Christopher Balmford, our Document and Process Manager, hails from the scenic floodplains of the Yarra River (Birrarung) in Melbourne’s Ivanhoe East.

Growing up overlooking the river, the paddocks, dairy cattle and haymaking, Christopher developed a deep appreciation for nature, influenced by his parents’ passion for birds and bird research. They were voluntary senior officers of Birds Australia.

Helping his parents band penguins on Phillip Island and Flame Robins in the High Country brought him face-to-beak with many birds and developed his interest in adventures in nature. He bushwalks in Victoria’s Alps and the Snowy Mountains and he has sea-kayaked in Norway, in Antarctica and from Victoria to Tasmania.

Christopher’s role with BioDiversity Legacy balances two sides of his character – the serious ex-lawyer and businessman who specialises in plain language legal writing and advocacy and the passionate outdoors person who sits in CBD meetings dreaming of the mountains out the window. He’s enjoyed this balance as Chair of Wollangarra Outdoor Education Centre and President of the Yarra Riverkeeper Association.

He founded his plain language consulting business in 1999 and an internet start-up, Cleardocs, in 2000, which he sold to a multinational in 2011. He was the Convenor of a working group at the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) that developed ISO’s first standard for plain language. As director of the International Plain Language Federation, he initiated the standard.

Christopher’s mission at BioDiversity Limited is serious – to simplify engagement and facilitate informed and confident participation.