 years. Statewide Recycling currently operates in South Australia and Northern Territory and represents over 400 manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.

Jeff  is also a Director or Alternate Director on the Boards of the NSW, Qld and WA Scheme Coordinators which are charged with the delivery of the Container Deposit Schemes in those States.

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Julian Sheezel

Director

Julian Sheezel

Director

Julian Sheezel is a senior executive with broad experience over 25 years in corporate affairs, corporate taxation, politics,…

Julian Sheezel is a senior executive with broad experience over 25 years in corporate affairs, corporate taxation, politics, government and business in Australia and Asia.

Julian leads the Group Corporate Affairs team at Asahi Beverages including responsibility for Government relations, communications, public policy, regulatory matters and corporate reputation.

Julian has been heavily involved in Container Deposit Schemes since 2018 when he became a Board member of Exchange for Change (NSW) and Exchange for Change (ACT), the CDS Scheme Coordinators for NSW and the ACT.

Prior to joining Carlton & United Breweries / Asahi Beverages, Julian had careers in corporate taxation, politics and government. He worked in international corporate tax roles in Melbourne and Hong Kong with KPMG. He then served in senior political party roles in Melbourne and Canberra for more than a decade before being Chief of Staff to the Australian Minister for Revenue and Financial Services.

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Benjamin Oxley

Director

Benjamin Oxley

Director

Ben is a senior executive with over 21 years of experience in the beverage industry with roles in procurement and supply chain,…

Ben is a senior executive with over 21 years of experience in the beverage industry with roles in procurement and supply chain, encompassing packaging, raw materials and corporate and supply chain indirect.

Ben has recently been promoted to the Global Procurement Sustainability Director at Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) with the responsibility of leading its sustainability commitments to increase recycled content and recyclability across packaging, implementing of RE100, and overseeing the commitment of CCEP’s suppliers to Science Based Targets by 2025 and 100% renewable energy by 2030 across CCEP global operations. Prior to this role, Ben was Head of Regional Procurement – packaging and sustainability for the Australia, Pacific and Indonesia region managing a spend of $1.5bn.

Ben previously worked for 9 years at Cadbury Schweppes prior to moving to Coca Cola Partners in 2011. During his time with Cadbury Schweppes, he held the various roles from Australia and New Zealand Procurement Manager to the Asia Pacific Procurement Manager – Packaging. In these roles he was responsible for all aspects of packaging including innovation, sourcing and sustainability and managed the annual procurement spend.

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Laura Green

Director

Laura Green

Director

Laura Green is an experienced leader with over 15 years of experience in corporate development, strategy and finance across a…

Laura Green is an experienced leader with over 15 years of experience in corporate development, strategy and finance across a range of industries.

Laura currently leads Group Corporate Development at Asahi Beverages, including responsibility for mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.

Prior to joining Asahi, Laura spent over 10 years as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse executing a range of transactions (mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity raisings including IPO’s) and strategic advice mandates for private equity, government and corporate clients.  Laura has also held several corporate development and strategy roles at leading Australian corporates in her career post investment banking.

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Philippa Perkins

Director

Philippa Perkins

Director

Philippa Perkins is an experienced finance and commercial professional with over 20 years of experience in complex projects,…

Philippa Perkins is an experienced finance and commercial professional with over 20 years of experience in complex projects, corporate establishments, reorganisations and transformations across a number of industries.

Philippa works in Lion’s CDS team supporting the establishment and monitoring of container deposit schemes across Australia. Philippa has been involved in collection schemes across Australia and New Zealand over the last 6 years and was a key member in the establishment of the Western Australia and Queensland container deposit schemes.

Philippa is a director of Marine Stores Pty Ltd, a joint venture business between Lion and Coopers that acts as a Supercollector in South Australia and the Northern Territory. She is also a director of Exchange for Change (NSW) and Exchange for Change (ACT), the container deposit scheme coordinators in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, and acts as an alternate director of Western Australia Return Recycle Renew, which operates the WA container deposit scheme.

Prior to joining Lion, Philippa spent over 15 years at EY as a consultant, managing financial restructures and turnarounds in both Australia and Europe.

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Kylie Lethbridge

Director

Kylie Lethbridge

Director

Kylie Lethbridge is an industry executive with over 30 years of experience involving government services, tourism, marketing…

Kylie Lethbridge is an industry executive with over 30 years of experience involving government services, tourism, marketing and stakeholder management.

Kylie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Brewers Association, having started the role in March 2020 with a diverse career history.

Kylie began her journey working in Ministerial support teams before progressing to a variety of communications and marketing, tourism, economic development and management roles within local and state government in Australia and federal government in the UK.

