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Meet the team

Meet our team of dedicated organisational psychologists and organisational development specialists.

Our team of dedicated organisational psychologists and organisational development specialists understand people, culture, human resources systems and organisational structures.

We are uniquely positioned to deliver an empirically supported approach at a global scale.

Metisphere has the proven global experience, qualifications and strategic rigor to help organisations create sustainable behavioral change and adapt in a rapidly changing world.

Ali Burston

Dr Ali Burston

Global Managing Director

Dr. Ali Burston (MAPS, PSIOPA) is an AHPRA Endorsed Organisational Psychologist, Founder and Global Managing Director of Organisational Psychology consulting group, Metisphere.

She is the President of Metisphere Canada, and lives and works in British Columbia.

As an experienced Organisational Psychologist, Ali works with Boards and Executives to enhance productivity and performance in individual, team and organisational settings by creating behavioural change aligned with corporate strategy, vision and purpose.

Ali is committed to creating people-focused strategic solutions and has extensive experience working in local, national, and global industry sectors enabling leadership capability, change effectiveness, and sustainable organisational transformations.

Since establishing Metisphere in 2010, Dr. Burston has been one of Australia’s leading advocates for gender diversity and mental health interventions across several sectors.

Dr. Burston is a member of Curtin University’s Gender Research Network Advisory Board in Australia. This Advisory Board contributes to Curtin’s strategic goals, activities, initiatives and policy development around gender equity, and builds on Curtin’s strengths in gender and diversity research.

Ali was a founding board member for the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology Australia (‘SIOPA’) in 2018, and served as Vice President and CPD Lead for more than six years. SIOPA creates growth, advocacy, supervision and professional development opportunities for Organisational Psychologists and related disciplines in Australia.

Ali has been nominated and won numerous industry, research, and professional awards throughout her career. In 2016, Ali won the National Association of Women in Construction Diversity and Inclusion Award. Ali was a Finalist for Business News 40Under40 Awards in 2019 and a Finalist for the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia “Outstanding Woman in Resources Award” in 2020.

Ali is a devoted mother to her two sports-loving sons and a loving wife to her aviation-loving husband. As a family, many weekends are spent skiing Blackcomb or cheering on their favorite Formula 1 racing team.

Janna Jones

Janna Jones

Manager

Janna is a passionate organisational development professional committed to supporting others to live their most fulfilled lives.

With a background in leadership development, team building, cultural transformation, behavioral safety, FIFO and over a decade of experience in the mining industry; she has the innate ability to translate what may seem like heavy behavioral science backed content into context and language that is relevant and meaningful and engaging to the various layers of leadership.

Janna is a Leadership Circle Consultant and Leadership Maturity Developmental Coach who values taking a top-down approach to leadership transformation and is dedicated to leading clearly and authentically.

Outside of work, Janna enjoys a coastal life with her husband, three children, their fur babies, and the time to be creative.

Having studied a Master of design in Milan and utilising the time off that FIFO life provides to backstage manage the big four fashion weeks globally. She currently shows under her own name in Australia, New Zealand and Dubai.

Janna is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Johan Nel

Dr Johan Nel

Manager

Johan holds a PhD in organisational psychology and is an experienced People and Culture leader with multi-national experience in leading Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Organisational Development, and Diversity and Inclusion teams. He supports organisations to translate their strategic requirements into people requirements.

Before joining Metisphere, he held senior human resources and organisational development positions at Barclays Africa and The University of Western Australia (UWA). During Johan’s tenure at Barclays, he was responsible for implementing people initiatives that enabled 30,000 employees to serve 10 million customers across 12 countries.

He later joined UWA where he worked closely with the university’s executive team to implement people initiatives that contributed to the university remaining in the top 100 universities in the world (QS World University Rankings).

He is passionate about initiatives that create dynamic work environments that lead to higher performance and wellbeing, and greater employee engagement.

He is core values resonate with the values espoused by Metisphere. More specifically, three values that stands out for him are being curious in the way we think, being courageous in the way we make decisions, and having an unwavering determination to create a sense of belonging for all.

Johan and his wife have two young sons. As a family, they enjoy the beautiful Australian beaches, bike trails and taking their little dog to the park for a walk.

Johan is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Mel Freeman

Melanie Freeman

Principal

Melanie has over 25 years as an experienced organisational development consultant and psychologist. Her focus is on enhancing leadership and organisational capabilities to ensure high performance and effectiveness. She collaborates with teams to deliver high performance outcomes, to challenge mindsets and uses evidenced based methodologies and approaches.

Melanie has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and is presently pursuing her Doctorate of Psychology (Organisational). She has worked across a range of industries including oil and gas, mining, energy, IT, finance, government, defense, utilities and not-for-profit. Working in high reliability organisations and first responders has been a focus of Melanie’s practice.

She has also worked previously full-time and part-time as a lecturer on the Masters of Organisational Psychology at Murdoch University in Australia where she had a focus on safety systems, work and well-being, managing workplace mental health and psychosocial risks.

