NLC Chief Executive Officer

Joe Martin-Jard was appointed Acting CEO of the Northern Land Council on 16 July 2021. Prior to joining NLC, Mr Martin-Jard was the CEO of the Central Land Council.

Born and raised in the Northern Territory, his family ties are to the Kamilaroi people of southern Queensland.

Mr Martin-Jard has extensive qualifications in education and business management, including a Bachelor of Teaching and a Masters in International Management, both from Charles Darwin University.

Prior to joining the CLC in February 2019, Mr Martin-Jard was with the National Indigenous Australians Agency in Alice Springs. From 2015 to 2018 he was the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Regional Manager Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt, where his work focussed on Aboriginal employment, economic development and community services. Earlier in his career, he was also the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission’s Regional Manager in Tennant Creek, where he oversaw major housing and infrastructure projects between 2000 and 2004. 

Mr Martin-Jard also has in-depth experience from the private sector having managed an Aboriginal-owned Top End labour hire company based in Darwin. He also worked in the Aboriginal community-controlled sector, having held leadership positions in Darwin’s Danila Dilba Health Service and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory. 

He is also a non-executive director of the Northern Territory Farmers Association.