Who We Are //

Our Origins

Founded by the Willcocks family in 1975, today, Active Tree Services is an Australian owned business with a national footprint and a workforce of 1,000 FTE committed to delivering services in arboriculture, vegetation management, consultancy and systems.

Photo: Founder Mark Willcocks

Who We Are //

Our Priorities

At Active, our purpose is Keeping our communities safe and green. It drives everything we do, whether it’s delivering world class vegetation management services to help ensure public safety through bushfire prevention and tree safety management or urban greening through tree planting and watering.

Who We Are //

Our Values

Our values have been articulated based on who we are and who we aspire to be. Their origins lie in the founding of our business and, today, help communicate and instil our unique culture as new generations of team Active commence and continue to serve our clients around Australia.

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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22 Jan

Katrina Carmody

Team Member Stories //

Katrina Carmody

Active Tree Top award winner Katrina Carmody never envisaged a career in the tree industry. Instead, it was a job she fell into by necessity and it’s a career where she has quickly excelled.

In her four years with Active, Kat has gone from chipper to operations manager on the Vic Powerlines contract. Along the way she’s gained the respect of her peers as someone who espouses the values of Active Tree Services’ dedicated team.

Kat explains she was a health and outdoor education teacher working at Gilwell Park Scout and Education Centre when the Coronavirus pandemic forced her into redundancy in 2020.

“I’d been looking for a job for a while and was at the stage where I was ready to take anything,” she says.

“And then a job just happened to come up with Active.”

Conceding she was ‘very green’ and had ‘zero experience’, Kat jumped at the chance to work in an essential industry at a time when Victoria was experiencing some of the toughest lockdown conditions in the world.

She started on the chipper before being offered the opportunity to become a Jarraff operator a year later, and says she loved “working on the big machines”.

When a fractured ankle saw her sidelined from physical duties, she moved into a customer-facing role for the annual fire cut where she liaised with clients and organised crews.

It was a position she thrived in, tapping into her people skills and previous experience working in customer service.

“It’s funny because when I was younger, I worked in retail at a discount store then at Bunnings where I’d been in the garden section and also in tools,” she says.

“I sold chainsaws before I ever used one and there’s a chance I was selling some of the trees that Active now prunes.”

These days, Kat’s role as an operations manager sees her looking after the Victorian scoping team as part of the Ausnet component of the Vic Powerlines contract.

It’s a job that involves travelling and meeting with members of the crew to ensure everything’s working perfectly, and it takes her across a variety of terrain.

Earlier this year, Kat was recognised with Active Tree Services’ most prestigious accolade, receiving the Tree Top Award for her commitment to the core values of the business.

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

It was an accolade she was both honoured and humbled to receive.

“It was a lovely shock to receive the nomination by my colleagues,” she says.

“I feel like we’re always offered the chance to explore new things and it’s something I’ve jumped on and run with.”

As part of that commitment to exploring new things, Kat is currently doing her Diploma in Arboriculture, while also juggling life as a working mum with two young children.

Outside of work, she continues to play soccer, having represented Victoria when she was younger and also has a passion for photography.

“I’d always done family and kids photography as a bit of a hobby, particularly after my partner and I had kids,” she says.

“When I lost my job it also became a side hustle, but now I’m on the road a lot more it’s more of a hobby.”

As for what’s next, Kat says her future is with Active and might one day unite her love for the tree industry with her love of teaching.

“I really value learning and that love of teaching runs deep,” she says.

“Growing up I pictured myself as a teacher and it was always what I wanted to be, but I’ve very much learned through random experiences that you’ve got to have an open mind and go with the flow.

“I believe things happen for a reason and so far, that’s all worked out for the best because I genuinely love Active and am so thankful every day for all the opportunities I’ve been presented with.”

    14 Oct

    Matt Grech

    Team Member Stories //

    Matt Grech

    Active might be known as Australia’s largest tree company, but a key part its success has always been its forward-thinking approach to technology.

    Encompassing two teams, that technology includes the groundbreaking Active Mobile software,  and also a division dedicated to IT service and support.

    Heading up the latter arena is Matt Grech, who is based in Waterloo, NSW, but is part of a support team of eight which is spread across the country.

    Matt explains the team is responsible for areas such as ensuring Active’s equipment and devices are operational, that crew members have internet connection, and that all data is safe and secure.

    “Our role is to look at ways we can better support the teams across the business, making our crew’s work lives easier,” Matt explains.

    “Whether that’s better technology in the vehicles to improve internet access or better processes that automate things.”

    Matt joined Active in 2020 after a career that spanned everything from tech startups to leading the IT team at the Credit and Investment Ombudsman.

    In the process he has worked with some of Australia’s best known tech companies – as both a consultant and employee.

    It was a career Matt says he ‘fell into’ unexpectedly.

    “I’d actually failed my HSC and my first job was full time at a toner and ink cartridge facility in Bankstown, Sydney when I was asked to fix a computer problem,” he recalls.

