Ellanese Mytton is a Registered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) and has served on the Registration Board for five years. Since 2024, Ellanese has been the Chair of the Early Career Development Programme (ECDP) Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Forestry Science degree from the University of Canterbury (2000) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business from the University of Auckland (2017).

With extensive experience in the New Zealand forest industry, Ellanese has held various technical, forest management, and consulting roles. Currently, she specialises in financial and forestry modelling and analysis, focusing on asset management and acquisition in Australia and New Zealand and hopes to bring to the Board the perspective of a mid-career practicing registered consultant.

Geoff is the newcomer to the Registration Board and says he looks forward to representing the views of the Institute membership, however they are presented to him.

Geoff is one of a vanishing breed – foresters trained under the New Zealand Forest Service training scheme who attended an overseas forestry school. He was the last Kiwi to graduate from the Oxford School of Forestry Science.

After graduation, Geoff worked in a number of New Zealand Forest Service positions in Head Office, the Forest Research Institute, Waipa Sawmill, Kaingaroa Forest, the Forestry Training Centre and in Dunedin. He joined Dunedin's Tasman Forestry Ltd in 1981 and worked for nine years in Otago/Southland, Nelson/Marlborough, and as a visiting lecturer at the School of Forestry. After that he was forest manager for the Christchurch City Council, then the Wellington Regional Council.

In 2000 Geoff became self-employed and successfully applied for recognition as a registered forestry consultant. His main areas of consulting work have been in rural fire project management, rural fire protection reviews and environmental (mainly FSC certification) auditing. Geoff joined the NZIF in 1970, and held the positions of Newsletter Editor and Councillor between 1982 and 1988. He was Secretary for the then Wellington Section from 2001 to 2003, and has been on the organising committees for several Institute conferences.

Geoff was elected as a Fellow in 2012.

Sarah Helleur is an experienced forestry professional with a strong background in compliance and sustainable land management. After graduating from the UC School of Forestry she began her career with the Selwyn Plantation Board before working for the Forestry Commission in the UK as a recreation ranger.  After raising a family she returned to forestry working for Environment Canterbury, focusing on forestry compliance, ensuring that forestry operations met regional environmental standards and contributed to sustainable land use.

Sarah later joined Forever Forests as a Forestry Land-Use and ETS Consultant, where she provided expert guidance on land-use planning, carbon forestry, and navigating the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Her work supports landowners and organizations in optimizing forestry practices while meeting regulatory and environmental goals.

Passionate about sustainable forestry and environmental stewardship, Sarah continues to advocate for practices that balance economic viability with ecological responsibility.

Senior Forest scientist – Plant development and physiology research group (New Zealand Forest Research Institute)

Serajis graduated from Khulna University, Bangladesh with a BSc in Forestry (Hons) and holds multiple MSc degrees from, Khulna University, University of Lleida, University of Lisbon, respectively. He received a PhD in Forestry from the New Zealand School of Forestry, University of Canterbury.

He is a broadly trained forest scientist, driven to understand forest growth dynamics of both mono- and mixed-species plantation as well as natural forests. His research intersects through forest growth dynamics, ecology, ecophysiology and geospatial analysis disciplines.

Besides, Serajis served/s different science boards, college of reviewers and committee focused mainly on early career researchers.

It has been a real privilege to be a member of early career development programme (ECDP) of NZIF, and I am looking forward to help and shape NZIF early career professionals through ECDP.