Executive Team

Bryce Wolfe

Interim Chief Executive Officer

Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer

Bryce has held this role since joining Ixom in 2014, when it was a division of Orica.

Bryce has considerable experience in complex commercial environments. Prior to joining Ixom, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, which saw him work closely with private equity investors in the Los Angeles-based global distribution business. Subsequently he spent three years as Deputy Chief Financial Officer at ASX listed Village Roadshow Limited in Melbourne, Australia.

Earlier in his career he was a London-based United Kingdom sector head for Mergers & Acquisitions at Ernst & Young.

Bryce is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments, Member of the Financial Executives International, Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors and was awarded the Australian Young Chief Financial Officer of the Year in 2005.

Greg Holmes

Executive Vice President Group Operations

Greg’s experience covers diverse areas including manufacturing and supply, business management, sales and technical in the industrial chemical, food chemical, fertiliser, and commercial explosives industries throughout multiple geographies globally. 

Prior to joining Ixom in April 2020 from Orica, Greg led a major business unit and teams across all of Orica’s global manufacturing assets. Additionally, Greg led complex transformation initiatives driving continuous improvement to achieve excellence in safety, environmental, and business performance. 

Having started his career with AECI in South Africa, Greg later joined the JSX listed Omnia Group where he was the Managing Director of the Mining Services Division.

Greg has a degree in Chemical Engineering and has attended programs at international business schools including London Business School, Melbourne Business School and Chicago Booth University, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served as a director on numerous company subsidiary boards including at Omnia and Orica.

Penny Griffits

Executive Vice President Chloralkali

Penny has over 20 years’ commercial and technical experience leading innovation and transformation across broad industry sectors including chemicals, energy, oil and gas, mining, electronics and healthcare.

Penny was previously Head of Commercial for Ixom’s Manufactured Chemicals & Water business, responsible for strategy, sales and marketing, and initiatives such as digital transformation.  

Penny developed a passion for disruptive innovation when she began her career with Memcor (now Evoqua) commercialising membrane water treatment systems for potable water and wastewater in Australia, the US and Asia.

She then spent over 13 years with 3M, a US$33 billion global innovation company which derives one third of its sales from products invented in the last five years. She held a broad range of roles at 3M, from technology commercialisation and manufacturing/ Lean Six Sigma, through to business development, strategy/M&A and general management.

Penny holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and first class honours in Chemical Engineering from the University of NSW, where she held an industry Co-op Scholarship.

Penny strives to build a culture of curiosity, problem solving and openness to change to promote innovation at Ixom.  

Nikki Gerling

Executive Vice President – Traded Products / Mining, Agricultural & Industrial Markets

Nikki leads the strategic direction of Ixom’s Mining, Agriculture & Industrial Markets businesses, along with driving the bulk and packaged product portfolios (“traded products”) across all of Ixom's markets and customers. 
 
Prior to joining Ixom, Nikki spent 25 years in the petroleum and automotive sectors, with roles spanning sales, marketing, strategy, operations and supply chain management. 

Immediately prior to Ixom she was Executive General Manager Automotive Aftermarket ANZ at Bosch, with responsibility for supply, logistics, sales and marketing of automotive spare parts, diagnostic equipment and technical services across Australia and New Zealand.
 
Nikki joined Bosch after 21 years with the Shell Company (which later became Viva Energy) where she worked across a diverse range of fields. 

Nikki has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a previous Board member of the Australian LPG Association and Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association and a current Board member of the Waverley Hockey Club.

Mark Bisset

Executive Vice President Life Sciences

Mark is an experienced healthcare executive with a focus on the pharmaceutical and consumer health markets, and extensive expertise across Asia Pacific. He has a history of success as a leader in both growth and turnaround environments.

He has worked in a range of companies including global multi-national organisations, ASX-listed established and start-up entities, and privately owned enterprises. 

Prior to joining Ixom, Mark was President Asia Pacific of Catalent Pharma Solutions, based in Singapore. He had responsibility for multiple contract pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing, development and clinical trial facilities that operated across China, Japan, Australia and South East Asia.

Earlier in his career Mark worked for Indian pharmaceutical company, Strides Arcolab. During his four years there his roles included General Manager - Europe, based in Warsaw, Poland; and Chief Executive Officer - Australia / South East Asia.

Mark is a registered Pharmacist with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the Victorian College of Pharmacy, has completed post-graduate business management studies at Monash University and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Sean Eccles

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT NEW ZEALAND AND PROCESS CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Sean leads Ixom’s New Zealand and global Process Cleaning Solutions businesses.

Sean is a proven leader with over 35 years of industry experience in manufacturing and commercial roles, including for Croda, FERNZ Corp and Orica.

Sean led the New Zealand transformation projects for Blackstone during the formation of Ixom, before becoming the New Zealand general manger responsible for all commercial and operational activities for Ixom in the country. He also managed Ixom’s Fiji business, prior to its divestment.