    “Next thing you know I’m the go-to IT person and it started from there.”  

    In the two decades since, Matt has attained two master’s degrees and over a dozen certifications, all whilst working in full time employment.

    But after the high-stakes world of tech companies, it was the allure of something different which attracted him to Active.

    “What I realised fairly quickly was that IT is critical to the operation of this business,” he says.

    The IT support team’s role involves streamlining the IT systems and processes that Active’s different business divisions and crews rely on to get the job done.

    And it’s a task that comes with its own unique challenges, due in no small part to the fact Active’s workforce is distributed across the country, often working in remote locations with no internet access. 

    “Sometimes our field crews have to drive an hour to get enough reception to get IT support,” Matt says.

    “Our ultimate goal is to make their lives easier and to have all the crews online all the time.” 

    One of the key ways the IT team is addressing this is through the rollout of Starlink satellite internet, including affixing 15 dishes to Active vehicles, with more planned in the future. 

    It has been a gamechanger for team members working in remote areas, but Matt notes even that currently has its limitations.

    Meanwhile, cybersecurity remains a priority across all levels of the business, especially as many of Active’s customers are large electricity networks. 

    “They’re considered critical infrastructure so the cybersecurity requirements we have for tendering for those contracts are becoming more and more stringent,” Matt says.

    “Cybersecurity’s always challenging because adding the layers of security can potentially make the technology harder to use, so we’re trying to standardise as much as we can, but different contracts also have different and potentially competing requirements.”

    Overcoming these hurdles is a challenge Matt thrives on as part of a team he notes is full of great talent.

    “The people you get to interact with at Active is an absolute highlight of this job,” he says. 

    “I love being part of a very experienced and engaged team who want to do good work and genuinely love helping people. That really drives me.”

    He’s also driven by an ambition to ensure Active stays ahead of the game when it comes to future advancements, including smart technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), which looks set to revolutionise areas like inventory management.

    While the advancements are swift and the challenges of ever-evolving technology are real, Matt says he’s thrilled to be part of a forward-thinking company where his job is to make a real difference at all levels of the business.

    “We have incredible support from the leadership team,” he says.

    “I’d like to think people can see that our strategies are working and things are getting better.

    “That in itself is incredibly rewarding.”

      08 Jul

      Nathon Burton

      Team Member Stories //

      Nathon Burton

      For NSW Powerlines Manager Nathon Burton, making critical decisions under pressure comes naturally.

      It’s a skill he perfected during a 15-year career in the military and one he’s utilised in management positions at an array of national and multinational corporations. 

      So, when the opportunity arose to head up one of Active Tree Service’s most significant business areas, he knew it was something he wanted to pursue, but it was also a role he did not rush into lightly.

      Over the course of several months, Nathon met with Active team members including Chief Executive Officer Richard Nedov and Chief Operating Officer Jim Roberts.

      He found the culture and ethos of the company resonated, and its vision for the future was one he was keen to be part of.

      “Something inside said this was something I needed to pursue. I knew it was a great role, but neither Active nor I were in a rush,” Nathon says.

      “We took our time, catching up and building a relationship and it just clicked, I knew I had to be part of that team.”

      With multiple contracts across the state, Active’s New South Wales division is one of the largest in the company.

      It’s also primed for significant growth in the coming years.

      Nathon’s role involves overseeing that expansion. In the four months since he’s joined Active, he has been focussed on aligning the current contracts and building the team, while also liaising with current and potential clients. 

      “We have multiple contracts coming onboard in the coming months and in the next few years we’re looking at increasing that further,” Nathon says.

      “So, there’s a great opportunity here to build the team and its culture and create a strategy that allows us to get bigger and better.”

      It’s a role that part is proactive, part reactive, and not without its challenges. But Nathon is no stranger to problem solving under pressure.

      In his lengthy military career, he specialised as a mechanical, weapons and marine engineer, including five years attached to counter terrorism as a member of the 2nd commando unit, Australian Special Forces along with two tours of Afghanistan and one of Iraq. 

      During each of those tours, he was the weapons subject matter expert, training members of foreign military organisations and the Australian Special Forces.

      “In some of these environments your life is at risk and problem solving is key,” Nathon reflects.

      “You have to be able to work through the fight or flight response, remain calm and instantly come up with a plan in a highly stressful environment.”

      That discipline, planning and the ability to remain calm under pressure are all skills Nathon has tapped into since leaving the military.

      In recent years he has held positions as the National Head of Fleet and Standards at Boral, and also worked as the Asia Pacific Head of Services for a US power, oil and gas company.

      Now based out of Waterloo and Penrith, Nathon’s role with Active will allow him to spend more time with his young family, which is something he relishes after travelling extensively during his military career.

      “What I really like about Active is it’s a large business that’s growing rapidly, but it still has a family feel,” Nathon says.

      “It remains nimble and has the ability to react quickly, in both the services it provides and how it looks after its customers.

      “I like the culture, I can see where the company is going, and I’m excited to be part of its future.”