Our Team //

Leadership Team

The leadership team at Active Tree Services combines extensive experience with a dedication to innovation. Committed to excellence, they steer the company toward sustainable growth while prioritising safety, quality, and environmental stewardship. Their strategic vision and hands-on approach ensure that clients across diverse landscapes receive superior tree care solutions.

RICHARD NEDOV

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & CHAIR

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JIM ROBERTS

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

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IAN LINDSAY

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

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SAM HANSEN

GROUP PEOPLE MANAGER

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DAVID THOMSON

GROUP MANAGER, CONTRACTS & LEGAL

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JASON GLASBY

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

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DENIS JIMENEZ

CHIEF DATA, ANALYTICS & AI OFFICER

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Our Team //

Board

Our Board of Directors at Active Tree Services provides strategic guidance and oversight, ensuring our company operates effectively and ethically. With diverse expertise and a commitment to excellence, they steer our organization towards achieving its goals while upholding our values of safety, quality, and environmental responsibility.

RICHARD NEDOV

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & CHAIR

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RICHARD WILLCOCKS

DIRECTOR & CEO ACTIVE CONTRACTING

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MARGARET HASELTINE

DIRECTOR

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ANDY MARINKOVIC

DIRECTOR

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Our Team //

Founder

In 1975 Mark started a small business, which has since grown into Active Tree Services, an industry leading organisation.

Mark has been instrumental in bringing together tree contracting organisations through leadership of industry bodies and the sponsorship of Arboriculture Australia and Utility Arborist Association of Australia. He has played a key role in raising the level of professionalism and safety through the development of an industry code of practice and standards.

In 2004 Mark was awarded the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year for the services industry in NSW. In 2011 he invented the Bushi, a remote controlled boom saw and in 2012 Mark was selected by Australian Arbor Age as the first Living Legend of the Australian tree industry.

Who We Are //

Team Member Stories

Active people are bound through a common purpose and lived values that make Active a great place to work.  We work in small teams, our crews, often in remote and beautiful locations and almost always outdoors.

Active supports diversity in our workplace. 

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21 Sep

Lauren Privitera

Team Member Stories //

Lauren Privitera

The tree industry might seem a world away from running public swimming pools, but for Lauren Privitera, the two sectors share some remarkable similarities.

Both are arenas where safety is paramount and both are environments where lives can change in the blink of an eye.

Since 2024, Lauren has served as Active Tree Services HSEQ Advisor, overseeing workplace health and safety in NSW, ACT and QLD.

It’s a job she clearly loves, but working in safety was something she discovered almost by chance after starting out as a swim instructor.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school,” Lauren recalls.

“I’d witnessed a child drown and asked myself, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’

“So, I started as a swim teacher, lifeguard and duty manager then worked my way up to health and safety representative before going into safety.”

Lauren went on to become Aquatic Co-ordinator for Blacktown City Council and then took on a job as an Aquatic Risk Officer for Royal Life Saving NSW, auditing pools across NSW, the ACT and Tasmania.

Then, two years ago, an opportunity arose at Active Tree Services. Seeking a new challenge, Lauren threw her hat into the ring and successfully landed the role of HSEQ advisor.

It’s a job which sees her travelling to different sites across NSW, ACT and QLD, checking in with crews and discussing all things safety.

“The tree industry has a different sort of risk,” Lauren says.

“In swimming pools it’s more about risk to the public, but this industry has more high-risk activities for our workers as there’s so much manual handling and machinery.

“I mean our teams can be working 15ft in the air using a chainsaw near powerlines.”

Conceding it was a steep learning curve to enter a whole new industry with new acronyms and different safety challenges, Lauren says she spent the first couple of months listening, learning, and getting to know people.

“I joined Active during a transition in the safety manager role. I was also a female who had never cut a tree, so I went out for those first two months and said, ‘tell me what you do’.”

That approach paid off. Lauren’s willingness to listen rather than tell allowed her to quickly gain an insight into the business.

“I got a lot of calls, and everyone was incredibly helpful,” she says.

“I think the biggest thing was that I soon began to appreciate if they’re not cutting, the business is not making money.

“So my job is to listen, understand the challenges and design a suitable safety response.”

While Lauren lives in Sydney, her job is deliberately mobile. Rather than having a base, she travels from site to site.

One day she might be in Brisbane, another day she is in Tumut, Bathurst, Batemans Bay or the heart of Sydney.

“I try to visit the crews and check in with them, then educate them if something’s not right,” she says.

“Often safety is actually about learning from our mistakes.

“It’s not about catching people out but ensuring we are on the same playing field.

“If there’s an incident, I want people to tell me what happened. That way we can make changes, and my job is to help as much as I can so we can learn together.”

