Kieran McNamara is a graduate of the University of New England, and moved to Western Australia in 1985 after seven years in the Commonwealth Government’s Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. Keiran has been the CEO of DEC, and its predecessor the Department of Conservation and Land Management, since 2001.
 
Keiran's career and professional interests have been in biodiversity conservation and establishing and managing protected areas systems. He has a long record of involvement in national intergovernmental conservation forums, as well as international treaties and the work of IUCN