Having owned her own small business, Kylie understands the challenges many small beverage suppliers face. She is a leader and author of strategies and policies that support organisational outcomes and has delivered effective results from her work in destination development and international trade.

Kylie has held multiple Board directorships, is considered an excellent relationship and stakeholder manager as well as a nurturing leader and facilitator of change.

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Our Executive Team

The Executive Team is responsible for the day-to-day management of VicReturn. The Board appoints the Chief Executive, who appoints the remainder of the Executive.

Jim Round

Chief Executive Officer

Jim Round

Chief Executive Officer

Jim Round is a seasoned leader who is passionate about driving positive change. As VicReturn’s inaugural CEO, Jim offers…

Jim Round is a seasoned leader who is passionate about driving positive change. As VicReturn’s inaugural CEO, Jim offers extensive experience in public policy design and delivery, organisational governance and strategy.

Jim served in some of Australia’s highest offices, including as Economic Advisor to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP.

Before stepping into this role, Jim carved out a career in the public service including as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions during the economic challenges posed by COVID-19.

Jim holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Melbourne and a Master’s degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics, where he studied as a John Monash Scholar.

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Megan Toose

Chief Finance and Commercial Officer

Megan Toose

Chief Finance and Commercial Officer

Megan Toose is an experienced finance and accounting professional, responsible for ensuring the strong financial management of…

Megan Toose is an experienced finance and accounting professional, responsible for ensuring the strong financial management of CDS Vic.

Megan offers close to 30 years of experience in financial oversight and strategy, including operational performance, budgeting, analysis and insights, P&L accountability and financial management of large-scale organisations.

This includes previous roles with large multinational entities and across markets including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Megan holds accreditation from the American Association for Investment and Financial Management (AAIFM), CPA Australia and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.

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Marianne Doyle

Chief Communications, Marketing and Engagement Officer

Marianne Doyle

Chief Communications, Marketing and Engagement Officer

Responsible for delivery of the Scheme’s marketing, communication and engagement with local communities and partners,…

Responsible for delivery of the Scheme’s marketing, communication and engagement with local communities and partners, Marianne Doyle brings extensive experience in the development and delivery of diverse communications and engagement programs across the public sector.

She has a passion for working with programs that make a positive contribution to people, the community and the environment.

Prior to joining VicReturn, she worked as Director, Communications and Engagement for Solar Victoria, responsible for building the public profile of the Victorian Government’s Solar Homes Program.
Marianne has held digital, communications and education roles within Sustainability Victoria, Office of the eSafety Commissioner, Australian Communications and Media Authority and Transport Safety Victoria (Maritime).

She leads a multi-disciplinary communications team with responsibility for strategic communications, community engagement, brand and visual identity, media and public relations.

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John Porta

Chief Information and Operations Officer

John Porta

Chief Information and Operations Officer

John Porta brings his wealth of experience and understanding, driving the delivery of CDS Vic’s…

John Porta brings his wealth of experience and understanding, driving the delivery of CDS Vic’s information and operations, technology infrastructure and network operator partnerships.

With over 25 years of expertise in circular economy delivery, supply chain operations, transformation, solution design, and large-scale program management, John brings valuable insights to the table.

Throughout his career, he has occupied executive and senior management positions and senior executive consulting roles in multinational and global organisations.

John holds a Master of Business Administration with a specialisation in supply chain and finance, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in International Trade and Economics. Having previously resided in Brazil, he is fluent in both Portuguese and English.

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Ilan Zipor

Chief Risk and Audit Officer

Ilan Zipor

Chief Risk and Audit Officer

Ilan Zipor is an experienced Assurance and Governance professional responsible for overseeing the management of risk and…

Ilan Zipor is an experienced Assurance and Governance professional responsible for overseeing the management of risk and integrity for the organisation and the Victorian CDS.

He has nearly 25 years of experience in audit, risk management, compliance and assurance, and has worked in some of the largest ASX listed organisations in a variety of industries.

Having designed and implemented multiple assurance functions across internal audit, management systems and compliance functions, Ilan has significant experience with both strategic and operational level assurance working with internal, external and regulatory stakeholders.

A qualified accountant with the CAANZ, Ilan is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and the Institute of Risk Management (UK).  Ilan holds a Bachelor of Accounting and a Batchelor of Banking and Finance from Monash University.

Ilan is passionate about the disciplines of assurance and governance and also sits on the Audit and Risk Management Committee for the Brotherhood of St. Lawrence in a non-executive capacity.

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Our scheme governance

The scheme’s regulator, Recycling Victoria, is overseeing the management of the scheme, including the way that businesses and the wider community can participate and interact within the scheme.