Leadership team

Carol Lilley - Chair

BCom, FCA, CIA, CGAP, GAICD

Carol Lilley was first appointed to the Icon Water Board in April 2013 and to the boards of Icon Distribution Investments Limited and Icon Retail Investments Limited in March 2017. She is Chair of Icon Water Board’s Risk and Assurance Committee and a Member of the Remuneration Committee. Ms Lilley was appointed as Deputy Chair of the Boards of Icon Water Limited, Icon Distribution Investments Limited and Icon Retail Investments Limited in March 2017. Ms Lilley’s appointment term was extended in October 2020 due to her specialist financial expertise and extensive knowledge of Icon Water’s business. 

In February 2023, Ms Lilley was appointed as Chair of the ActrewAGL Joint Venture Partnership Board and became a Member of the ActewAGL Partnerships Board. 

Ms Lilley is a full-time independent board director and Audit Committee Member. She was a Partner of an accounting firm and a financial statement and internal auditor for nearly 20 years. Her experience is in governance and assurance including financial statement audit, internal audit and project and risk management, with a particular focus on government. 

Ms Lilley is currently Chair of the Audit Committee for Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate and she also has various governance roles for Commonwealth Government entities (including as a Member of the Audit & Risk Committees for Services Australia and Chair for the Department of Home Affairs amongst others). 

Ms Lilley is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, was a registered company auditor and is a certified internal auditor.

Peter Dennis - Deputy Chair

B.Eng, M Environmental Studies, Dip Mgmt, FIEAust, CPEng, NER, Int PE (Aus) MAICD

Peter Dennis was appointed to the Icon Water Board in May 2020. He is a member of the Icon Water Remuneration Committee and a Director of the Icon Retail Investments Limited Board as well as a Director of the Icon Distribution Investments Limited Board. 

Mr Dennis’ appointment was extended for a second three year term in May 2023, and he joined the Icon Water Board’s Risk and Assurance Committee in June 2023. Mr Dennis is General Manager of Water for Beca Hunter H20, a Director of the NSW Local Government Procurement Board, and President and Director for the Australian Water Association. 

Mr Dennis has over 30 years’ water industry experience in Australia and overseas. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Seqwater (Bulk Water Utility for South East Queensland); Chief Executive Officer of the Armidale Regional Council; as well as holding senior executive roles with Hunter Water Corporation. Peter has extensive experience in all aspects of water utility management including strategy development and execution, customer/community consultation, operational leadership, regulator engagement, policy development, infrastructure delivery, ongoing asset management and workforce planning. 

He has a strong interest in sustainable urban water management and in ensuring the water industry is resilient against the impact of climate variability. He has also been actively involved in supporting our Pacific neighbours to meet the challenges of sustainable water management.

Mr Dennis was included in the Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia (2014 and 2015) and awarded the Newcastle Division of Engineers Australia’s ‘Professional Engineer of the Year (2009)’. Mr Dennis has a Bachelor of Engineering in chemical engineering, Masters of Environmental Studies, a postgraduate Diploma of Management, a Corporate Directors Diploma and is an Adjunct Professor in Engineering at the University of Newcastle. He also lectured in environmental process technologies for over 15 years.

Ray Hezkial - Managing Director

BEng (Civil), DipPM, MBA

In November 2018 Ray Hezkial was appointed as a Member of the Board of Icon Water Limited, Icon Distribution Investments Limited and Icon Retail Investments Limited.  Mr Hezkial is also Member of the Icon Water Remuneration Committee.

Mr Hezkial was appointed as a Member of the ActewAGL Partnerships Board and the ActewAGL Retail Investments Board in April 2019.

Mr Hezkial joined Icon Water in 2003 and commenced as acting Chief Executive Officer in October 2018 and was appointed as Managing Director in November 2018. His role as Managing Director was confirmed in April 2019. In his previous role as General Manager, Infrastructure Services, Mr Hezkial was responsible for managing Icon Water’s capital works program, provision of network operations and all aspects of day-to-day maintenance relating to the ACT’s water and sewer reticulation systems. 

Mr Hezkial has a Master of Business Administration, Diploma in Project Management, and Bachelor of Engineering (Civil). Mr Hezkial is a Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Geoffrey Buchanan - Director

Assoc DipBus, BBus (with Distinction), BSc (Hons), MGeogSc

Geoffrey Buchanan was appointed to the Icon Water Board from 10 July 2023 and as a Director of Icon Retail Investments Limited and Icon Distribution Investments Limited on 30 August 2023. Mr Buchanan has more than 20 years of community engagement experience on cultural heritage, natural resource management, and energy issues, involving extensive experience working with First Nations communities. 

