NSW Major Projects 2012 | Speakers

Richard Pearson is Deputy Director General, Development Assessment & Systems Performance in the NSW Department of Planning & Infrastructure.

Richard is responsible for overseeing the assessment and determination of State significant development and infrastructure projects, including transport, energy and water, mining, extractive industry, manufacturing, waste and remediation and major urban renewal precincts such as Barangaroo.  
Richard is also overseeing the preparation of strategic regional land use plans across NSW.  Regional plans for the Upper Hunter and New England North West have recently been finalised, with work underway on plans for the Southern Highlands and Central West.  These plans have a primary focus on resolving land use conflict between coal mining, coal seam gas production and agriculture.

Richard is also responsible for the NSW Housing Code, NSW Commercial and Industrial Code and Joint Regional Planning Panels.

Mr Swann joined Infrastructure NSW as an Executive Director in July 2011 and is responsible for transport infrastructure strategy and the delivery of the Sydney Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Precinct PPP. He previously spent over a decade in investment banking with Macquarie Capital and ABN AMRO, with a focus on transport projects and PPP's. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a first class degree in History.

Chris Lock is the Deputy Director General of the Transport Projects Division of the NSW Government’s integrated transport authority, with responsibility responsible for developing and delivering NSW transport infrastructure and fleet asset projects.

Chris has extensive project and contract management experience in infrastructure, spanning public and private sectors in Australia and overseas.

He has been associated with notable projects including Darling Harbour, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, Anzac Bridge, the Sydney Parallel Runway and the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link.

Current projects include the South West Rail Link, Auburn Stabling Project, Transport Access Program, Rail Clearways Program, Northern Sydney Freight Corridor, Wynyard Walk, Sydney Light Rail Program, Waratah trains and a number of other projects in the development phase.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Quantity Surveyors) and a member of other institutions including IAMA, Institute of Company Directors and AIPM.

With almost 20 years of commercial and Government experience spanning Australia, Asia and the OECD, Garry has a wealth of experience, insight and 'blue chip' networks to help SMART achieve its goals with government and business within Australia and internationally.

Garry has a unique mix of government and private sector experience in building greater partnership among the key stakeholders involved in infrastructure planning and investment, public service delivery and foreign investment.

He was the Founding Executive Director of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA). Established in September 2005, IPA grew rapidly under his leadership to be Australia's peak body for infrastructure development. Garry built a corporate and government membership exceeding 160 organisations of leading financiers, builders, service providers and government to advocate greater private sector involvement in infrastructure. He is widely recognised as a leader in the infrastructure sector and is highly influential in shaping public debate and community opinion.

He has also held senior executive positions in commercial organizations including Tenix as Senior Vice President, Marketing & Business Development. Garry achieved significant success in establishing and growing its traffic business in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and East Asia.

Antony is well known in Australian infrastructure sustainability circles and has been involved with AGIC since 2008. He has significant management and consulting experience across most industry sectors including transport, water and waste, mining and resources and energy. He has advised Federal, State and Local Governments and private enterprise on policy, business and project related sustainability drivers, trends, processes and opportunities.

Antony is currently SLR Consultings’s Technical Discipline Manager for Sustainability and Climate Change and will be joining AGIC on a part time basis. His previous involvement with AGIC has included working with the industry stakeholders in applying the AGIC framework prior to the actual tool being developed, managing (on behalf of AGIC) the full development of the Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) tool and regularly representing AGIC at industry events.

Ben’s business is to make the planning process fast and easy.  He has spent the past 5 years building a visual planning technology and method for projects and precincts that has been applied to over $60bn of projects.

Ben and his team are integrators and collaborators. Enabling clients to see all the pieces of the plan fit together - before, during and after design. This is accelerating project development across industries and functions.

Ben’s doctorate focused on simplified planning methods for urban infill development. Oxford Circus was a case in point.

