emerging leader 2026

EMERGING LEADER 2026

SUPPORTING FUTURE LEADERS

December 2025

Introducing our 2025-26 Emerging Leader…

A love for the Wet Tropics region and its sustainable future has led Thomas Herridge into a wide variety of roles – from a tradie to a tutor and Federal politician’s office manager. The latest is the 2025-26 ‘Emerging Leader’ on the Terrain NRM Board.

Thomas says the chance to step into a boardroom role is exciting.

“The average age of board directors in Australia is 61. It’s not common to be given an early career opportunity like this, to help lead an organisation.”

He’s the seventh Far Northerner to take advantage of Terrain NRM’s annual Emerging Leader mentoring program, designed to help future leaders on their career paths and to bring fresh perspectives to natural resource management leadership.

Thomas is currently working as an advisor for the National Indigenous Australians Agency, collaborating with Indigenous organisations and stakeholders across the region to support community-led initiatives. He grew up in Machan’s Beach on Cairns’s northern beaches.

“I’ve got a deep love for that community, and for the whole Wet Tropics community. The Emerald Creek, Davies Creek and Freshwater Creek areas are favourite spots and working across a range of industries has given me a broad perspective on a sustainable Wet Tropics region with industries being profitable alongside healthy waterways and improved land for future generations.”

The Reef Champion awards, run by Queensland Farmers’ Federation with support from Prince’s Trust Australia, Australian and Queensland governments, recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations working to improve the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef.

Terrain NRM Board Chair Barry Hunter says diversity is the key to strong leadership.

“We’ve seen how encouraging diversity leads to better decision-making and to innovation and growth. This program is one example of this. We have a skills-based board and in the last six years we’ve welcomed emerging leaders from environment, agriculture, tourism, economic and sustainability sectors.

“The Emerging Leader program has now been adopted by several other organisations and the concept is currently being explored by others. It’s a win-win – we learn from our emerging leaders as they learn from us.”

More about our Emerging Leader program