In July 2022, he commenced in his current role as Research Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University, where he had previously worked on community-based and collaborative research projects from 2004–2012. From 2013–2015, he worked in the Native Title Research Unit at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies with a focus on supporting native title governance by Prescribed Bodies Corporate. From 2015–2022, Mr Buchanan was a Senior Policy Officer at the ACT Council of Social Service where he led community and consumer engagement on energy issues as manager of the ACT Energised Consumers Project. In this role he represented ACT community members’ and energy consumers’ interests on a number of ACT and national committees, including the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission’s Consumer Consultative Committee.

Mr Buchanan is the ACT representative on Energy Consumers Australia’s Board Reference Committee and the Council on the Ageing’s National Energy Advocates group. He remains engaged in the ACT community sector as a Director on the Board of Council on the Ageing ACT (since 2022) and as a member of ACT’s Shelter’s Executive Committee (since 2023). Mr Buchanan has an Associate Diploma of Business (Management), a Bachelor of Business (with Distinction) majoring in Management, a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Australian Environmental Policy and Economics, Indigenous Australian Studies, and Social Policy and Development, and a Masters in Geographical Sciences.

Dr Helen Locher - Director

BSc (Earth Science), MEnvSc (Environmental Science), PhD (Civil Engineering), GAICD

Dr Helen Locher was appointed to the Icon Water Board in May 2020. She is a member of the Icon Water Remuneration Committee and a Director of the Icon Retail Investments Limited Board as well as a Director of the Icon Distribution Investments Limited Board. Dr Locher also sits on the Risk and Assurance Committee. 

Ms Locher’s appointment was extended for a second three-year term in May 2023. Dr Locher is currently a nonexecutive director of the Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Corporation (TasWater), and a tribunal member of the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. She has had previous board roles with the Environmental Protection Agency (Tasmania) and the Resource Management and Planning Commission (Tasmania). 

Dr Locher has 18 years of experience working in senior roles for Hydro Tasmania, more than 30 years doing international consulting work, and 15 years serving on boards. She has considerable experience working with the water and energy industries, focused on environmental, social and sustainability challenges arising with major infrastructure development and operations across a variety of contexts. She has worked in more than 30 countries and on all continents, and as an independent consultant has delivered assignments for clients including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank, Mekong River Commission and the International Hydropower Association. 

Dr Locher has received several international awards recognising her significant contributions to better addressing sustainability issues in the global hydropower sector. Dr Locher has a Bachelor of Science (Earth Science), a Masters of Environmental Science, a PhD in Civil Engineering, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Nadine White - Director

LLB (Hons), BLA, PhD, GAICD

Dr Nadine White was appointed to the Icon Water Board, the Icon Water Remuneration Committee and as a Director of Icon Retail Investments Limited and Icon Distribution Investments Limited in August 2024. She is an experienced independent non-executive director in both the public and private sectors, having served previously on boards in the aged care, health, disability, Indigenous affairs, and financial services sectors. 

Dr White has been a Director with Care Connect Ltd since 2019; Scope Australia Ltd since 2022, Community Services #1 during 2022-2023, and in 2023 was appointed as a Director to Goodwin Aged Care Services and Dietitians Australia. 

She has been the Deputy Chair of several boards, including Canberra-based charity Raising Hope Education Foundation, the ACT Minister’s Work Health & Safety Council, and the local Bendigo Bank. She has also previously been a member of the ACT government’s Reconciliation Council and is the inaugural convenor of the ACT Mentor Walks program for women. 

Prior to becoming a full-time Non-Executive Director, Dr White spent much of her executive career in human resources and workplace relations in large complex organisations. She was Chief People Officer at ANU for ten years. Dr White has a PhD in organisational change and industrial relations, holds tertiary qualifications in business and law (honours), and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Julie-Anne Schafer - Director

Dr Warren Mundy - Director

Warren is the Managing Director of Bluestone Consulting that has provided regulatory, strategy and policy advice to investors, regulators, providers, and users of a wide range of infrastructure services since 2004. He currently serves on the boards of the Queensland Competition Authority and the Transgrid group of companies.  

At the time Warren joined the Board he was undertaking an Independent Review of Australia’s National Legal Assistance Partnership for Australia’s Attorneys General. He was a Commissioner at the Australian Productivity Commission from 2009 to 2015 and also served as the Australian Competitive Neutrality Commissioner. He has held executive roles in airport companies in Australia and Europe.

Warren served on the board of Airservices Australia for over five years from 2008, over four of which he was the Deputy Chair. He was a member of the Steering Committee for the joint NSW-Commonwealth Governments’ Sydney Aviation Strategy that led to the decision to build Western Sydney Airport. He has also been a director of the Sydney Desalination Plant, Vicforests, the Western Community Legal Services, James Watt College for Higher and Further Education, the United Kingdom Airports Operators Association and the National Health Co-operative.

Ray Hezkial - Managing Director

Gerard Brierley - General Manager Infrastructure Services

Davina McCormick - General Manager Customer Engagement

Alison Pratt - General Counsel - Company Secretary

Joy Yau - Chief Financial Officer

Tony Pollock - Chief Technology Officer

Mark Mulligan - General Manager People, Health and Safety