Dr Dan Tyson marks his last day at Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia (DKA) today, after near­ly three years in the role of Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer. His term com­menced in July 2019, and his exten­sive skills, knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence has sup­port­ed DKA’s growth since then. Dan had pre­vi­ous­ly worked in pub­lic health research, Abo­rig­i­nal health and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, and exec­u­tive-lev­el roles in not-for-prof­it, gov­ern­ment and pri­vate sectors.

Dan has been pas­sion­ate about advanc­ing DKA in its strate­gic focus areas: Desert Lead­er­ship, Dig­i­tal Inno­va­tion, Renew­able Ener­gy, and Desert Research. Under his lead­er­ship, DKA has seen the devel­op­ment and imple­men­ta­tion of impor­tant projects such as Alice Springs Future Grid, DKAc­cel­er­a­tor, Codes 4 Life: Women, and many oth­er com­mu­ni­ty-focused initiatives.

“I have enjoyed my time at DKA, work­ing on Arrernte coun­try with some great peo­ple. It has been a plea­sure being able to con­tribute to the pro­gress­ing Cen­tral Aus­tralian land­scape, learn­ing about desert knowl­edges and the intri­ca­cies of inland cul­tures. I thank the DKA Board and Team for their hard work and sup­port over the past few years, and their ongo­ing ded­i­ca­tion to strength­en remote and desert Aus­tralia.”

- DKA’s out­go­ing CEO Dr Dan Tyson

Dan was also the Man­ag­ing Direc­tor for DKA’s research arm, the Desert Knowl­edge Research Insti­tute (DKRI), which has seen sig­nif­i­cant momen­tum since 2019 with activ­i­ties such as the Talk­ing Water cam­paign, research sym­po­siums for over 150 par­tic­i­pants, and becom­ing part of the first-ever Human­itech Lab cohort. Dan’s back­ground and knowl­edge in acad­e­mia, pub­lic health and socioe­co­nom­ic devel­op­ment have been invalu­able to both DKA and DKRI.

“Dan has always believed there is great poten­tial for Cen­tral Australia’s socioe­co­nom­ic devel­op­ment and envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­i­ty and, under his capa­ble lead­er­ship, DKA has done impor­tant work in these areas. The Board is grate­ful for Dan’s mean­ing­ful con­tri­bu­tions to the organ­i­sa­tion, and we wish him well on his future endeav­ours.”

- DKA Inter­im Chair Chris Fry

Dan will be mov­ing back to Ade­laide to be clos­er to his fam­i­ly. His pres­ence and insights will be missed, and DKA wish­es him the very best.

The Board are cur­rent­ly in the process of recruit­ing DKA’s incom­ing CEO. Cor­po­rate Ser­vices Man­ag­er Jeanette Elliot will assume the role of Inter­im CEO from Mon­day 14 March, until the appoint­ment of DKA’s new CEO.