Kurt joined BIS Shrapnel in 2011, having recently earned his master's degree, working as an applied economic forecaster and analyst for both the Economics and Infrastructure and Mining units.  Kurt has contributed key forecasts and analysis to BIS Shrapnel's premier publications including:

• Road Construction in Australia- Victoria
• Engineering Construction in Australia- Queensland, Victoria and ACT
• Long Term Forecasts- International
• Economic Outlook- international markets, equities, commodities and exchange rates
• Maintenance in Australia- Project Manager

In addition, Kurt has recently completed a major in-depth mining and engineering construction study for private clients in Queensland.  Although a new addition to the firm, Kurt has already introduced new national and regional models highlighting the importance, impacts and linkages of Australian industry sectors.

Kurt earned his MSc, Economic Management & Policy, with Distinction, from Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.

Rodd Staples heads the project team which will deliver the biggest addition to the Sydney public transport network since the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built almost a century ago.

As an engineer growing up in Sydney’s south, Rodd has worked in the fields of transport and infrastructure planning for nearly two decades – across Australia and in both the public and private sectors.

His qualifications in engineering and finance provide the strong foundations required to deliver a project on the scale of the North West Rail Link – a 23km extension to Sydney’s rail network and the biggest rail tunnelling project ever undertaken in Australia.

“The opportunity to work on a city-transforming project with such a dedicated team is a privilege and one that I am very proud of,” Rodd says.

“We will be delivering a product with the customer at its focus which will transform the growing North West region of Sydney.”

Rodd is a former Deputy Director General at the Department of Transport, overseeing the NSW Government’s transport capital works projects.

Stephen has more than a decade of experience specialising in finance, public policy and business strategy. Stephen has been CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (NSW) since 2009. Between 2003-2008, Stephen was a Director in Macquarie Bank's Banking and Property Group working on building operational businesses, branded investments and public private partnerships.

He has worked as Deputy CEO of TTF Australia (2000-2003) and as National Policy Manager for the Tourism Council of Australia (1998- 2000) and the Property Council of Australia (1996-1998). He started his career as a Graduate Economist in the Commonwealth Government.

Ken has been a Program Manager in Infrastructure Delivery since 2005. He has managed delivery of the capital works programs dealing with renewal and augmentation of the water and wastewater networks, greenfield growth, Western Sydney Replacement Flows project and the priority sewerage program. Joining Sydney Water in 1982, Ken has worked in a range of roles including design engineer, operations engineer, asset manager, project manager and alliance integration manager. Ken has worked on secondment with a power and water utility in the UK and has been an alliance leadership team representative on four of Sydney Water’s alliances. Ken has a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), Master of Engineering Science and Advanced Diploma of Project Management.

Darrin Grimsey is Partner with Ernst & Young’s Project Finance Group in Melbourne and a leading adviser on PPP projects in Australia.

Darrin has over 20 years experience working in the projects environment as an engineer, project manager and financial adviser.  He specialises in the delivery of infrastructure projects including commercial, strategic and financial advice, project structuring, risk identification and contract negotiations.  He has extensive experience advising governments on PPP policy and guidelines as well as delivering PPP projects in health, education, corrections, justice and water.

Darrin has advised on several PPPs in Australia and also the United Kingdom, including: East of Scotland Water PFI; Bridgend prison; Casey Hospital; Southbank TAFE; WA CBD Courts; Melbourne Showgrounds; Darwin Waterfront Development including convention and exhibition centre; Partnerships Victoria in Schools; New Royal Adelaide Hospital; Parkville Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Darrin regularly conducts workshops and training for PPP practitioners and speaks at conferences.  He has also published several papers in leading academic journals and books dealing with various issues relating to PPP implementation, including Public Private Partnerships: the revolution in infrastructure provision and project finance which won the 2006 Blake Dawson Waldron award for business literature in Australia.

Peter Bentley is the Executive Director of the McKell Institute and a regular commentator on Sky News and ABC 24.

Launched in April 2012, the McKell Institute is a public policy institute dedicated to developing practical policy ideas and contributing to public debate.

Named after New South Wales wartime Premier William McKell, the McKell Institute explores a range of public policy issues and proposes practical reforms which can be acted upon by governments and the private sector.