Sean’s earlier positions included technical roles in water and pulp and paper, which were followed by management roles interfacing with customers across the water, pulp and paper, dairy, food and beverage, petrochemical and industrial sectors.

He is an Industrial Chemist by qualification with post-graduate diplomas in Surface Coatings and Management.

Sean is passionate about creating a work environment that facilitates effective teamwork, high standards of quality and health and safety and a culture of respect and fairness.

Marc Roehl

Executive Vice President Watercare

Marc has over 25 years of experience in the water industry in a variety of leadership roles in NYSE listed and privately owned organisations within North America, including Vice President and Director roles at Evoqua, Siemens, and USFilter.

Marc most recently came from Evoqua Water Technologies, where he led a large business unit with general management and full P&L responsibility. His experience includes working with private equity on standing-up a carved-out business from a large multinational, preparing for and successfully transitioning through IPO, business turnaround, and portfolio development through M&A, licensing, and business integration. 

He has a passion for customer care and talent/team development to improve outcomes and experiences for all stakeholders.

Marc has a deep background in the water treatment industry with a background in civil and environmental engineering. He currently serves on the Board of Milwaukee-based not for profit, The Water Council.

David Schelbach

Chief Officer, Safety Health and Environment

David has held this role since joining the Orica Chemicals division, as it was then known, in 2014.

David’s remit spans corporate Safety, Health and Environment (SH&E) strategy, policy and governance, through to operational risk management and front-line worker engagement. 

He began his career in operations in 2001 with Incitec and subsequently moved to Orica Mining Services, with the first seven years spent in large scale petrochemical manufacturing, technology management and process safety.

David has nine years’ experience living abroad in Canada and the USA. He was appointed Vice President Sustainability for Orica Mining Services North America in 2008. In 2011 David returned to Australia as the Global General Manager for SH&E for Orica’s Ground Support business, Minova, and then became the General Manager of Safety and Health for the Orica Group until 2014.

David holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland, a Diploma in Work Health and Safety from Melbourne Polytechnic and is a member of the Australian Institute of Health and Safety.

Matt Finkelstein

Chief Strategy Officer

Matt joined Ixom in 2017 as the Head of Strategy.

He has over 15 years of experience in consulting, private equity and corporate advisory, most recently leading the Iluka Resources Corporate Development team. Prior to this Matt spent five years working in London, Hong Kong and New York in various roles across M&A and private equity, focused on the resources and industrial sectors.

Matt holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is a Chartered Accountant.

Alys Easton

Chief People & Culture Officer

Alys leads the People & Culture function at Ixom and has over 20 years’ Human Resources experience across a range of disciplines including reward, transformation, HR information services, benefits, business partnering and recruitment.

She has held HR leadership roles in several global organisations, including FTSE and NYSE listed companies, and has worked across a wide range of industries including financial services, IT, healthcare, energy and chemicals.

Prior to joining Ixom as the Head of Reward, HRIS & Payroll in 2015, Alys held the role of Head of Compensation, Europe, for Centrica which is a GBP20bn+ multinational energy and services company.

Alys holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Sociology from Royal Holloway, University of London. 

Nik Andersen

GENERAL COUNSEL & COMPANY SECRETARY, INSURANCE AND ENTERPRISE RISK

Nik leads Ixom’s Legal and Compliance Group including responsibility for Insurance and Enterprise Risk Management having joined the organisation as Legal Counsel initially with Orica in 2007. 

Prior to joining Orica, Nik spent seven years working in private practice, as a Senior Associate with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, specialising in competition law (including merger clearance), intellectual property, franchising and commercial law. Nik also has experience in litigation / court based work defending clients who were being investigated by competition or fair trading regulators.

Moving in-house has expanded Nik’s remit to include the commercial and management drivers of business decisions and expand his legal practice into other areas including mergers and acquisitions, construction, insurance, employment, shipping and environmental law and also to have an influence on business strategy.

Nik holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws with Honours and Master of Laws.

Chris Cawood

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

Chris has over 30 years’ leadership and technical experience across heavy industry sectors including manufacturing, oil and gas, mining and transport.;

Chris joined Ixom in late 2021 and was previously the Chief Information Officer of OceanaGold for eight years. Prior to this he had an extensive career with BHP, where he held CIO roles in various business units.;

Chris developed a passion for technology transformation and change in his early career in the BHP Steel (now BlueScope) marketing team. From there he progressed into leadership roles with the BHP Petroleum division in Western Australia and for five years was involved in the expansion of its oil and gas assets. He was appointed to CIO roles in the coal and marketing divisions of BHP and was responsible for large technology transformation projects as well as a number of M&A integrations and divestments.;

Chris has significant experience working in multicultural environments and with diverse teams. He has lived in Europe and worked closely with colleagues and external stakeholders in Pakistan, Japan, China, Africa, Singapore, The Philippines and North America.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Science and Education degree from Melbourne University.