Nathan Tinkler
Chairman
Hunter Ports is an infrastructure-focussed entity in the diversified Tinkler Group, which is chaired by Hunter Valley-born Nathan Tinkler.
Nathan is also the founder and major shareholder of ASX-listed Aston Resources.
He commenced his mining career in the Hunter Valley coal mines as an electrical technician commissioning, maintaining and upgrading a diverse range of equipment. Nathan went on to establish his own contracting company in 2003, providing technical services to the mining industry.
In 2006, Custom Mining Limited was established by Nathan to acquire and develop greenfield coal mines. After carrying out a number of feasibility studies on greenfield projects, Nathan secured the rights to buy the Middlemount coal tenement, MDL282, in November 2006.
In April 2007, Nathan was successful in securing the Noble Group Limited, a Hong Kong-based listed trading company, as a partner for the project. In June 2007, the coal tenements were acquired and strategic alliances with Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd and Sedgman Limited were formed for the mining operations and construction and operation of the coal handling and preparation plant respectively.
In December 2007, Nathan and the minority shareholders agreed to sell Custom Mining to Macarthur Coal Limited for A$275m. Nathan established Aston Resources in January 2008.
Nathan was instrumental in Aston’s A$480m purchase in February 2010 of Maules Creek in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales. As a large, undeveloped coal mine, Maules Creek is regarded as one of the few remaining top class mining assets in Australia.
In August 2010, Aston Resources was successfully listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with a market capitalisation of A$1.2bn.
Nathan remains strongly committed to the Newcastle and Hunter Valley areas.
Paul Flynn
CEO/Managing Director
Paul Flynn is a Director of Aston Metals and the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Tinkler Group.
In his role at the Tinkler Group, Paul is responsible for the diverse portfolio of businesses and investments, which principally focus on mining, infrastructure, construction, rail and ports.
He has extensive experience in the mining, infrastructure, construction and energy sectors gained over 20 years as a professional adviser at Ernst & Young.
Prior to joining Tinkler Group, Paul was the Managing Partner of Ernst & Young’s Sydney office and a member of its Oceania executive team. As a partner for more than eight years, Paul managed many of the firm’s largest mining and energy clients across Australia, Asia and South and North America. He advised clients including Xstrata Plc, Rio Tinto and Coal & Allied, Peabody Energy, Sino Gold/Eldorado, Barrack Gold and WorleyParsons Limited.
During his career, Paul has served in management roles for clients, including as the CFO for a top 50 ASX listed company.
Paul is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia. He is also a registered company auditor.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Newcastle.
Michael Wotherspoon
Chief Financial Officer
Michael Wotherspoon joined the Tinkler Group as Chief Financial Officer in May 2011 and holds responsibility for all financial affairs and operations of the group.
Michael has had extensive experience across finance, investments and operations gained over 14 years working in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and India.
Prior to joining Tinkler Group, Michael was a professional advisor at Ernst & Young and more recently was the Chief Financial Officer of Actis, a leading emerging markets private equity firm, headquartered in London. Michael also served as a Board Member of the International Private Equity Valuation Board from May 2009 until May 2011.
Michael is a chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia. Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Marketing) with merit from the University of New South Wales.
Philip Christensen
Executive Director
Philip Christensen joined the Tinkler Group in May 2010. He works across a wide range of businesses in the Tinkler Group.
He holds a number of directorships within the Group including Executive Director, the Tinkler Group; Executive Chairman, Aston Metals; Director, Boardwalk Resources; Non-Executive Director of ASX-listed Aston Resources Ltd and Director, Hunter Ports and Hunter Rail.
Philip has extensive experience in the mining and energy sectors with over 30 years’ at leading law firm, Freehills, where his clients included Australian and international coal and mining companies. He advised companies including Mitsubishi Development, Tata Group, Shenhua, Yudean, Camberwell Coal and Wesfarmers.
His international experience with Freehills includes working in their Jakarta, Singapore, Sydney and Brisbane offices. He was admitted to the Freehills partnership in 1988 and remained a senior partner until his move to the mining industry.
Philip is a solicitor and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. A graduate of The University of New South Wales, Philip holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Merit and Bachelor of Laws.
Matthew Keen
Director
Matthew commenced his career in the field on Electrical Engineering in 1998 primarily as a commissioning engineer on various projects in the mining and infrastructure sectors. Over the next 6 years he progressed through roles of Project Engineer, Senior Engineer and finally to Engineering Design Manager. During the 6 years in the Engineering industry he worked on projects in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United States.
In 2004 he was offered a position as a Project Manager in Hong Kong for Switchgear and Instrumentation (HK) before quickly being promoted to run the office as Managing Director. The parent company of Switchgear and Instrumentation, NG Bailey and Co sold the S&I business to US company Powell’s. It was quickly determined that the Asian business would not be profitable on its own and Matthew spend the next two years managing to office to a close down position.
In 2006 Matthew changed career paths into the field of Finance and moved back to Australia to work for UBS Wealth Management as a private client advisor in Sydney. Shortly after arriving back in Australia, UBS Wealth Management opened an office in Brisbane and Matthew moved to that office as one of the foundation private client advisors for UBS in Queensland. At UBS Matthew advised HNW individuals and small corporates around investments in listed markets, asset allocation, risk management and mitigation.
In 2010 Matthew left UBS to join the Tinkler Group and took up the position of Managing Director for Queen Street Capital, a boutique corporate advisory firm owned by the Tinkler Group. At Queen Street Capital Matthew oversees a small team that provides corporate advice predominately to the businesses inside of the Tinkler Group of companies.