Key areas of activity for the McKell Institute include producing regular policy research papers, hosting policy round table discussions and public lectures, as well as undertaking landmark longitudinal studies.
Born and raised in the New South Wales regional town of Crookwell, Peter completed his secondary studies at St Patricks College Goulburn before studying Arts at the University of New South Wales and The Australian National University.

Peter has worked as a Federal Government policy adviser specialising in infrastructure and government services delivery.

As a Research Director at leading market research firm UMR Research, Peter specialised in qualitative research methods. This experience gave him a unique insight into the attitudes, aspirations and policy priorities of a broad cross section of Australians.

Peter has also served as an official for the Australian Labor Party advising on rural and regional policy and leading the development of electronic television and radio advertising campaigns.
Peter is a member of the Institute of Company Directors and lives in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra with his wife Katie.

Stephen Byron has led the Capital Airport Group since the acquisition of Canberra Airport in 1998, by his father Terry Snow. Prior to this Stephen studied Commerce and Law at the Australian National University and was the development manager for the Capital Property Trust and Capital Property Corporation.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cronulla Sharks NRL club, Damian Irvine is a company director and businessman with almost 20 years experience in a variety of industries. Mr Irvine’s business interests have included hospitality management and consulting, fashion retail and supply, racing industry bloodstock and breeding agent and consultant, while he has also taught design for TAFE. In addition to his role as Board member and Chairman at the Sharks Damian is a member of the Football Committee and the performance Governance Committee. He also sits on the Board of a not-for-profit organisation. Damian was a driving force behind the Sharks gaining approval for the redevelopment of land surrounding their current home base in Woolooware in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

David Hensher is Professor of Management, and Founding Director of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) at The University of Sydney. Recipient of the 2009 IATBR Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for his long-standing and exceptional contribution to IATBR as well as to the wider travel behaviour community.

Recipient of the 2006 Engineers Australia Transport Medal for lifelong contribution to transportation. Honorary Fellow of Singapore Land Transport Authority, and a Past President of the International Association of Travel Behaviour Research. He has published extensively (over 500 papers) in the leading international transport journals and key journals in economics as well as 12 books. David has advised numerous government industry agencies, with a recent appointment to Infrastructure Australia’s reference panel on public transport, and is called upon regularly by the media for commentary.

Ken Kanofski is Executive Director of the Housing and Property Group, a business unit within the NSW Department of Finance and Services. The group has around $32 billion in assets, $1.5 billion revenue and 750 employees. NSW Land and Housing Corporation (public housing), State Property Authority, Teacher Housing Authority and the Waste Assets Management Corporation are included in the group.

The Housing and Property group focuses on professional and economic asset management and utilisation, which allows other government departments to focus on serving their clients.

David is an architect by training but has been working across all parts of property development for over twenty years. David has held leadership roles at major Australian and International corporations working in Australia, Asia, Europe, UK and Nth America, with experience on major international projects through to leadership roles in site acquisition and feasibility, strategic development, community and social sustainability, concept planning and architecture.

David is particularly focused on market driven solutions, design leadership and product development with a detailed awareness of the wide range of civic, lifestyle and cultural influences that shape the planning of new landmarks and regenerated urban communities.

David is a Director – Property Development at the Barangaroo Delivery Authority carrying responsibility for Barangaroo Central as well as the development of side wide strategies for City Integration, Arts and Culture and Indigenous Engagement.

Paul joined the Foreshore Authority as Director, Special Projects in 2011. Previously, Paul was the Director Strategic Developments and Projects for the NSW Land and Property Management Authority for four years and prior to taking up that role, Paul spent 20 years in executive roles with the NSW Maritime Authority and its predecessor organisation, the Maritime Services Board of NSW (MSB).

Paul has been involved in much of the change associated with the foreshore of Sydney Harbour since the 1980s, including the devolution of ownership and responsibilities of the former MSB to new Government entities and the redevelopment of former port areas.

