Speakers
Invited Speakers
Themes
The Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management has joined forces with Young Engineers Australia in developing the 2010 Leadership Conference. This conference will explore three concurrent themes:
| Leadership in Business | Environment & Community | Pathways to Leadership |
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Daniel Almagor
Daniel Almagor is the founder and CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) and the Managing Director of Medivax Pty Ltd. He also sits on the Board of Directors of The Jewish Museum of Australia. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and a Bachelor of Business Administration, both from RMIT.
In 2003, Daniel won the Churchill Fellowship to further the growth of EWB in Australia. EWB's rapid growth and success throughout Australia and South Asia prompted Daniel to be named in the 100 most influential engineers in Australia in 2005 and he was recently awarded the RMIT Alumni of the Year.
Tony Ellwood
Tony Ellwood is the Director of the Queensland Art Gallery; this is a two campus facility which includes the new Gallery of Modern Art, which opened in December 2006. Prior to taking up this position in June 2007, he was Deputy Director - International Art, at the National Gallery of Victoria for seven years. He was Director, Bendigo Art Gallery, from 1996 - 1999 and also worked as a Curator at the National Gallery of Victoria from 1993 - 1996, specialising in major international curatorial projects. He has also been an Aboriginal Art Coordinator, working at Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra, from 1991 - 1992. He has been on numerous state and Commonwealth boards, this has included the Visions of Australia Committee, Museums Australia National Board, and Victorian College of the Arts (Board and Academic committee) and was on the selection committee for the 2005 and 2009 Venice Biennales. He has written and edited numerous publications and articles.
Nick Fleming
Nick Fleming is the Chief Sustainability Officer for the global operations of Sinclair Knight Merz, a leading engineering, sciences and project delivery firm. He has over 15 years local and international experience in consulting and applied research, leading complex multi-disciplinary projects that aspire to sustainability outcomes. His track record includes projects across the water, mining, infrastructure, defence and natural resources sectors, and all levels of government, where he principally operates as a strategist and integrator of technical disciplines dealing with aspects of change processes, capacity building, decision support and institutional reform. He routinely works at the Board and executive level, helping to develop pragmatic strategies for private and public organisations. This knowledge and experience was recently recognised with an Honorary Fellowship of the Asian Foresight Institute. Prior to assuming his current role Nick was strategic director of Technology & Innovation for the Water & Environment business unit of SKM. He also sits on the Board Committees on Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility for the firm, helping to shape our corporate strategies and investments to 'make a positive and lasting impact on the world'.
Gerry Gannon
CONFERENCE MC
Following a 10-year career as a journalist and broadcaster with ABC Radio, Gerry Gannon left to pursue a career that would bring him closer to audiences and allow him to explore parts of the world he could not do from a radio studio.
He spent a time in PR, which allowed him the opportunity to travel and to get to know "business" both in Australia and SE Asia. It was at this time that he established Indonesia's first English language radio station in Bali for a Perth/Indonesian joint venture partnership.
He also took an interest in the not-for-profit sector and was elected to the Council of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and served as President for two years. He also served on the Board of Tourism Council WA, Access 31 Televisions and Kids Help Line. He is now a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
In 2002, Gerry began to devote most of his professional time to the conference industry and became a specialist conference MC and panel facilitator. He is also a much sought after corporate MC and has worked in every city in Australia and overseas.
Gerry has been providing media skills training to government, not-for-profit and industry for over 10 years and in recent years added speech and presentation training courses.
But his main interest in providing a refreshing dimension to conferences with his quit wit and his ability to quickly grasp some of the complex issues presented at conferences.
Stuart Glenn
Stuart Glenn leads PB International, one of the worlds major infrastructure, engineering, power, transport, construction, and project management companies. PB International comprises over half of Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), a US$1.8 billion company based in New York.
Since his 2007 appointment, Stuart Glenn has been responsible for driving PB International's strong growth trajectory, with 6,500 staff, through divisions covering Europe/Africa, Asia, Australia/Pacific, Middle East, and India from his London base. This role follows responsibilities as Managing Director of PB Australia Pacific, during which time the revenues of this fastest growing Australian engineering company tripled in three years.
Helen Gluer
Helen commenced as the Chief Executive Officer of Tarong Energy in January 2007. Before this, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Brisbane City Council.
