Our Team

Deb Spring is a seasoned "Sustainability Practioneer" who has developed and implemented sustainability strategies across many industries, obtaining the right balance between profits, community, environmental impacts, and stakeholder satisfaction. In her most recent role as National Manager of Corporate Responsibility and Stakeholder Relations at Australia Post, Deb successfully led the definition and implementation of the company’s Corporate Responsibility strategy that achieved seven strategic goals relating to the environment, community investment, products and services, supply chain, workforce, stakeholder relations and governance and reporting.

Deb has broad experience gained as a senior executive in the private, public and semi-government sectors across a diverse range of industries in both domestic and international markets. These industries include energy, manufacturing, recycling, petro-chemicals, rail, technology, transport and logistics. The companies are leading organizations in their sectors including General Electric, Visy, Exxon, National Rail and Australia Post.

Deb has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Union College, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Deb is also a licensed professional engineer and a Graduate Member of the Australia Institute of Company Directors.

Richard Johnston is passionate about helping clients build sustainable businesses. He specializes in helping clients measure and manage their impact on the environment. He sees measuring sustainability performance as a critical first step to identifying, prioritizing and implementing practical opportunities to enhance their performance.

Richard brings a broad perspective to Carbon Compliance Partners client engagements from 25 years’ experience across renewables, financial services, mining, insurance, investment banking industries and the accounting profession. He has worked in strategy, investment banking, accounting, and advisory roles with firms including RACV, IBM Consulting, Hindal, PWC and PPB and has owned internet and renewables businesses.

Richard is Chairman of the Australian Small Wind Association, and a member of Beyond Zero Emissions, the Alternative Technology Association and the Clean Energy Council. He holds a Bachelor of Business from Monash, a Masters of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School and Fellow of CPA Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Stephen Spring is an educator, a researcher, and a corporate, environmental and social entrepreneur. As an educator, he teaches post-graduate and executive-education programs about the desirability of entrepreneurial change for the advancement of society and builds student skills and self-confidence so that they can lead such change. As a researcher he has recently completed PhD studies that explored how company boards influence a company’s entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, Stephen is constantly seeking to drive change through the innovative reallocation of his own and other people’s resources to achieve environmental, social and corporate change.

Stephen has had what could best be described as an ‘eclectic’ career. He has worked in construction in Australia, Asia and South America; he was part of McKinsey and Company’s Australian practice where he consulted to resource and finance companies; he managed and liquidated a start-up fish-farm; he developed corporate strategy and managed international mergers and acquisitions for a large public company; and he founded and managed eHardware.com.au, an online home and garden super-store.

Stephen has a Bachelor of Engineering from Monash University, a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University and a PhD from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University.