Jo White
Jo White is a science leader and the current Director of Questacon - the National Science & Technology Centre. For over the last 10 years she has worked at a senior executive level leading science. She has extensive Government experience, with more than 25 years’ operating at a senior level in the areas of science, strategy, and conservation and environmental management.
Prior to joining Questacon, Jo was Director of Science, Education and Conservation at the Australian Institute of Botanical Science, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. There she led a mass digitisation program of the National Herbarium of NSW, the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, unlocking more than 1 million plant specimen images and associated data dating back to 1770 to advance science. She successfully contributed to the design and build of new $40m science facilities in western Sydney and transitioned staff and the Herbarium Collection to the new facilities.
Prior to joining the Gardens, she was Director of Science Strategy with the former Office of Environment and Heritage, where she successfully established and led the Knowledge Strategy. This program across OEH and Environment Protection Authority ensured the science delivered aligned with Government priorities. She also led state-wide environmental monitoring, citizen science, social research and the university research partnerships program. In collaboration with CSIRO, she established the NSW Biodiversity Indicator Program to report on the status of biodiversity and ecological integrity under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. Available in the NSW Biodiversity Outlook Report.
Jo worked for National Parks and Wildlife Service in a number of roles including as Divisional Manager Landscape Conservation where she established the Nature Conservation Trust Act to promote private land conservation. She worked extensively in the forestry assessments helping to create over a million hectares of new national parks.
Jo joined the NSW Smart Sensing Network Board in 2018, and was appointed Chair in 2022. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Biology, a Post Graduate Diploma of Business and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
