Neil McCarthy

CEO, World Urban Parks & Mosaic Insights

Neil is an international leader in natural resource management with a strong focus on policy and strategy, especially parks and waterways. He has extensive understanding and experience in the complexities required to achieve balance between environment and development for the betterment of the community. Neil has superior communication and negotiating skills, and strong relationships at State Government level including Ministerial, Cabinet, Chief Executive and high-level policy development.

Neil has spent much of his career developing best practice and strategic partnerships between parks and NRM agencies. He has been responsible for leading some of the most significant global initiatives in parks management, including Parks Victoria’s ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ program, the creation of Parks Forum (as founding Chair) as a peak Australasian organisation representing parks agencies, the creation of the International Urban Parks and Green Space Alliance.

Neil held a number of operational, strategic and corporate executive roles in Parks Victoria before becoming the CEO of the North East Catchment Management Authority in Victoria Australia. He was originally educated in Forest Science with the University of Melbourne, holds an MBA in government policy and reform from Monash University, and did further Executive study at MIT in the USA.

Neil has been recognised for many of his contributions and was World Urban Parks’ 2016 Distinguished Individual Award recipient. Neil is the CEO of World Urban Parks and Co-Chair of the International National Park City Program and Director of the leading social environmental consultancy - Mosaic Insights.