Melanie has worked internationally in international development and provided leadership development, performance and training expertise to the Australia/Fiji Law and Justice Sector Program (2.5yrs), Regional Assistant Mission to the Solomon Islands (1 yr) and Organisational Development and Change of the Public Service in Bhutan. Her focus was on capacity building leaders and local human resources practitioners to improve their organisations and communities.

Melanie has over 20 years working as a military psychologist (reserve) with over 12 years in Special Operations. She provides expert advice on selection and training in mission critical teams and has developed a leadership framework, bespoke 360 degree feedback process and coaching programs for leaders in Special Operations.

Melanie is based in our Australian office and works with clients across the world.

Nikki Drury

Nikki Drury

Consultant

Nikki has a passion for human-centered solutions, bringing strong empathy and understanding to her work for all facets of an organisation. She is a creative and authentic professional who believes work should be an intrinsically meaningful and engaging experience that helps people to increase their sense of connectedness.

Nikki holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Psychology and Human Resource Management and is certified in Change Management and Executive and Organisational Coaching.

Nikki brings experience in business transformation, organisational development, leadership and coaching, with a keen interest in driving high performance through organisational culture, team effectiveness and inclusive leadership. She has worked in traditional and progressive organisational structures, delivering programs across both the not-for-profit and resources industries.

Nikki is experienced in workshop facilitation and coaching with audiences ranging from front line to executive level leaders. She finds the opportunity to build strong professional relationships and engagement with people highly energising.

In her spare time Nikki enjoys going on outdoor adventures with her energetic American Staffy and spending quality time with friends and family. She has an ever-expanding wine collection and loves to immerse herself in different cultures and perspectives while traveling.

Nikki is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Dr Alasdair Lee

Dr Alasdair Lee

Associate Consultant (Singapore)

Alasdair holds a PhD in chemistry and a degree in business management and has enjoyed a career that started in the academic world with a successful transition into the mining and oil and gas worlds in the early 2000’s.

He is an experienced learning and development professional and has led the training and development function in major multinational oil and gas and mining companies in Australia for over 20 years. In these roles Alasdair has developed and delivered many talent, organisational development and leadership development programs.

Alasdair is an organisational development specialist, confident and skilled facilitator and accredited in the use of many diagnostic profiling tools.

Outside of work, Alasdair enjoys playing guitar, keyboards, composing music in his own studio and spending time at home with friends and family.
Alasdair is based in our Singaporean office but works with our clients across the world.

Justin Williams

Associate Consultant

Justin served in the military for twenty-eight years, with twenty years in UK/Australian Special Forces. He is passionate about developing high performing individuals and teams, which he achieves by combining lessons learnt from his vast operational and leadership experience with a diverse academic background. Justin’s personal goal is to enable leaders to competently and confidently represent themselves and their organisations in the development of high performing teams.

Justin holds a Master of Business, Masters of Science, Security and Risk Management, and is certified on CMI L5 Management Coaching and Mentoring, L5 Diploma Workplace Health and Safety, L5 Diploma Management and Leadership, Certificate IV Training and Assessment.

Justin has extensive experience coaching, mentoring and training national and international military and security service personnel. He has been the Senior Instructor of Special Operations Commanders’ Courses, and the Recruitment and Selection Officer for UK and Australian Special Forces.

Justin has successfully transferred this experience into the corporate world as a leadership coach for executive and frontline leaders in the Resources Industry, the Defence Force, and sporting organisations.

Justin is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Charmaine White

Charmaine White

Consultant

Charmaine is a people-oriented professional with 15 years of experience spanning diverse industries and human resource elements including talent acquisition, learning and development, leadership development, workforce planning, and operational delivery. With a special interest in people, culture, and leadership development, Charmaine thrives when she works with organisations to maximise strategic and operational human resource outcomes and supports the alignment of business frameworks and priorities.

She has an education in coaching and brings energy, authenticity, and insight to coaching sessions creating a genuine connection and gaining a deeper understanding of issues and concerns experienced by her coachees.

Charmaine has her son, Jack, to thank for lighting that spark within her to pursue her passions and live her best life. Because of the opportunity she has in her role to connect with people over things that make us human, vulnerable, and imperfect, Charmaine is motivated to help others realise their full potential and make the most of opportunities that come their way. In her spare time, Charmaine enjoys sailing, exploring new places, learning new things, practicing yoga, being in nature with her dog, and having fun with friends and family.

Charmaine is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Monica Kander

Monica Kander

Manager

Monica has over 15 years’ global human resources experience, where she has held both in-house management and consulting roles. As a certified coach and advocate for human-centered organisations, she is deeply passionate about transforming the world of work by creating safe and inclusive workplace cultures characterised by trust, honesty, and organisational justice.

With a background in social work, where she worked with vulnerable populations in South Africa, and a Master of Business Leadership degree, Monica is deeply committed to empowering leaders with the skills to empower their teams, foster creativity, and drive exceptional performance.

Her work spans various industries, including mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, government, education, health, aged-care, not-for-profit sectors and First Nations organisations and communities. Monica’s roles as a leadership coach, facilitator, consultant, and strategist have equipped her with the tools to help leaders discover their purpose, enhance resilience, and boost confidence to catalyse transformative change within their teams and organisations.

