Kim McKay

Kim Coral McKay, AO (born 1959) is an Australian environmentalist, author, entrepreneur and international marketing and communications consultant. She cofounded the Clean Up Australia organisation and the Clean Up The World campaign.,^[1] a project held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and which operates in over 100 countries. She co-created The Genographic Project for National Geographic which traces humankind’s genetic history over the past 60,000 years, and is the author of five books.^[2]

Early life

Kim McKay was born in Sydney to Francis Gordon (deceased 2009) and Coral McKay. She was educated at Mackellar Girls’ High School and attended the University of Technology(UTS) where she graduated with a BA Communications degree majoring in journalism, public relations and sociology (1981).

Career

Her career has focused on adventure pursuits and the environment – she was a project manager on all four BOC Challenge solo around the world yacht races in the 1980s and 90s; a media representative on the APSA World Pro Surfing tour in the 1980s; executive director of Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge in Australia, Morocco and Argentina in the late 1990s; and in recent years, part of National Geographic research and filming expeditions to Peru, Egypt and India.

In 1989, after helping stage the historic Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day where 40,000 people turned out, Kim co-founded Clean Up .^[3] with solo yachtsman Ian Kiernan. She served as Deputy Chairwoman for 20 years (1989–2009), helping direct the growth of the organization. Today, Clean Up Australia is one of the largest community environmental projects in Australia annually attracting more than half a million volunteers.

Following the success of Clean Up Australia, in 1992 she co-founded Clean Up the World, securing partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and international corporate support. The program now operates in over 100 countries and annually involves some 30 million participants. McKay told the ABC radio that ‘The belief that everyone can make a difference is a driving theme behind my actions’.^[4]

In 2004 Kim returned to Australia after almost seven years working in the United States in cable television for two non-fiction channels, Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channels International (NGCI). She joined NGCI as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications in June 2000.

Since then, Kim has co-created The Genographic Project ^[5] with population geneticist Dr Spencer Wells for National Geographic. One of the largest and wide-ranging projects in National Geographic’s 120 year history, the five year+ global study traces humankind’s migratory history during the past 60,000 years and actively involves the general public through the purchase of a DNA cheek-swab test kit to identify an individual’s deep ancestry. Kim conceived the project with Dr. Wells and secured global corporate support from IBM. To date, more than 360,000 test kits have been sold raising millions of dollars for the Genographic Project’s Legacy Fund to benefit cultural preservation and education projects in indigenous communities around the world.

McKay is currently the director of Momentum2,^[6] a Sydney based social marketing and communications consultancy working on projects for National Geographic Society, Qantas and Harpo Productions, and managed the media and publicity for Oprah Winfrey’s tour of Australia in 2011.^[7]

Publications

She is the co-author with Jenny Bonnin of five books published in Australia (ABC Books) and in the United States (National Geographic Books) ^[8]

• True Green….100 Everyday Ways You Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet (Nov06/Apr07)
• True Green @ Work…..100 Ways You Can Make the Environment Your Business, with Tim Wallace (Aug07/Feb08)
• True Green Kids….100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet* (Apr08/Sept08)
• True Green Home…100 Ideas to Help You Create a Greener Home (Oct08/Apr09)
• True Green Life…200 ideas to make your life greener in every way (Apr09/Mar10)
• True Green Kids is the winner of one of the USA’s most prestigious children’s science book awards, the AAAS/Subaru Book Prize for Best Hands On Science Book and has been featured in the journal, Science Magazine- awarded in Chicago, February, 2009.

media

Kim is a regular media commentator on practical environmental action and is a regular public speaker addressing business and not-for-profit conferences as well as schools & community groups. She has presented a series of on-camera ‘True Green Tips’ for Sky News in Australia (part of the weekly Eco Report in 2009), co-authored a weekly ‘True Green’ column for the Sunday Telegraph ‘Body and Soul’ newspaper in 2007 and was named in G Magazine’s Top 20 Australian Eco Heroes list in the November 2009 issue. She also presents a weekly True Green radio spot for ABC regional radio in NSW. A career highlight was as MC of the only media conference during Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure at the Sydney Opera House in December 2010.^[9]

Not-for-profit roles

Kim’s current not-for-profit roles include: Chair, Editorial Advisory Committee, CSIRO’s ECOS Magazine (Australia’s oldest environmental publication); foundation board member of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS); a board member of the EYE Foundation; and a committee member of the Genographic Project Legacy Fund. She is also an Ambassador for the 1 Million Women campaign.

In the past she served for 20 years on the Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World boards as Deputy Chairwoman; was a steering committee member of the National Business Leader’s Forum on Sustainable Development; a board member of the Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC and a communications advisory committee member of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She was a member of the Community Relations Committee for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Bid; voluntarily helped coordinate the Million Mom March in Washington DC in 2000; and was one of the co-founders of the Short-handed Sailing Association of Australia. In January 2008 she traveled to Antarctica as part of the Expedition Team, lecturing on board the Australian-based cruise ship, ORION.

Awards and honors

• Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the environment and the community – awarded by the Australian Government, June 2008 ^[10]
• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, 2010 presented to an outstanding UTS Alumni
• ‘G Magazine’ top 20 Australian Eco Heroes – published Nov 2009
• Appointed Fellow, Public Relations Institute of Australia (NSW) - 1997
• Winner, Environment Category, Avon Spirit of Achievement Award - 1994
• Winner, International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Award for Excellence in Environmental Communication – 1994 (presented in Uruguay)
• United Nations Honorary Mention for Excellence in Communication for Clean Up the World - 1994 (presented at the UN, New York)
• Public Relations Institute of Australia - Golden Target Awards: Winner - Special Event (NSW) – 1998; Winner - Community Event (NSW) – 1994; Highly Commended - Program Category – 1992; Winner - Project of the Year – 1990

References