Expert Group consists of a core working group of consultants and partners with specialist consultants to offer our clients the best possible results. This business model provides access to a wealth of expert information; high-level contacts with key industry stakeholders and minimal overheads combines to deliver exceptional value and first-class service.
Peter Brodribb
Managing Director
Peter is a mechanical engineer with extensive hands-on design and installation experience in HVAC&R sectors, and is regularly engaged as an independent consultant by the State and Federal regulators such as Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (i.e., GEMS, E3 and ozone team).
Peter has overall responsibility for all activities conducted by Expert Group within The VEU. Peter manages the relationship with key stakeholders (including Manufacturers, contractors and ESC), provides technical expertise and guidance on equipment eligibility and ensures all activities are compliant with the requirements of the scheme.
Peter maintains overall financial control of Expert Group activities and approves payments to clients once VEECs have been issued.
Sonja Kent
Director, Chief Financial Officer and IT
Sonja holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Otago, 1990 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne, 1995. She has proven strengths in maximizing the use of technology to contribute to the bottom-line, business process re-engineering, negotiation, training development and communication. Sonja worked in the technology sector of the Financial Services industry for over two decades with several major banking groups (including Big 4) where she managed a large team of people throughout Australasia.
Sonja has the responsibility of the financial accounting, accounts payable/receivable and information technology for the business.
Graeme Dewerson
Principal Consultant and NSW General Manager
Graeme is a degree qualified environmental scientist with 20 years’ experience in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry. The range of roles throughout Graeme’s career include operations manager, technical manager, commercial activities and general management.
Having worked in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry for most of his career he has an intimate understanding of the technology, energy efficiency opportunities, refrigerants, compliance and technical requirements in supermarket and related industries.
PBA Upgrade Manager is responsible, in co-ordination with the lead project manager, for liaising with the client, and the technical contractors as required, to ensure the energy efficiency upgrade is consistent with VEU/PBA requirements and to maximize energy efficiency gains, within existing financial and technical constraints.
Jelena Franjic
Principal Consultant (Technical and Compliance Advisor)
Jelena is a mechanical engineer with 7 years of experience in the HVAC&R industry. During her time in the industry, Jelena has gained experience working with refrigerant gases as well and refrigeration and air conditioning systems, with a focus on system efficiency and optimisation across a range of applications.
Role: Jelena is responsible for all day-to-day interactions with contractors and end users over the course of each project. This includes ensuring commercial and contractual agreements are in place, organisations and equipment are eligible for the scheme and that process is correctly followed to ensure compliance with VEU requirements.
Shubham Maindarkar
Administration Manager (Document Controller)
Shubham is responsible for the administration and documentation function within the VEU scheme. This includes interaction with stakeholders to acquire documents, register projects, keep track of project progress and ensure that all digital and physical documents are meticulously filed and maintained pending audit.
Michael McCann
Principal Consultant
Michael McCann has been a consultant, primarily focused on energy, greenhouse and environmental policy for more than 30 years.
He has been involved in projects covering many aspects of residential and commercial energy efficiency, equipment energy efficiency, renewable energy, fuels and emissions, and alternative fuels with Federal and State Government agencies, intergovernmental parties and industry.
Since 2005 much of his work on greenhouse emissions controls has been focused on the HVAC&R industry. This followed ground-breaking research he conducted at that time that demonstrated that refrigeration and air conditioning technology and systems are the single largest end-use technology source of greenhouse emissions in the economy, combining direct emissions of SGGs with consumption of as much as a quarter of all electricity sent out in Australia.
Michael’s most recent assignments in the HVAC&R industry include:
- Cold Hard Facts 4, eighth edition, 2024
- Heat pumps – Emerging trends in the Australian market, 2023
- Maintenance and leak project, 2022
- Air Conditioning Faults – An Australian Analysis, 2022
Helen Russell
Field Documentation Specialist
Helen is responsible for data and documentation collection from remote customer sites. This includes geotagged photographs, a review of controls/equipment installations and collection of signatures where applicable.
Graham Anderson
Senior Analyst
Graham has been consulting on energy and climate, greenhouse emissions data, analysis and reporting for more than 25 years. Graham is a recognised expert in the calculation, compilation, reporting, and review of energy, industrial processes, and F-gas activity and emissions for local, national, and international bodies. Graham’s roles in the Expert Group include data and policy work on HVAC&R technology and gases for Cold Hard Facts and related publications.