Leadership News: Ian Travers appointed as Chief Executive Officer
Extent Heritage is excited to announce the appointment of Ian Travers as Chief Executive Officer, effective from 1 January 2022.
“This appointment marks an exciting new chapter for Extent Heritage to build on the substantial platform we have developed as an innovative and highly capable national heritage advisory firm. Ian’s appointment reflects our commitment to a dynamic leadership group where renewal and the promotion of new ideas and new approaches is at the forefront of our thinking. We are confident that Ian’s mix of expertise and deep experience will be a huge asset as we develop our people-centred practice over the next few years, and we look forward to the opportunities Ian will open up for our team, our clients and our partners. We are very pleased that Ian has accepted the position and we are confident that he will lead the firm with imagination and integrity,” Mr Jim Wheeler, Chair of Extent Heritage.
Ian Travers joined Extent six years ago as a respected senior practitioner, and to date he has primarily focused on successfully growing the range and scale of services provided through the company’s Melbourne and new Hobart offices. Ian brings significant leadership and advocacy experience as Past President of Australia ICOMOS from 2016 to 2019, a term in which he oversaw Australia’s successful bid to host the ICOMOS General Assembly 2023 in Sydney. Ian has also recently taken on the role of inaugural President of the new ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Water and Heritage.
Ian specialises in archaeology, cultural values assessment, and heritage management and has broad international experience from the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia, and through his extensive contribution to international heritage organisations. He frequently builds and leads teams that include landscape architects, engineers, Traditional Owners and knowledge holders, business analysts, tourism specialists, ecologists, agriculturalists, and other heritage professionals in the completion of complex projects, including for National and World Heritage places. Ian is an experienced facilitator of public engagement with heritage and regularly works with and for southeast Australia’s Aboriginal communities, including through a long involvement with the City of Melbourne’s Aboriginal heritage programs.
Ian is quick to acknowledge that the success of Extent to date is attributable to the skill and dedication of outgoing Managing Director Dr MacLaren North and Extent’s other directors Jim Wheeler and Dr Andrew Sneddon. The company and its clients will continue to benefit greatly from the expertise of Mac in his new role of Chief Operating Officer, of Jim as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Services, and of Andrew as he leads Extent’s research and marketing initiatives.
Ian says “Extent Heritage is in great shape, and I’m looking forward to driving business growth, developing partnerships and encouraging innovation to complement and enrich what we do. I am honoured to work amongst some of Australia’s most respected heritage practitioners, and hugely excited to see their successors developing amongst us.”
“As a company owned and managed by heritage professionals, we are deeply committed to supporting our people, our clients and the communities whose heritage we manage through mentoring, skills development, research, advocacy and by driving best practice within the heritage profession.” says Ian.
With teams based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, and a network of Australian and international partners, Extent Heritage provides a single point of service for all heritage assessment and management requirements across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.