Ms McDonald is Commissioner, NSW Net Zero Commission, Chair of the Board of Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE), Member of the UNSW Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, Advisory Group Member, Net Zero Australia Project( University of Melbourne and University of Queensland) and an advisory board member for The Nature Conservancy. She is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney.

Previous Board roles include as a board member of the Australian Government’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the NSW Government Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board and the CRC for Low Carbon Living. She also served as Environment Commissioner with the Greater Cities Commission and an expert panel member of the NSW Government Decarbonisation Innovation Study.

Ms McDonald’s corporate career roles included as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), CEO of Low Carbon Australia Ltd (LCAL-the precursor to the CEFC), and as Director, Global Issues for Alcoa Inc in New York and President of Alcoa Foundation. Her diplomatic appointments included serving as Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment as well as Australia’s Deputy Ambassador to the US and as Counsellor, Australian Permanent Mission in Geneva.

She holds an Honours Degree in Applied Science from the University of NSW.