With a diverse career, Helen has 25 years experience in banking, finance and infrastructure. Helen is currently a Council Member for the Queensland University of Technology, and Local Government Remuneration Tribunal and has directorships with the Queensland Resources Council, National Generators Forum, and TransLink Transit Authority. Helen was previously the Chair of the Central Queensland Ports Authority. Her other previous directorships have included City Super Pty Ltd, the South East Queensland Water Board and Brisbane Airport Corporation.
Bruce Leslie
Bruce Leslie B.E., M.Eng.Sc, FAIE, RPEQ, is a mechanical engineer whose 25 year career has covered a wide range of engineering disciplines, research and innovation; including integrated system design, mechanical design, analysis, hypersonic fluid flow and vibration.
Since starting LC in 1989, he and the LC staff have provided high end engineering design and analysis using finite element methods and strain gauging measurements, predominantly to the mining industry. LC has been pivotal in the advancement of mining equipment development in Australia, specifically in relation to dragline equipment, where the buckets and rigging components they have designed for CQMS have become the industry leaders.
Bill Marmion
Bill Marmion is a former Senior State Government Executive with a successful track record of negotiating and liaising, on behalf of the State Government of Western Australia, with industry, State and Commonwealth Departments, State and Commonwealth Ministers, peak bodies, minority groups, the community, and individuals, on a range of issues.
Bill has extensive knowledge of the structure of Government in Western Australia through personal involvement, over more than 23 years, of working for a State Government Instrumentality, State Government Departments, a Ministerial Office, and the Premier's Office, which also gave him hands on exposure to the Cabinet process, Parliament and the Judiciary.
For the past six years he has run in partnership a small consulting business employing 8 people. During this time he has managed a number of projects including the Feasibility Study into a Sports Entertainment Venue conducted by DSR, Challenge Stadium Feasibility study, WA Rowing Course Feasibility Study, WA Netball Facility Business Plan and Gymnastics WA Needs Assessment.
Zimi Meka
Zimi Meka is one of the founding directors of Ausenco Limited and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director in 1999. Zimi's background includes senior roles in engineering and operations companies prior to the formation of Ausenco in 1991. He has over 25 years experience in the design, construction and operation of a wide range of processing plants and infrastructure in the minerals industry in Australia and internationally. Zimi was the Queensland University of Technology "QUT" 2009 Alumnus of the Year and was also nominated as one of Engineers Australia's 2009 Top 100 Influential Engineers in Australia.
Dr Chris Roberts
Dr Chris Roberts has over 33 years experience in international medical device businesses, including renal (dialysis), orthopaedics (electrical bone growth stimulation), cardiology (pacemakers), respiratory and sleep medicine (CPAP) and otology (cochlear implants).
Dr Chris Roberts has been the CEO of Cochlear since February 2004. He was a founding (non-executive) director of ResMed Inc (August 1989), and joined ResMed full time in 1992 as Executive Vice-President, until he became CEO of Cochlear Limited. He remains on the ResMed Inc board.
Ian Shepherd
Ian Shepherd has been a Director of GHD Pty Ltd since 1999 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in mid-November 2008. The GHD operation incorporates 20 Operating Centres, over 100 offices and 6,300 people across 15 countries. In an operational sense Ian has been the General Manager of Australia having held this role from 2003 to 2008. From 2005 to 2008 he was also the General Manager for the Middle East. Ian had the Board responsibility for Strategy from 1999 to 2005 and through this role has participated in setting the environment for GHD more than tripling in size over 5 years.
Ian qualified as a Professional Engineer in 1978 and has worked in the disciplines of civil and structural engineering, together with project management. Experience has been obtained in Canada and South Australia over a combined period of 5 years in the 1980s.
Outside of GHD Ian is a Director of the Princess Margaret Children's Hospital Foundation in Western Australia.
Adam Spencer
HYPOTHETICAL MC
Adam Spencer began his career in radio by winning the Triple J Raw Comedy championship in 1996. From there, Adam became a casual presenter, and eventually took over the coveted breakfast time slot, hosting from 1999 - 2004. A consummate learner, Adam holds a first class honors degree in Pure Mathematics and has an immense interest in science. These passions lead Adam to hosting the ABC program Quantum and FAQ from 1998 to 2001. Prior to this Adam was a regular guest on the Channel Ten's Good News Week series, ABC's The Fat and continues to be a regular guest on The Glasshouse. In 2003 Adam hosted Hit & Run for the Foxtel's Comedy Channel and in 2005 Adam hosted Joker Poker for Freehand Group which is currently screening on the Ten Network.