While Lauren might have stepped away from pool safety, she still has a love for the water.

Recently, she re-embraced competitive swimming, clocking up nine personal bests at the nationals competition in Brisbane.

She also swims for charity. Inspired by her nephew who has Cerebral Palsy, Lauren raises funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, and Active Tree Services has supported her in this endeavour.

“Every second year I take time out in February to raise funds by swimming 2km a day,” Lauren says.

“But to have a company back me the whole way has been incredible, and Active has been so supportive.

“For every dollar I raise they have doubled it, so where I might previously have made $250, this year I made $4500.”

That level of support is something Lauren genuinely appreciates and says is unique to the Active culture. But so is the willingness to recognise potential, learn and give people a chance.

“I felt really lucky to be given the opportunity at Active,” Lauren says.

“But I also think there are different types of ‘safety’ people in this world.

“And for me, it’s all about putting people first.”

    02 Jul

    Adam Richardson

    Team Member Stories //

    Adam Richardson

    Vegetation Scoper Adam Richardson is about to mark a milestone. He will soon clock up 10 years with Active Tree Services on a contract that encompasses some of the most pristine environments in the country.

    Since it’s beginning back in 2016, Adam has been part of Active Tasmania, a tight-knit team which has grown to look after vegetation management across almost all of the state.

    “I’d previously worked in traffic control with another vegetation management company, so I started in traffic control with Active,” Adam says.

    “Then I was on the chipper for 12 months and thought cutting might be good to do.”

    “So, I was put with an experienced guy doing groundwork and then they chucked me in the EWP bucket and off I went.”

    These days, Adam is a scoper. The job sees him travelling ahead of Active’s cutting crews to identify which trees will need to be cut or removed around Tasmania’s powerline infrastructure.

    “Basically, I follow the powerlines, inspecting property and the roadside, while factoring in growth rates,” he says.

    “If something needs cutting, I note it for the crews.”

    The job offers a mix of independence and customer liaison, and Adam says it’s a role he thoroughly enjoys.

    “I love the fact I’m out there by myself but also meeting new people every day,” he states.

    Adam is based in Hobart but has worked all over Tasmania, including Bruny Island and Southport, which he describes as some of the island’s most picturesque locations.

    His time with Active has also seen him travel interstate, helping out in South Australia and Victoria.

    “I spent 11 months in Victoria cutting in places like Colac, Apollo Bay and Lorne along the Great Ocean Road, which was pretty spectacular,” he recalls.

    Over his time with Active, Adam has witnessed the company’s Tasmanian contract grow and expand.

    “We’ve gone through the negotiations, won additional contracts and been able to keep it since 2016, which is incredible,” he says.

    Along the way, Adam says he’s been grateful for the opportunity to learn new skills and also the camaraderie of a tight-knit team.

    “You’ve just got to show initiative and show you’re willing to try and opportunities will be made available to you,” he says.

    Outside of work, Adam has been married for 12 years, enjoys annual holidays to the Gold Coast and spends his spare time playing golf.

    “If I’m not at work, I’m on the golf course, and it’s not that different to work really as I’m always in the trees!”

    Reflecting on his decade with Active, Adam says the best part has been the variety of experiences and the people he’s had the opportunity to work with.

    “It’s a good bunch of blokes,” he reflects.

    “You can always talk to anyone, management is great, and everyone is on the one team.”

      23 Mar

      Jeremy Casey

      Team Member Stories //

      Jeremy Casey

      For NSW Powerlines manager Jeremy Casey, a good day at work isn’t just about getting it done. It’s about doing the right thing, looking after your team, and delivering what you say you will to the best of your ability.

      For over a decade Jeremy has brought this commitment to his role at Active Tree Services and it’s a philosophy that’s seen him rise through the ranks to manage one of Active’s largest contracts.

      It is also part of the reason Jeremy was recently named the recipient of this year’s Active’s Tree Top award.

      Jeremy initially joined Active as a chipper operator back in 2009. With a child on the way, he was keen to find a job close to home in the Bathurst region and work in the great outdoors.

      Since then, he’s fulfilled almost every role in the business, working as a cutter, EWP operator, leading hand and supervisor before becoming an operations manager on the Transgrid contract in 2022.

      Jeremy explains he was in that role a couple of years before taking on the task of looking after all of Active’s work for NSW Powerlines.

      “A position looking after the NSW Powerlines contract opened up a year and a bit ago and I was asked to step into the role,” he says.

      The NSW Powerlines contract is among Active’s largest, encompassing tree cutting around high voltage powerlines for energy providers Transgrid, Essential Energy, Evoenergy, and Ausgrid in a geographical area that spans almost the entire southern half of New South Wales.

