Chief Executive Officer

Dr Celine Steinfeld is a geographer specialising in natural resource policy and management in Australia. She was awarded the University Medal in 2008 for research on floodplain development in the internationally significant Macquarie Marshes in the Murray-Darling Basin. After graduating, Celine worked in policy implementation at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. She was the inaugural recipient of the Peter Cullen Postgraduate Scholarship in 2009 and won the international River Management Young Achievers Award at the River symposium in 2012. She joined the Wentworth Group in 2015 with a passion for using scientific evidence to advance water reform and landscape conservation in a changing climate.

Healthy Landscapes Project Lead

Michaelie is an environmental scientist and geographer. A driving force of her career and academics is to find improved ways for society to relate to nature to ensure long term prosperity for communities and the environment. A Bachelor of Environment and Sustainability and Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University taught her an interdisciplinary, systems thinking approach to natural resource management. She is interested in the interface between science and policy, and elevating First Nations’ goals in conservation. She has interned with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust and volunteered in a range of environment related groups including at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Water Policy Analyst

Fateme brings expertise in complex systems and water resources management, specialising in the interactions between people and nature and in designing approaches that support sustainable water reform. She completed her PhD at the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, where her research focused on improving integrated modelling and assessment practices in the water sector. Fateme has worked across academic, consulting, and policy settings, and is passionate about building bridges between science, policy, and communities to address the challenges of water scarcity and reform.

Strategic Communications Consultant

Lucy has joined the Wentworth Group as an independent strategic communications consultant. She has more than forty years of experience in strategic communications, media relations, stakeholder engagement and extension and behaviour change across rural and regional Australia including in the area of environment and sustainability.

Her career commenced as a rural reporter with ABC Radio, and over the following 23 years roles included reporting, producing and presenting a range of ABC radio and television programs, National Editor for ABC Rural, State Director for the ABC in Queensland and Network Scheduler across ABC’s Radio networks.

Lucy also has extensive senior management and leadership experience outside the ABC, as Managing Director of the full-service public relations business Cox Inall Communications (now part of Dentsu Creative), General Manager Communication and Extension with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and General Manager Communications with Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA).

In her most recent role as part of MLA’s executive leadership team, Lucy oversaw all strategic communications including reputation and crisis management, media relations, stakeholder engagement, events, MLA membership and producer communications, and the sheep and cattle sector’s Sustainability Frameworks.