Our People

Ian Kemish AM

Ian Kemish AM, Forridel’s Managing Director and Co-Founder, is a former senior Australian diplomat and business executive. His 25-year career with the Australian government included service as Head of the South-East Asia Division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, and Head of the International Division at the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

Ian subsequently oversaw IndoPacific strategy for ExxonMobil Corporation and then, as Chief People, External and Sustainability Officer for Newcrest, he led the company’s work to elevate the company's community and environmental performance across its jurisdictions in Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Americas.

  • Ian was also head of the Australian consular service at DFAT and chair of the federal government’s inter-departmental emergency task force from 2000-2004. He was awarded membership of the Order of Australia for his leadership of Australia’s response to the 2002 Bali bombings.

    At Newcrest he also had global responsibility for internal and external communications, corporate affairs and human resources. He led the company’s push to establish greenhouse gas targets and build a meaningful sustainability strategy. He steered Newcrest's successful application to join the International Council on Metals and Minerals, the global standard-setter on sustainability for the mining industry.

    Ian is a Distinguished Adviser at the ANU National Security College, an Adjunct Associate Research Professor in History at the University of Queensland, and an Industry Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute. He is also a Director of the Australia-Indonesia Centre hosted by Monash University.

    Ian grew up in Papua New Guinea and Australia. He speaks PNG Tok Pisin, Indonesian and German.

Roxanne Martens

Roxanne Martens, Forridel co-founder and Director of the First Knoll program, has a strong track record in working with disadvantaged and vulnerable people.  She takes the primary role in directing the company’s First Knoll program, which directs a third of Forridel’s profits into programs that support those facing disadvantage access opportunities that would otherwise be beyond their reach.

Roxanne spent her early working life as a Recreational Therapist at Xavier Children’s Hospital, a residential care facility in Brisbane for children with a disability.  She also worked in child care and education, including as a residential nurse and teacher in the United Kingdom.  Following the birth of her own children, Roxanne worked overseas as a Community Liaison Officer with the Australian Embassy in Vienna, and then in specialist medical administration in Canberra as the Executive Manager of the John James Medical Centre in Canberra from 2000 to 2006.

  • From 2006 to 2010, Roxanne lived in Berlin Germany, teaching English as a second language while also holding senior organisational positions with two diplomatic organisations. She particularly cherishes the relationship she developed with the staff and students of the Ludwig Leichhardt Oberschule in Goyatz, an economically challenged area of the former German Democratic Republic.

    In Papua New Guinea from 2010-2013, Roxanne served as patron of the PNG Cancer Relief Association and directed the Australian High Commission’s discretionary aid program, with a particular focus on promoting employment opportunities for women, along with school sanitation, clean water supply and education for girls. She was a founding member and treasurer of the Safe Motherhood Alliance in PNG, and also supported the special care nursery (NICU) at Port Moresby General Hospital, caring for children with a disability, accessing specialist treatment and ensuring a continuous supply of critical medical equipment. Since leaving PNG she has continued to mentor Papua New Guinean women undertaking leadership training through the Kokoda Track Foundation.

    Roxanne worked as literacy coach with migrant children in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs in 2014-15, and after returning to Brisbane in 2016 she was part of a team which initiated a community playgroup in Fortitude Valley, with a strong focus on music, creative arts and learning through play for toddlers and preschoolers, while at the same time providing their parents with avenues for social interaction.