Our People

Jordy is an executive leader and internationally recognised as an interdisciplinary cryosphere/snow scientist, with publications spanning from climate change impacts on snow, to avalanche forecasting, hazard mapping, hydrology and decision-making science. He has extensive experience leading and supporting research in North America, Europe, the Arctic, Antarctica and New Zealand. He represents New Zealand at international forums, including the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). He also serves as a NZ Mountain Safety Council board member.

Prior to joining Antarctica New Zealand in 2022, he was the Director of the Snow & Avalanche Laboratory and a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University. He served as Department Head for Earth Sciences, and as the Director of Liberal Studies. He also served as an Adjunct Professor in Snow Sciences, in the Department of Geosciences, UiT- The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, and prior to this at The University Center in Svalbard (UNIS) in Longyearbyen. He started his career studying Geography and Geology at Victoria University of Wellington, including conducting research in Antarctica, worked at the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Switzerland, and then completed his PhD at the University of Canterbury. He then worked for NIWA (now Earth Sciences NZ) as a Snow and Ice Scientist before moving to the United States in 2010.

Ceisha has been involved in Antarctic policy and environmental management for 18 years, working in the Science, Policy, Environment and Safety teams at Antarctica New Zealand. She has championed and led the development of the organisation Environmental Management System, Health and Safety System, the Environmental Impact Assessment process, developed and reviewed specially protected areas and advanced international environmental policies through science collaboration.

Ceisha was elected the Chair of the Committee for Environmental Protection in 2024, the technical advisory body that advises the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) on all environmental issues in Antarctica. She has been a member of the New Zealand delegation to the ATCM for a decade and has been New Zealand’s representative to the CEP since 2019. She was formally the expert group leader of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes Environmental Protection Group and now sits on the Steering or Advisory Groups for several international Antarctic science projects with a particular focus as a user of science from a policy perspective.

Adam is a lawyer by profession. He has previously held chief executive roles in central government, local government, and the private sector, including the Serious Fraud Office and Queenstown Lakes District Council. In recent years he has operated as a professional director and consultant, primarily involving major projects in New Zealand local or central government, including the $1.5b development of new Dunedin Hospital. He has also had consulting and private sector management roles in Australia, the Pacific, the UK, and Europe. Adam is a chartered director of the Institute of Directors New Zealand and was a member of the Independent Panel that reviewed the Scott Base Redevelopment project.