Our People

Simon French-Bluhm

Chief Executive Officer

Meet Simon, a seasoned veteran with a quarter-century of expertise in the construction and consulting industry, with a special focus on Environmental and Sustainability Management.

With a robust background in civil engineering and construction, Simon effortlessly integrates environmental aspects into the projects of our company, thereby instilling them into our clients’ culture.

After a near-decade long successful stint at Laing O’Rourke in Western Australia, Simon embarked on a new journey. He founded Enveng Group, with a vision to disseminate his vast knowledge and experience across the industry.

Adding to his impressive credentials, Simon earned his Infrastructure Sustainability Council ISAP accreditation in 2014. A true pioneer in his field, Simon is the driving force behind our mission for a sustainable future.

Senior Staff

Mike Scanlon

Operations Manager

Mike Scanlon has a BSc (Hons) degree in Biology from Curtin University and worked for the Department of Parks and Wildlife from 1992 until 2006, when he joined Outback Ecology as a Senior Biologist. Mike has extensive experience sampling and identifying subterranean fauna in WA, as well as undertaking macro-invertebrate based river health assessments for the AusRivAS program and surveying vertebrate fauna. Mike has been using GIS applications for 15 years and oversees the Bennelongia HSE program.

Kevin Sagastume Espinoza

Principal Biologist

Kevin is a Principal Biologist at Bennelongia, specialising in short-range endemic (SRE) invertebrates. He joined the team in early 2022, bringing a strong background in invertebrate systematics, extensive fieldwork experience, and species identification—developed through more than a decade of academic training and applied research both locally and internationally.

Jim Cocking

Senior Biologist/Survey Supervisor

Jim Cocking has a BSc and GradDipSc from Curtin University and worked for the Department of Parks and Wildlife Science Division from 1994 to 2007. As a survey supervisor Jim has very extensive experience sampling and identifying subterranean fauna, undertaking river assessment, aquatic macro-invertebrate monitoring and identification, SRE surveying and foraging, native vertebrate fauna and feral predator monitoring, surveying and translocations. Jim has worked extensively in all regions of Western Australia on mining leases, pastoral properties, national parks, reserves and vacant crown land.

Jane McRae

Senior Taxonomist

Jane McRae worked at the Australian Museum and British Museum of Natural History prior to joining the Department of Parks and Wildlife from 1995 to 2007. Jane has worked on the taxonomy of polychaete worms, isopods, copepods, ostracods, scorpions, beetles, silverfish, cockroaches and hemipterans. She has been involved in regional surveys of aquatic invertebrates in wetlands and rivers throughout much of WA, and for the past seven years has undertaken most of Bennelongia’s identifications of stygofauna and troglofauna species, as well as identifying some SRE taxa. Jane has been an author of many taxonomic publications and is widely regarded for her exceptional identification skills.

Daniel White

Principal Biologist

Daniel White has BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from University College London. He has undertaken numerous conservation genetic research projects over the past 15 years in Australia and New Zealand with a strong applied ethic on a diverse array of taxa, with findings taken up at both state and federal government levels for implementation in various conservation management programs. Most recently he was appointed as a Research Fellow in the National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub at UWA where his work focused on using genetic/genomic diversity and population modelling to guide conservation management of five threatened Western Australian mammals.

Vitor Marques

Principal Biologist

Vitor C. Marques has a BSc degree (Biological Sciences) with major in Animal Biology from São Paulo State University in Brazil. He has worked in marine conservation institutes along the Brazilian coastline, acquiring extensive experience in fieldwork and data collection in remote areas. Vitor was also involved in research projects that aimed to analyse the impact of human activities in estuarine and marine ecosystems, observing and analysing changes in the behaviour and distribution of certain species of marine animals. Vitor is a pivotal member of Bennelongia’s field teams, as well as completing reports and the analysis of results.