Adam's other outstanding achievements include being voted "Best Speaker in the World" at the World University Debating Championships. Prior to this, Adam was captain of the Australian Debating Team for 3 years. He was winner of the National Championships and Winner of the Australian University Championships. Adam was a regular performer at Belvoir Street Theatre's "Theatresports" and speaks regularly at science and maths conferences Australia wide.
Adam's book Little Book of Numbers has been published by Penguin and has been translated into many languages around the world. His next book, More Mind Numbing Maths, was published by Penguin in 2005.
At the end of 2004 Adam and his co presenter on Triple J Wil Anderson toured the nation with The Last Time Tour, which sold out in every capital city and celebrated their time on Triple J. Adam has also toured for the last 3 years with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in the Sleek Geek Tour, which is held during Science Week and is a hilarious one hour show combining ground breaking science with side breaking comedy.
Adam has had extensive experience on various boards and authorities - he continues to serve on the Senate of the University of Sydney, the NSW Premier's Advisory Committee on Greenhouse and Global Warming and the NSW Health Department's Clinical Ethics Review Committee as well as being an ambassador for the Fred Hollows Foundation and helping out with numerous charities.
This wide-ranging exposure provides many potential areas of discussion in keynote addresses, conference sessions making Adam a firm favourite on the corporate convention and after-dinner speakers' circuit. Adam has worked for more than 300 clients including Pharmacy Guild, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Zurich Financial Services, KPMG, Spatial Sciences Institute, Griffith Hack, TAFE NSW, CISCO Systems, Planning Institute of Australia, Queensland Resources Council, Grant Samuel Investment Bankers, Pearson Education, Australian Primary Principals Association, UBS Finance Academy, Time Magazine, Australian Financial Revue, Minerals Council of Australia and Finance & Treasury Association to name a few.
Air Vice-Marshall Colin Thorne AM
Air Vice-Marshal Colin Thorne was born 25 December 1963 in Atherton, Queensland. He joined the RAAF in 1981 as an Engineer Cadet at Engineer Cadet Squadron, RAAF Frognall. Air Vice-Marshal Thorne was commissioned as a Radio Engineering Officer (now Electronics Engineering Officer) on graduation in 1984.
The majority of appointments held by Air Vice-Marshal Thorne have been related to project and engineering management of capital acquisition projects, mainly airborne radar, electronic warfare and avionic systems. Major projects include Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C), Global Positioning System, P-3C ESM, and P-3C Refurbishment.
Air Vice-Marshal Thorne held the position of Officer Commanding Maritime Patrol Systems Program Office as a Group Captain, and Director General Aerospace Maritime and Surveillance Systems as an Air Commodore.
Air Vice-Marshal Thorne was promoted in December 2008, and appointed Head Aerospace Systems in the Defence Materiel Organisation.
Air Vice-Marshal Thorne holds a Bachelor Degree in Electronics Engineering (with Distinction) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1985), and a Masters Degree in Military Electronics Systems Engineering from Cranfield Institute of Technology and Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK (1992). He was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2001.
Paul Wilson
Paul Wilson is the engineering manager of Calibre Controls, a Perth based company with offices in Brisbane that supplies process control, plant optimisation and data communications engineering services to the mining sector. Paul holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering, a Masters degree in system simulation and a doctorate in data analysis and artificial intelligence.
He began his career as an electrical engineering apprentice with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority where he became fascinated by the instrumentation and control of nuclear reactors. He emigrated to Australia in 1972 and after working as a control engineer in several industries he joined the academic staff of QIT in 1980, lecturing in instrumentation and control. He created and administered the new Masters of Engineering Science degree in process control and was instrumental in creating the successful QUT Bachelor of Aerospace Avionics in which he taught the space technology component.
After leaving academia in 1999 Paul worked as a consultant with Tecnet Pty Ltd. He has since worked in software design with Foxboro, as the senior process control engineer at Placer Dome's Porgera mine, as the lead I&C engineer on the Gold Coast Desalination Plant design, and now with Calibre Controls.