Katherin Teh is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Spektrum Development, established to help accelerate approvals for the critical minerals needed to fuel the Net Zero transition. It is a social purpose company that will be built with social licence at its core. A pioneer of sustainability and social licence strategy and practice, Katherine Teh has been developing resource projects for companies she worked for either as an employee or consultant for 30 years. Her specialty is creating strategy that is ahead of the curve which eliminates the need for activism, such as the Gorgon project approval strategy which she designed to reduce political and regulatory risk which today stands the test of time as the only significant energy project without an activist group. 

She has also worked with activists when they’ve blockaded or locked the gate to resolve their issues and realign the project so it can progress to licencing or to maintain the licence of an existing operation.

The methodology she has developed integrates social licence into governance, financial, environmental and social assessment and management of projects from due diligence to operation, engagement, communication, performance, role definition and issues management.

A former journalist, Katherine developed the world's first Social Licence Method to accelerate resource development in 1993. A winner of the Telstra business woman award in 2000, she is a highly experienced business leader who has served as the chair of the project approval sub-committee of the Earth Resources Development council for the Minister of Resources and Energy in Victoria as well as on the steering committee that developed the world’s first social and environmental standards for the mining industry. 

She was the industry partner for the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law to undertake the world’s first series of case studies for the role of transnational corporations in upholding human rights which informed the UN Principles for Business in Human Rights. 

She was a co-founder of the UN Global Compact Cities Program that engaged cities in sustainable development partnerships (today goal 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals). Today Katherine is an ambassador for the Victorian Women’s Honor Roll due to her work against sexual harassment and discrimination.