Board appointments for Australian Renewable Energy Agency

The Albanese Government today announces the appointment of Marianna O'Gorman to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) board and confirms the re-appointment of Stephen McIntosh for another term.

Ms O'Gorman brings a wealth of corporate governance and government advisory experience to ARENA, covering climate, energy, technology innovation and sustainable finance.

She started her career working on climate change at the World Bank, and worked on ARENA’s establishment.

Marianna has been appointed for a two-year term, replacing Stephanie Unwin who has been a highly valued board member since 2018, and is nearing the end of the maximum term.

The tenure of Mr McIntosh, a resources sector veteran of 36 years with invaluable experience as Rio Tinto’s head of innovation, has been extended a further two years after he joined the board in 2021.

ARENA is a proud Australian legacy, and since its creation in 2012 – it has provided $2.15 billion in grant funding to unlock almost $9.41 billion of investment in Australia’s renewable energy industry.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen welcomed Ms O'Gorman’s appointment and thanked Ms Unwin for her outstanding service.

“ARENA’s work is central to driving innovation for cleaner, cheaper energy,” Minister Bowen said.

“Marianna comes extremely qualified to add to ARENA’s great legacy and will be an asset in guiding ARENA’s continued investment and support for innovation in the clean energy sector. 

“I would also like to thank Stephanie for her valuable contributions to ARENA and welcome Stephen’s re-appointment."

Background: 

Ms Marianna O'Gorman

Marianna is a non-executive director with eight years corporate governance experience in public policy, government, and energy. She currently serves on the Board of Stanwell Corporation and is a member of Stanwell’s People and Safety and Audit and Risk committee.

Marianna’s career began in Washington working on climate change at the World Bank. She returned to Australia to work as an adviser to the climate minister, including working on the establishment of ARENA. She also worked on the establishment of (and later at) the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Marianna has undertaken research on decarbonisation as a Fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for Climate and Energy Policy.

Marianna mentors founders of early-stage clean tech with Energylab. She is a recipient of the AICD Regional Leaders Scholarship, the Ross Garnaut Prize, and the Chief Executive Women Sustainability Scholarship. Ms O'Gorman also serves on the board of the McKell Institute in Queensland and on the Chief Executive Women Policy and Advocacy Committee in Queensland.

Stephen McIntosh

Stephen McIntosh has more than 36 years of global experience in the resources sector. He spent 33 years with the Rio Tinto Group culminating in the role as Group Executive Growth & Innovation. In that role he had accountability for most of Rio Tinto’s global technical functions including exploration, studies, construction, technical services, information technology, data science, robotics and automation, R&D, asset closure and for the last year he also led the global Health, Safety, Environment, and Security function. This accountability also included areas such as mineral processing, energy projects and latterly climate change.

Stephen holds a Master of Science from the University of Auckland and is a geophysicist by training. He is a non-executive director of Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE), a non-executive director of Chalice Mining, and a director and chairperson of Datarock Holdings. He is also an advisor to the Monash University led Critical Minerals Consortium.