Mr McCormack was appointed as a director on 1 September 2020 and has over 40 years’ experience in the energy infrastructure sector in Australia and his career has encompassed all aspects of the sector, including commercial development, design, construction, operation and management of most of Australia’s natural gas pipelines and gas distribution systems. His experience extends to gas-fired and renewable power generation, electricity transmission, gas processing, LNG and underground storage.
Mr McCormack is a former Managing Director and CEO of APA Group (2004 – 2019), former Non-executive Director of Austal Limited (2020 – 2024) and former Director of Envestra (now Australian Gas Infrastructure Group) and the Australian Pipeline Industry Association (now Australian Pipelines and Gas Association). He is a Non-executive director at Origin Energy Limited and Whitehaven Coal Limited, a Director of the Clontarf Foundation and is Chair of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Foundation and is the Patron of the Australian Ice Hockey League. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Directorships of other listed companies in the last three years: Director of Origin Energy Limited, Director of Whitehaven Coal Limited from February 2024, and Austal Limited to March 2024.
Leon Devaney has over 20 years of commercial and finance experience within the Australian oil and gas sector and holds an MBA and BSc (Finance) from the University of Southern California, USA.
Leon joined Central Petroleum in 2012 as Chief Commercial Officer, making the transition to CFO in November 2014. Leon was instrumental in negotiating the Mereenie acquisition from Santos in 2015, as well as the Palm Valley and Dingo Gas Field acquisition from Magellan Petroleum in 2014.
Leon was appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective 21 February 2019, after serving as Acting CEO since July 2018.
Prior to joining Central Petroleum, Leon worked at QGC and played a pivotal role in its growth from a small cap gas exploration company into a multi-billion dollar takeover target by the BG Group in 2008. Leon continued with BG following the QGC takeover, where he served as General Manager, Gas and Power, responsible for the domestic gas and electricity portfolio.
Prior to QGC, Leon held senior roles at Deloitte in the Corporate Finance Advisory group where he was active in structuring and implementing commercial and financing transactions for major energy and infrastructure projects throughout Australia.
Mr Devaney has been a director of Central Petroleum Limited since 14 November 2018.
Stephen Gardiner has over forty years of corporate finance experience at major companies listed on the ASX, culminating in 17 years at Oil Search Limited including eight years as Chief Financial Officer, a role that he stepped down from in March 2021.
While at Oil Search, Mr Gardiner covered a range of executive responsibilities including corporate finance and control, treasury, tax, audit and assurance, risk management, investor relations and communications, ICT and sustainability. He also served as Group Secretary for ten years while performing his finance roles.
Prior to Oil Search, Mr Gardiner held senior corporate finance roles at major multinational companies including CSR Limited and Pioneer International Limited. Mr Gardiner has a particular capability in capital management and funding, both debt and equity, having raised many billions of dollars, including via structured financings such as working on the US$15 billion PNG LNG Project financing, the largest such financing ever undertaken at the time.
Mr Gardiner is currently a director of ioneer Ltd.
Mr Gardiner’s special responsibilities include chairing the Audit and Financial Risk Committee and membership of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee and the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Mr Gardiner has been a director of Central Petroleum Limited since 1 July 2021.
Kathy Hirschfeld is a highly regarded non-executive director, having served on company boards listed on the ASX, NZX and NYSE, as well as government and private company boards.
She is currently the Chair of Powerlink and a board member of Sims Limited and Chief Executive Women.
Ms Hirschfeld has also been a Board Member and President of UN Women National Committee Australia and non-executive director of Spark Infrastructure RE Limited, Energy Queensland, Tox Free Solutions, InterOil Corporation, Broadspectrum, Snowy Hydro and Queensland Urban Utilities. She was a member of Senate of the University of Queensland for 10 years.
Previously she held leadership roles with BP in oil refining, logistics, exploration and production located in Australia, UK and Turkey.
Ms Hirschfeld was recognised in the AFR/Westpac 100 Women of Influence 2015, by Engineers Australia as one of Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers 2015 and as an Honorary Fellow in 2014. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Academy of Engineering and Technology.
In 2019 Ms Hirschfeld was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to engineering, to women, and to business.
Ms Hirschfeld’s special responsibilities include chairing the Risk and Sustainability Committee and membership of the Audit and Financial Risk Committee. Ms Hirschfeld has been a director of Central Petroleum Limited since 7 December 2018.
Dr Agu Kantsler has over 45 years of experience in the international and Australian upstream oil and gas industry and has spent over 20 years in senior leadership positions and 12 years serving on the boards of several listed and private companies.
He is currently the Managing Director of Transform Exploration Pty Ltd. He is a former Director of Oil Search Limited, a former President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia, a former Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a former Chairman and Director of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA).
Agu spent 15 years working for Shell International Petroleum in various international exploration assignments and his final position was Exploration Manager for the Shell Group of Companies in Indonesia. He then spent 13 years as Executive Vice President for Exploration and New Ventures with Woodside Petroleum Limited where he led teams credited with numerous oil and gas discoveries including the giant Pluto and Calliance gas fields. Agu then spent two years as the Executive Vice President for Health, Safety and Security at Woodside where he restructured the team of HSS professionals providing management advice on safety, welfare and security for over 16,000 construction workers in Southeast Asia and Australia as well as operations at Woodside’s nine major production facilities.
Dr Kantsler was awarded APPEA’s Reg Sprigg gold medal for service to the industry in 2005 and in 2006 was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Dr Kantsler’s special responsibilities include membership of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee and the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Dr Kantsler has been a director of Central Petroleum Limited since 15 June 2020.