Monica’s collaborative approach is focused on shaping and implementing agile, pragmatic strategies and solutions. She is dedicated to cultivating a safe and healthy workplace culture, instilling the confidence to face challenges head-on, the courage to embrace change, and the resilience to keep moving forward. She has successful coaching partnerships for the design and delivery of executive to front line programs assessments, coaching and mentoring services, with leadership teams in state agencies, listed and private organisations.

Having extensive Human Resource Management & Organisational Development experience in complex settings, Monica specialises in transformational change for individuals, teams and organisations, deep facilitation of groups to create change and helping people have the conversations that really matter!

Monica is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is a volunteer speaker curator for TEDx Kings Park, Western Australia.

Monica is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Kristie Turner

Kristie Turner

Project Support

Kristie is a passionate and details-orientated project support specialist. She thrives on creating best practice, continuous improvement, and procedures to maximise project effectiveness. Kristie is an organised multi-tasker with a people-centric nature that enables efficiency and reliability for the greater team.

She has extensive experience working within the retail sector specialising in Team Member and Leadership Learning and Development facilitation and workshop development, Retail Leadership, Talent Acquisition, Accounts, Procurement and Business Improvement.

Kristie has qualifications in Human Resource Management, Training and Assessment, Business Management, and Organisational Coaching.

Outside the professional workplace Kristie enjoys spending time at her local beach and coastal surrounds. Her husband and young son keep her busy and constantly on her toes; the beach is her favorite place to relax and recharge, walk, swim or run. Maintaining strong connections with her family and friends is also important. Kristie enjoys experiencing new places, restaurants, and wineries, taking trips to southern Western Australia regularly to enjoy all that the region has to offer.

Kristie is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Kamini Burvill

Kamini Burvill

Business Support

Kamini is a data enthusiast with a keen interest in analytical thinking. As a detail-oriented strategic planner, she thrives on optimising efficiencies and fostering organisational growth.

Kamini holds a Master’s degree in computer science and has over 10 years of operational, administrative, business improvement and leadership experience within the healthcare sector. She is passionate about creating and nurturing a collaborative inclusive environment.
Kamini has extensive experience with team development predominantly with systems and employee engagement.

She has a passion to extract raw data and translate the results to strategic business actions, finding better ways to execute business objectives.

Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her young family at a local park, exploring new cafes, reading, traveling, cooking, and volunteering at her local community kitchen.

Kamini is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Karl Matacz

Karl Matacz

Consultant

Karl is a Certified Practicing Accountant (FCPA). Karl has previously worked as the CFO for several large Australian organisations including Synergy and Verve Energy.

Karl has also had previous experience as a CEO of Electricity Holding Company.

Karl has executive management experience across a broad range of financial, accounting, financial planning, commercial, risk management, business analytics, procurement and administrative areas.

Karl is proactive and results-oriented with broad experience in all aspects of strategic planning, business planning and analysis and financial management.

Karl has a hands-on management style in the development and implementation of strategies and business plans and undertaking business transformations to ensure company growth and value creation.

Karl is a member of Australian Institute of Company Directors, and loves to travel overseas.

Karl is based in our Australian office but works with our clients across the world.

Eva Munro Barnes

Associate Consultant (Canada)

Eva is an executive leader and strategic advisor focused on the intersection of people, strategy and digital innovation.

Eva holds a Bachelor of Science, Neuropsychology and Business, and Executive MBA, Global Energy Management and Corporate Sustainability from the University of Calgary.

She empowers leaders and assists organisations accelerate through the combination of people-centric technology, bespoke consulting, and fractional executive support.

In her previous roles she was a managing partner and founder of a Calgary-based management consulting firm specialising in organisational effectiveness and change management.

During the early years of her career Eva spent over a decade with two global management consulting firms, supporting clients with their most challenging people and strategy needs, across multiple industries and geographies.

Eva is based in our Canadian office but works with our clients across the world.

Dr James Marlatt

Associate Consultant (Canada)

Dr James (‘Jim’) Marlatt holds a PhD in Human and Organisational Systems, has an MBA, and is an ICF Accredited Coach and engineer. He is an Executive coach, leadership and development consultant and mineral exploration program manager.

Jim has over 40 years of international business and consulting experience from the frontline to the board room.

As a scholar-practitioner Jim’s focus is on the development of transformative coaching methods; helping exceptional people to develop their leadership capability.

Jim assists individuals, teams and organisations in leadership development, leadership program design, team development, individual and team coaching, as well as psychometric and competency-based assessments, instructional design, and large and small group facilitation.

Jim has experience with all aspects of business management including fund-raising, boards, corporate governance, strategic management, legal, financial & management accounting, human resource management, engagement, succession planning, high-potential talent management, leadership development, project management & change management.

Jim has contributed to various publications relating to the executive coaching relationship, Social, and Ecological Transformation Phenomenology and Somatic Phenomenological Coaching, in Innovations in Leadership Coaching.

Jim is based in our Canadian office but works with our clients across the world.

People-focused strategic solutions

Get in touch and let us show you how our applied organisational psychology approach can build sustainable growth across your entire organisation.