Our Team

John Kop
CEO & Managing Director

John has over 30 years’ experience in food retail. He has worked for Woolworths, independent supermarkets, and Coles. He was the CEO of Outback Stores and ran his own consultancies: Remote Retail Services and John Kop Consulting before joining IRAM as CEO in 2015.

John has a track record of developing, delivering, and implementing strategic plans, organisational change and financial results for both multinational corporations and small to medium business enterprises. His commercial acumen has helped deliver business improvement and social outcomes for Indigenous businesses across Australia.

John is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds master’s degree from Melbourne University. He has been a non-executive and executive director on several boards, including IRAM. He is an invited member of the Gunbalanya Independent Public-School Board.

Shane Kennelly
Director

Shane is a proud Bundjalung man, and uniquely experienced professional who brings an impressively broad business and government experience in governance, strategic management, human resource management, risk management, work place health and safety and construction. Shane holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Aeronautical) from University of Sydney, a MBA from Sydney Graduate School Of Management and is a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Shane is Managing Director of Kennelly Constructions, Executive Director First People Recruitment Solutions, Director of Indigenous Employment Australia, Co-Chair of Queensland Indigenous Business Network, a Panel member of the Queensland Governments Tripartite Procurement Advisory Panel and Bond Business School advisory board Member.  

Craig Wallace
Director & Chairperson

Craig Wallace has extensive commercial, operational and financial experience across a range of industries. He previously held senior executive positions in the aviation sector both domestically and internationally, followed by CEO/COO roles in the transport/logistics and legal  industries.

Craig  is a qualified accountant who has been a non-executive director and chair on private company boards, and has undertaken a number of mentoring and consultancy roles across a range of industries. The non-executive roles include working in regional areas with various indigenous communities, in tourism, manufacturing and the retail sectors.

Shaun Whisson
Retail Operations Manager

Shaun has 30 years’ retail experience in metropolitan and regional areas of Western Australia.

He grew up in Merredin, a small town 256 kilometres from Perth. In 1991 and began his first job with GJ Coles at Target Merredin, where he went on to become store manager. He then worked as stores business manager for Independent Stores for five years.

Shaun then spent 10 years in store management positions for Coles Supermarkets, including remote area manager for North West WA and opening store manager for Coles Haynes. He was store manager of the year for Coles Supermarkets WA in 2010 and WA state coach for easy ordering meat and bakery in 2013.

In 2015, Shaun moved to Woolworths as supermarket manager before starting with IRAM in the same year.

Shaun’s passion is bringing a metropolitan shopping experience to regional areas, overcoming the remoteness of store locations and building better retail businesses in a challenging environment.

Tina McCullock
Business Support Manager IRAM

Tina is based in Perth. She lived in Tennant Creek for four years, starting as IRAM Retail Operations Support in June 2019 when IRAM took over management over the Tennant Creek BP Complex.

 Originally from New South Wales, she previously spent three years in administration with NT Local Government and four years in records management with New South Wales Health. She worked with Caltex (NSW) and BP (NT) for five years.

 During the COVID19 pandemic, from March 2020, she took on the additional role of community liaison in Tennant Creek.

 Tina’s role is to provide support to the IRAM executive team and manage business records, contracts, business report and compliance with regulatory requirements.

PeopleHelp

PeopleHelp is an experienced people advisory service that provides practical advice and human resources support and employee relations.

PeopleHelp helps IRAM manage its people, by advising and supporting managers to optimise the productivity of their teams, meet business goals, engage effectively with their teams, maintain safety and wellbeing, manage employment risks and remain legally compliant. 

Photos:  Anna Curtis and John Clement from PeopleHelp

Nicole Reedman
Accountant

Nicole is a CPA Qualified Accountant with over 20 years experience, responsible for all IRAM day to day accountant work, end of period reporting, overseeing the bookkeepers and assisting at budget time.

McBurneys Chartered Accountants

McBurneys Chartered Accountants provides accounting and taxation services to IRAM, including financial reporting, budgeting, cashflows, income tax and GST.  McBurneys use their expertise and experience to provide sound financial advice and support directly to IRAM’s management.

Principal Nick Barwell is a Chartered Accountant with 25 years’ experience and is a registered Tax agent. He works with Australian businesses providing monthly accounting, taxation compliance, management reporting, payment processing and payroll services.

Espire IT Pty Ltd 

Espire IT has supported IRAM stores since 2018, standardising technologies across all stores, securing users and systems, supporting the company’s teams and setting up IRAM for easy expansion of its technology needs.

Director Paul Watson founded Espire IT 17 years ago in Melbourne. With his experience as a technical strategist and business analyst, Paul has a strong track record of providing support and guidance to business owners, helping them make the sound decisions on information technology and increasing efficiency, scalability and businesses’ bottom line.

Paul and his team at Espire IT empower businesses and people by simplifying technology and helping them embrace change. They collaborate with clients to understand their challenges and business needs, then encourage them to reinvent their mission with the use of the latest technologies.