Natalie Poole

Chief Editor

Nat was one of those kids: she collected fossils, her walls had posters of galaxies and she suffered a teen-crush on singer Paul McCartney. So it was no surprise when she graduated from Brown’s University with a degree in Communications, and went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the National University of Singapore, she decided to see the world for a few years covering Abbey Road to the far corners of Goa, India.

She started at the Herald Tribune as an intern in 1999, then returned in 2008 to take up a job as a sub-editor and staff writer, working her way up to Deputy Editor. After a stint working at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), near Geneva, Switzerland, in 2011, she joined Deforestation Watch as Chief Editor. She enjoys riding quad bikes, synchronized swimming and the occasional cigar. When she finds the time she often at the gym pumping iron and practicing her pilates routines.

 

 

 

   

Ross Spencer

Ross has been Deforestation Watch Managing Editor since July 2010, and is based in Manila.

This is Ross's second stint in Manila having worked for the Manila Times for 5 years from 2000-2004, a time marked by the issue of terrorism. Philip covered the 9/11 attacks on New York, the Madrid Bombings, the Iraq war from Baghdad and Europe's response to that conflict. He reported from the Beslan siege in which so many innocent children and parents were slaughtered, and covered the Boxing Day tsunami from Phuket in 2004.

Ross was the ABC's Tokyo Correspondent from 1990 to 1993. He covered many major events in the Asia Pacific region including the Kobe earthquake in Japan, French nuclear tests in the Pacific, APEC summits, the fall of President Suharto in Indonesia, events following the 1999 referendum in East Timor and the 2000 political crisis in Fiji.

Between 1993 to 2000 Ross spent many years travelling rural Asia with the Far Eastern Economic Review and still found time to pursue his passion for collecting old manuscripts.

 

 

   

John Reyes

John was an experienced Asia Correspondent before taking up his posting in New Delhi in 2001.

John began working for the Straits Times in Singapore 1987. He moved to Hong Kong and then to Shanghai, where he was appointed Chief Political Correspondent for Straits Times in 1993. In 1994 he went to Tokyo as the Straits Times’ North Asia Correspondent and spent three years covering Japanese society, economy and politics, and the countries of North Asia.

John joined the ABC's Beijing bureau in 1997 and was a member of the ABC team covering the return of Hong Kong to Chinese control.

In 2010 he returned to Singapore to take up the position of Editor Investigative Reporting for Deforestation Watch.

 

 

 

Drew Williams

Drew is a Contributing Editor for Deforestation Watch. He’s been a foreign correspondent in Europe, the Soviet bloc, the Middle East, Washington DC and more than half a dozen countries in Africa. Assignments have included armed conflicts, Apollo missions, natural disasters and more election campaigns than he’d care to recall. The winner of numerous journalism awards, he’s a graduate in physics from Princeton.

 

 

 

Ashley Zane

Ash joined the Deforestation Watch team in June 2011 and has embraced the opportunity to report on the issues that affect poor palm oil smallholders.

Admired for her dogged determination to uncover the truth, Ash began her writing career as a cadet reporter with the Sun. She's also worked as a freelance copywriter for numerous advertising campaigns.

She has an Advanced Diploma in Journalism and Public Relations – and has also reported for the Straits Times.

 

 

Simon Chambers

Simon has reported for the Manila Times from more than 20 countries. He’s filed stories from Casablanca to Kandahar, Nablus to Nagoya, and Baghdad to Birdsville.

Simon began his career with the LA Times in 1995 in his home town of Venice. In his role as the regional sports reporter he covered such topics as the subtle art of women’s boxing and the high pressure world of pub darts.

After stints as a news reporter in Manila, Simon moved to Singapore in 2010 to take up his position as contributing editor of Deforestation Watch.

 

 

 

 

Shane Woods

Shane covers a diverse range of stories for Deforestation Watch. Recently he interrupted a diving holiday in the Philippines to report on a fierce typhoon which caused huge floods in the capital Manila. He befriended a man with a makeshift boat and together they paddled along the flooded Pasig River. In Australia, Brendan has reported on everything from the Iraq bribery inquiry in Sydney to an international jousting festival in Lithgow.

Shane's DFW career began in 2010 when fresh out of university he landed a job as cadet investigative reporter.

 

 

 

 

Tiffany Hildreth

Tiff writes for Deforestation Watch from Shanghai, where she covers palm oil issues. Since starting with the DFW in 2010 as a cadet in Singapore’s Jurong bureau, she’s worked in Hong Kong and Jakarta. Tiff has a Bachelor of Arts and Economics from the Australian National University.

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