Originally, a surveyor by profession and with business qualifications, Paul has enjoyed a diverse career of over 40 years in the public sector.  Paul has a special interest in the waterfront and ensuring that the development, protection and preservation of State-owned foreshore land assets are maintained for future generations. He has presented papers at a number of International Conferences covering topics ranging from marina development ‘Marinas and Social Demands’, to new property leasing models for wind farms ‘Surety by Sharing’ and most recently, ‘Sydney Harbour Waterfront – Past Decades of Achievement, Future Decades of Challenges’ in Washington DC.

Bob joined RMS (formerly RTA) in 2001, following more than 30 years of service with the Queensland Department of Main Roads. In his current role as General Manager Pacific Highway, Bob is responsible for leading multi-disciplined teams in delivering one of the largest highway upgrading projects in Australia. Bob has been leading project teams over the last 22 years in upgrading the Pacific Highway from the southern outskirts of Brisbane to Newcastle.

While he has a basic grounding in engineering with a civil engineering degree, masters in engineering science and is Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, he has learnt there are many aspects to delivering major highway upgrading projects other than just engineering.

Bob has also received the Public Service Medal in 1999 for work on the Pacific Motoway in Queensland and the RTA Staff Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2006.

Mark is the Regional Manager for Aconex, the world’s largest provider of online collaboration solutions to the construction and engineering industries. More than $260 billion of projects in 70 countries use Aconex to manage project information helping project participants to improve efficiency and reduce risks.  Founded in Australia in 2000, the company services many of Australia’s, and the world’s, largest construction, engineering, and mining projects.
 
Over the past five years, Mark has played a leading role as Aconex has been one of Asia-Pacific’s fastest growing technology firms, servicing clients such as Brookfield Multiplex, Grocon, McDonald’s Restaurants and IKEA. Prior to Aconex, Mark worked with a number of leading software and collaboration solution providers in the UK.

MEGAN MOTTO is the Chief Executive Officer of Consult Australia; the association for professional services firms within the built and natural environment. Megan has extensive board experience and is currently a Director and Councillor of the NSW Business Chamber, Director of the Australian Construction Industry Forum and Councillor of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A highly sought after contributor to public policy in Australia, she holds positions on the Department of Infrastructure and Transport’s National Urban Policy Forum, the Department of Finance and Deregulation’s Procurement Consultation Committee, and Roads Australia’s Steering Committee of the Transport Funding and Pricing Reform Network.

Megan is a skilled public speaker and facilitator, and regularly participates in high profile events such as the annual international FIDIC Conference and the NSW Infrastructure Summit. She frequently features on the speakers program at events convened by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia and the Millennium Forum.

In addition to her double teaching degree (BABEd) and Masters in Communication Management, Megan is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Justice of the Peace.

Since being appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Consult Australia in 2005, Megan has tripled the Association’s staff base and developed a strong, vibrant and high performing culture. She is responsible for setting and achieving Consult Australia’s business strategy and representing its member firms at a federal government level. Megan spearheads Consult Australia’s extensive policy and lobbying activities and has achieved enormous success on behalf of its members on issues such as sustainability, workplace diversity and infrastructure planning.

Graham is a Senior Advisor with Thinc where he works in developing and coaching High Performance Teams in Projects. Graham has a long history working as a specialist in team development in Major Projects.

Prior to studying Organisational Psychology to Masters Level, Graham worked in the Construction and Infrastructure Industries at trade, middle and senior management levels. Over the past 18 years Graham has worked in Partnered Projects, Alliance, ECI, EPCM and other forms of Project delivery as Facilitator, Coach, Relationship Manager and Performance Manager. Graham is also a lecturer with Queensland University of Technology where he lectures in Developing High Performance Teams in Projects. He has also lectured in Leadership, Project Management and Organisational Psychology.

Grahams experience in construction, linked with his understanding of Project Management Methodology and his qualifications and experience in understanding Human Behaviour as a Psychologist, gives a very unique blend of specialist approaches and a not too typical, practical and applicable approach to developing High Performance Teams in any project setting.

In this presentation Graham will present and discuss the critical success factors in building high performance teams in major project delivery and the compelling evidence as to why this is crucial.