Geoscience Australia’s CEO, James Johnson, has announced that he will retire from his role after eight years as head of the organisation.
Johnson joined Geoscience Australia (GA) in January 2006 as the Chief of Minerals Division, having spent 20 years in the mining and mineral exploration sector, and was appointed CEO in mid-2017.
“Every day I feel privileged to lead this organisation and advocate for the work that our team does that is so valuable to the nation,” he said.
“The last eight years as Chief Executive Officer have been the highlight of my career.”
Johnson hailed a number of significant advancements achieved by GA during his tenure as CEO, such as the Digital Earth Australia platform and Exploring for the Future program.
“Our precompetitive geoscience programs, in concert with those of the state and NT Geological Surveys, have changed perceptions of Australia’s attractiveness for resources exploration, taking us from 8 per cent of global exploration expenditure to 18 per cent over eight years, and delivered incredible outcomes, including securing vital groundwater resources for a number of remote communities,” he said.
“We have built more accurate GPS positioning for all Australians through the Positioning Australia program, and in doing so, enabled precision agriculture, location-enabled robotics and safer aviation.
“The Digital Atlas of Australia was launched, connecting geographic data with diverse socio-economic data to enable greater insights for place-based policy design and decision making,” he added.
Within GA, Johnson has led cultural change throughout the agency, resulting in GA being recognised by Science in Australia Gender Equity as a flagship department for equity, diversity and inclusion. “My vision would be that we no longer have to talk about it, because it’s just the way we are,” Johnson said.
In summing up the state of the agency, Johnson said that it “has never been in better shape”.
“We have never been more respected, more relevant, or more relied upon and trusted to deliver,” he said.
A recruitment process in underway to find a successor; Johnson will continue as CEO until an appointment is made.
