The RG team is pleased to welcome Naomi Brennan as CEO.
With significant experience in the not-for-profit sector, or ‘not-for-loss’ as she prefers to call it, Naomi’s skillset will prove valuable as Reverse Garbage navigates quite a critical time for the organisation. Thankfully, she’s up for the challenge, having conquered a few in her career.
“When I started in my previous CEO role at My Gateway 16 years ago, it was a small, fairly marginal not-for-profit organisation. Over the years, we made an important shift in focus towards being ‘not-for-loss’. This empowered us to extend the capacity of the organisation, which meant we could achieve more of the good work we did in employing young people in skill shortage trades. In time, we were able to invest in critical infrastructure to ensure a robust future and My Gateway is now a strong organisation based in Campbelltown with a healthy surplus,” said Naomi.
“At Reverse Garbage, I will focus on identifying the strengths we need to grow and the weaknesses we need to diminish. Reverse Garbage is a fantastic organisation with passionate supporters and customers which gives us a fantastic base to build on.”
Sustainability is a very different world to a Group Training Organisation, so we were intrigued by the change. Naomi saw this role at Reverse Garbage as an opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the community in which she lives and to future generations. And she felt so strongly about it, she came out of retirement to take it up.
“Scratch a farmer and you will find a greenie…scratch a farmer’s daughter and you will find a committed environmentalist. Growing up on the land connected me with a responsibility to protect and enrich that land resource that is so temporarily in my hands. It was my father’s life work to enrich the soil he worked all his life.”
“We are all so conscious now of the finite resources we rely on and the need to minimise our use of those resources wherever possible. Promoting reuse as the first choice goes a long way towards achieving this,” said Naomi.
Look out for her when you next visit the warehouse. She has been spotted at the sales counter, and even helping on the loading dock. There’s no substitute for hands-on experience!
