Our board

ALEC is governed by a skilled group of individuals who provide the strategic leadership to help ALEC achieve its vision of healthy futures for arid lands and people. The Board's principle responsibilities are to review and monitor ALEC’s work to ensure that ALEC is achieving its objectives and meeting its legal and regulatory obligations and to develop appropriate strategy and policy.

Our Board Members volunteer their time and expertise - and lots of it - and their work is integral to ALEC's success.

The ALEC Board was elected at the November 2022 AGM.

View the ALEC constitution here

Barb Molanus - Chair

Barb has been involved with ALEC in one form or another since arriving in Mparntwe some 25+ years ago. She is strongly committed to supporting the work of creating a safe future for the desert regions - a place where all living things can thrive.

Barb cares passionately about social justice of which the health of our planet is integral. She works in health where she believes wholeheartedly in Aboriginal Community Control and although her work for ALEC is on a volunteer basis - the link with healthy humans and healthy climate and country is undeniable.

Andy Kenyon - General Member

Andy is passionate about protecting the desert environment for future generations to understand, respect, and enjoy. Andy has a background in natural resource management and community development, both in Australia and internationally. In the NT he has worked with First Nations peoples on caring for country, land rights and Native Title. He is currently studying groundwater science in order to better understand and advocate for groundwater, our most precious asset.

Deborah Mason - Treasurer

Debbie is a Chartered Accountant who has lived in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory since 2000. She has worked as a Chief Financial Officer in Indigenous Health in Central Australia for the past nine years.

Debbie has been ALEC’s Treasurer since late 2021. She has worked closely with our Business Manager and Bookkeeper to transform our financial systems, budgeting and accountability, with a strong focus on fundraising to improve ALEC’s financial sustainability.

Faron Peckham - General Member

Faron is a Traditional Owner and native holder of Mparntwe (ALice Springs). Faron has lived experiences through the Northern Territory, Central Queensland and Pilbara region of Western Australia. He is actively involved at community and board levels with a recent appointment as a member on the Witjira National Park Co-management Board (South Australia). Faron has worked in government, mining, remote community services, land management and pastoral sectors. These experiences and insights have equipped Faron to engage, manage, develop and implement strategic and operational outcomes to benefit the community and Indigenous people. He enjoys sharing his passion to highlight the needs and opportunities for collaboration for people and community to share a stronger bond for the future in how we collectively respect and look after country. His other passions are his cultural connections with the Wangjangurru, Lower-Southern Arrernte and Dagoman lands.

Harpal Singh - General Member

Harpal Singh Sandhu was born in a small kale farming village at Amritsar Punjab, India. Since arriving in Australia in 2011, Harpal Singh has been an active member of the Gurmat Parchar Sewa Society (GPSS) Australia. He has volunteered with the Arid Lands Environment Centre since 2018 and has been a Board member since 2023. Harpal Singh is also a member of Red Cross Australia and the Multicultural Community Services of Central Australia, who support culturally and linguistically diverse new Centralians.

Heather Smith - General Member

Heather has been living in Mparntwe since 2011. She was born in the UK and immigrated to Australia as a young child, growing up in Wagga Wagga on Wiradjuri country. Heather studied anthropology, political science and social work at university in Melbourne and has been working in frontline and leadership positions in NGOs ever since. Heather is active as a volunteer in the community space, having served on the board of the NT Working Women’s Centre for a number of years before moving to the ALEC board, and being a leader in various grassroots activist campaigns. Heather is passionate about protecting country and working with the whole community to create a liveable future for the central desert region.

Nikki Flook - General Member

Nicola has been working for systems change in policy and advocacy roles for over ten years. Her work in the Territory has been propelled by her love for the place and people, and the ever-present concern for the impacts that climate change and over-extraction have on both. She currently works at the Central Land Council, where she has the privilege of working alongside traditional owners, supporting their rights to live well on their country. Elected to the ALEC Board in 2024, she feels honoured to contribute to the essential work of this small but mighty organisation.

Sasha Kiessling- General Member

When Sasha moved to Alice Springs in 2006 she became actively involved in ALEC's successful campaign against the proposed Angela Pamela Uranium mine as a member of the 'Families for a Nuclear Free Future' group. Sasha first joined the ALEC Board in 2021. She lives in Alice Springs - growing up kids, a productive garden, bees and chickens. She works in community development and has worked in various Aboriginal governance, empowerment and youth education and leadership projects across the central desert tri-state region and throughout the Northern Territory. Sasha acknowledges Aboriginal people as the traditional custodians in caring for country and the arid lands environment where we live. However, Sasha firmly believes it's everyone's responsibility to care for and protect this land, and contribute to a healthier environment for future generations to come.

Meet our Board