I’m James and I started 4Pillars a couple of years ago, because I believe in making expert environmental advice more accessible. We are a young organisation but have a rapidly growing portfolio of projects and satisfied clients. The business growth is driven by the people around me and over the next couple of weeks, we are releasing a series of articles that will introduce you to the 4Pillars team! I’m here to get things started…

My background is in ecology and I have a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Wildlife Management, both from Macquarie University. After finishing my undergrad, at 21 years old I went straight into my first job in the industry – as Environmental Graduate at Austral Bricks NSW (and quickly being promoted to Environmental Manager)! I spent three years learning about how business works and how to balance environmental and financial outcomes. Although it was a fantastic job, I studied my Masters part time, because I was craving a role that focused on my interest in ecology.

I moved to Canberra in 2012, after getting a position as a graduate at the Commonwealth Environment Department (its acronym was DSEWPAC at the time, if you can believe that!). I intended to be in the nation’s capital for a year or two, but I fell in love with the diversity of work and ended up staying for five! While at the Department I worked on approvals and impact assessment policy for iconic threatened species (like the Koala, flying-foxes, the Bilby and marine turtles, to name a few!). After that I worked on a United Nations agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and even represented Australia at two international meetings – one in Canada and one in Mexico!

When moving back to Sydney, I made the decision to start 4Pillars. I saw a gap in the market and opportunities to do things differently and better. Like many businesses, it started small, with a handful of clients and working out of a home office. In just a couple of short years, we have a fast-growing team and expanding capabilities. I’m really excited to see how far 4Pillars can go and the great things we can achieve along the way.

Running a business requires a huge amount of dedication and hard work. I’m driven forward by a desire to improve environmental literacy and access to environmental advice. I’m also interested in the next generation of regulation and ways to achieve better outcomes for the environment we all share. In my personal and professional life, I value ambition, balance, fairness, ethics and positivity.

Outside of my day job, I enjoy volunteering as the Secretary of the EIANZ NSW Division and doing pro bono projects that help the community. In my limited spare time I love to spend time with my wife, friends and family, watch movies, get outdoors (hiking, mountain biking and skiing are some faves) and enjoy a good meal and an amber ale!

Top three movies: Jurassic Park, Inception and Interstellar. Top three books: On the Origin of Species (Charles Darwin), The Lost World (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins).

And to finish things off, one random fact about me: Despite coming off my mountain bike more times than I’d care to mention, I’ve never broken a bone!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence.