Speakers

Hear from dynamic invited speakers including Mr Daniel Almagor, Director, Engineers Without Borders; Professor Mike Dureau, Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering; Dr Geoff Garrett AO, former CEO, CSIRO; Mr Stuart Glenn, COO, PB International (Parsons Brinckerhoff); Mr Zimi Meka, CEO, Ausenco; Dr Chris Roberts, CEO, Cochlear; Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Director of Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology, UNSW; Air Vice-Marshal Colin Thorne AM, Defence Materiel Organisation; Dr Ray Wilson, CEO, Brisconnections; .

Ask a questions of a panel exploring engineering leadership with respect to safety, innovation, sustainability and ethics - panellists include Russell Scott, CEO, Uhde Shedden; Bill Wild, COO, Leighton Holdings; Barry Broe, Divisional Manager Brisbane Infrastructure, Brisbane City Council; (more from Cohan’s list)

Hear directly from Engineers Australia’s own leaders - President Professor Doug Hargreaves, CEO Peter Taylor, CELM National Chair Professor Archie Johnston and YEA National Chair Carla Cher, EA leaders in Queensland and many others.

And it’s not all engineers – speakers include Tony Ellwood, Director Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art; Helen Gluer, CEO, Tarong Energy; Dr Cassandra Goldie, Director of Equal Opportunity office, Age and Sex Discrimination Unit, Australian Human Rights Commission. Leadership consultants Avril Henry, Peter Evans, Gregory Bayne, Rosemary Bishop, Grace O'Malley and Barry O’Sullivan will also bring fresh perspectives.

Daniel Almagor

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

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

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

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

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 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.

Shaun Hart

Shaun Hart

At 18 years of age Shaun was recruited into the AFL ranks by Brisbane. 15 years later he retired after 299 AFL recognized games, 3 premierships and a Norm Smith medal for best player in the 2001 AFL Grand Final. He has travelled extensively throughout Australia and spoken to a variety of audiences including Schools, sporting, business and other groups. Shaun -since leaving a playing career, has been pivotal in introducing an anti drug campaign in Brisbane high schools called the "Shaun Hart choices program". Other key topics that Shaun inspires and motivates people with are leadership, teamwork and what true success in life is about. Shaun believes in three C's for living a good working life are Character, Competitiveness and Community. He sums this up by saying, " A life well lived requires great character to fight for something that is bigger than ourselves and involves working together as a team to achieve great community outcomes". Currently Shaun Hart is the Gold Coast Football Club Assistant Coach. Shaun is playing a key role in moulding a new team and team culture in the lead-up to entering the AFL in 2011.

Bill Marmion

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

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

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.

Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla

Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla is the leader of research into Sustainable Materials as the Director of Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) at the University of New South Wales.
Veena's research interests throughout her career have been in sustainability of materials and processes with an emphasis on environmental and community benefits. Through this interest, Veena has invented an environmentally friendly process of recycling plastics and rubber tyres in steelmaking. Veena is an international award winning scientist and engineer who has presented on her research and experiences throughout the world.

She has collaborated with Australian companies and overseas companies/institutions. She has established excellent working relationships and a deep knowledge of industrial processes and issues/problems. She has published in excess of 190 papers in journals and conference proceedings.

In 2005, she received Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. She also received the 2006 Environmental Technology Award from Association of Iron & Steel Technology in the United States for her research into recycling waste plastics in steelmaking. She was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 2007.

Veena was born in India. She received BTech, Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India; MASc, Metals and Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, Canada and PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, US.

She is passionate about science and engineering. She encourages young people to consider science and engineering as a career path; and is very active in communicating her ideas to students. She is one of the judges on the ABC TV show, "The New Inventors".

Adam Spencer

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-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

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.

Raymond Wilson

Raymond Wilson

Dr Wilson is Chief Executive Officer of BrisConnections which is currently building the Airport Link, Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron) and Airport Roundabout Upgrade for the Queensland Government at a total cost of $4.8 billion.

A highly experienced executive in the infrastructure and toll road sector, he has more than 35 years’ experience in all aspects of international and local major project development and operations, including 14 years’ involvement in the development of toll road projects in Australia.

Prior to BrisConnections, Dr Wilson was Executive General Manager Development and Special Projects at Thiess, having previously been Executive General Manager Infrastructure and Corporate Services. At Thiess he was responsible for the development of major projects, project financing and general business development.

Over the past 14 years Dr Wilson has led bids for major road projects and overseen the subsequent development of those projects, from construction through to startup and early operation phases.