      Based in Bathurst, Jeremy’s main role involves supporting and assisting a large team of field crews working anywhere from the Central West to Sydney and through Canberra to the Victorian border.

      “That’s the way I see this job,” he says.

      “We have a really good team of operations managers, and my role is to assist them in any way they need.”

      Supporting that team is what he most enjoys about the job, but it’s a role that also comes with its challenges too.

      “Probably the biggest challenge is knowing the buck stops with you,” he reflects.

      “You have to be the problem solver and the one with solutions, and I don’t ever want to be the guy that fails.”

      This can-do philosophy was among the reasons Jeremy received Active Tree Services’ most prestigious accolade this year.

      Announced at the annual conference, the Tree Top Award recognises outstanding performers who espouse the core values of the business.

      Candidates are put forward by their peers, and Jeremy was selected from a strong field of over 100 nominees.

      Conceding it was a surprise and an honour, Jeremy says he had no idea he had even been nominated until he heard his name called out.

      “I felt quite proud to be recognised,” Jeremy says.

      “It was just nice to know the amount of work that goes into this job doesn’t go unnoticed.”

      After more than a decade with Active, Jeremy notes many of the reasons he was first drawn to the company still remain.

      “I do love the industry and the environment we get to work in, and I like the way Active is family-owned and they’re just there for you – not just in the workplace,” he says.

      “And I think Active honours its goal to be the good guys. There’s a lot of honesty, we help each other out and we deliver what we say we’ll deliver.”

        01 Oct

        Manaf Mir

        Team Member Stories //

        Manaf Mir

        As the trucks, trailers, and EWPs come and go beyond his office window, Manaf Mir is in his element.

        He’s reviewing data, making recommendations and using his expertise as a systems and data analyst to help shape the current and future operations of Aerial Access – Active Tree Services’ sister company and Australia’s foremost distributor of elevated work platforms.

        Manaf could never have imagined this would be his future when he stepped off a plane from Pakistan more than six years ago.

        Manaf explains he came to Australia to undertake a masters degree, having previously studied business and marketing.

        “I worked in digital marketing and quickly realised it wasn’t for me,” Manaf says.

        “So, I decided to go back to uni, and came here to study for a Masters in Business Analytics.”

        That qualification landed Manaf a role as a systems analyst at a construction product manufacturer before he was headhunted for Aerial Access in July last year.

        “I was contacted by a recruiter and that was the first time I heard about Active,” Manaf says.

        “And I soon learned they’re about far more than cutting trees.”

        Manaf works in Aerial Access’ fleet department in a role that sees him reviewing an array of data and systems relating to everything from financial reporting to fleet management.

        “I analyse the company’s data to help management make informed and better decisions,” Manaf explains. 

        “I also look at systems and development, filling a gap between stakeholders and developers when it comes to the Fleet Management System.”

        He notes the job allows him to identify patterns including inefficiencies and potential problems.

        “For example, we were having an issue with some machines, and it happened again and again.

        “We checked the data, which allowed us to identify it only occurred in one brand, so we raised the issue with the manufacturer and now that problem has been mitigated.”

        Manaf is based at Active’s Bayswater depot, which also serves as a major workshop for the assembly, servicing and maintenance of equipment that Aerial supplies to clients in the electrical, power line maintenance, local government, and vegetation management industries.

        “My office is above the workshop, and I love seeing all the trucks coming and going,” he says.

        “Every day there’s new machinery that we’re servicing or providing to other contractors and companies.”

        Manaf notes his role allows him to create an impact and make a difference within the business, which he finds incredibly rewarding.

        He also appreciates the people-first ethos of the Active Tree Services and Aerial Access brands.   

        “I love the culture, the people and the diversity here,” Manaf says.

        “Everyone is supportive, approachable and collaborative, and they take really good care of their employees.”

        That’s not to say moving to the other side of the world and starting a whole new chapter of life has always been easy.

        Manaf explains arriving in Australia was a bit of a culture shock and completing his second year of uni during Victoria’s notoriously tough Covid lockdowns was particularly hard.

        “That was pretty isolating,” he recalls.

        But he’s since settled in, embracing hobbies that include electronic dance music, cinema, cooking, and snooker.

        “I was 21 when I moved here in 2019, and I was all alone,” he says.

        “Since then, I’ve finished my degree and found a great job and I’m really proud of those achievements.”

        As for the future, Manaf is keen to continue with Aerial Access and hopes to reside in Australia permanently.

        “My plan is to grow within the company, and the goal is to become a data engineer,” he says.

        “I love it here in Australia, the people are friendly, they don’t judge and there’s a sense of freedom.”