Michael Dureau, 65
Chairman of RedR International and RedR Australia, Sydney

The past year has been very successful for RedR, both in Aus-tralia and internationally, according to Prof Michael Dureau, who was reelected as chair-man of RedR International this year.
"In Australia we have had significant growth in our financial support and in the number of names on our register of engineers and others who are prepared to make themselves available at short notice for disaster relief assignments," he said.
Internationally, one of the most significant developments in the past year has been that Malaysia is joining RedR by setting up a local organisation. RedR stands for Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief.
An adjunct professor at Sydney University, Dureau is the executive director of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering. He is also chairman of one of the centre's current major activities – the 10,000 Friends of Greater Sydney – aimed at developing ways of making the city more sustainable.
A chemical engineer from Sydney University, Dureau retired as managing director of Alstom Power in 2003. Due to the chronic shortage of power engineers, he instigated the establishment of the Australian Power Institute, of which he currently is the chairman. The institute raises money to support universities in providing power engineering courses.
Dureau is also a director of several new companies including Ceramic Fuel Cells, SpiritWest Bioenergy and Organic Resource Technologies.

John Monaghan, 51
Chief Information Officer, Department of Defence, Canberra

Air Vice-Marshal John Monaghan has been the chief information officer (CIO) for Defence since December 2004. As one of the support executives he is the highest ranking engineer in uniform in the Department of Defence.
The CIO Group has a staff of about 1400, consisting of public servants as well as military and contracted personnel. Its role is to provide a secure and integrated information environment to support the Australian Defence Force's business and military operations.
Monaghan said in the past year a highlight in his job was the CIO Group's "outstanding performance in delivering strategic communications support to the Australian forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands". The extended communications network not only supports command, control and administrative functions, but also helps personnel stay in touch with their families.
A major challenge has been the sourcing of skilled staff, particularly at the program and project management level, he said.
Monaghan is an aeronautical engineer from RMIT. In 2000 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia fo

Bill Crews, 61
President of the Returned & Services League of Australia, Canberra

Bill Crews is now in his third year as the national president of the RSL which represents a membership of about 200,000. During the past year under his leadership the RSL has been successful in achieving greater government recognition of veterans' health - both physical and mental - as a key issue for returned service people. In the 2006/07 federal budget, announced last month, substantial funding was allocated to veterans' mental health support.
Another area where the RSL has made significant progress in the past year, Crews said, has been in raising awareness of Australia's military heritage and promoting civic values, particularly among young people. One of the initiatives for raising awareness has been the national Cadet of the Year program, which is now in its third year. Another initiative is a youth program to be launched as part of the RSL's 90th anniversary celebrations this month.
Crews is also working on increasing links with the current Defence Force personnel aimed at offering greater support for them.
A civil engineer from Sydney University, Crews had a distinguished career in the ADF from which he retired in 2000 as major general. Between 2000 and 2003 he was Engineers Australia's assistant chief executive. .

Ken Michael, 68
Governor of Western Australia, Perth

Dr Ken Michael was sworn in as the 30th governor of Western Australia on 18 January this year. He is the second engineer in a row in that position following Lieutenant General John Sanderson, who retired last August.
An Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, Michael has had a distinguished career in the Western Australian public service. He graduated in civil engineering from the University of Western Australia and started work as a bridge design engineer with the Main Roads Department. Following his PhD in London he returned to the Main Roads Department and eventually became its commissioner, a position from which he retired in 1997.
He then held a number of other senior positions in Western Australia. He was the independent gas pipeline access regulator,the acting rail access regulator and the chancellor of the University of Western Australia.
In 2006, he was appointed a Companion in the Order of Australia for community service, particularly in road transport systems, engineering, tertiary education, cultural groups and the Greek community. His parents came from Greece.
Michael was a vice-president of Engineers Australia and a founding board member of Engineers Australia's Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management.

John Schubert, 63
Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sydney

As chairman of the Commonwealth Bank, Dr John Schubert has presided over another bumper year for the bank, with revenue up 15% to $14.4 billion and net profit after tax up 18% for the half year ended December 2005.
A chemical engineer from Melbourne University, Schubert is the latest in a line of engineers who have been chairmen of the major Australian banks over the years.
Schubert's engineering career spanned the petroleum, mining and building materials industries. He is currently on the boards of BHP Billiton and Qantas Airways, as well as chairman of G2 Therapies.
Among his other activities is his chairmanship of the Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation.

Frank Sartor, 55
NSW Minister for Planning, Minister for Science and Medical Research, Minister assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer)

Frank Sartor is the NSW minister for planning. He moved to this portfolio last August from the Ministry for Energy and Utilities, when the new premier Morris Iemma reshuffled his ministers.
In his new ministry, Sartor has been driving planning reform, with one recent highlight being the standardisation of local environmental plans across the state.
Sartor was elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003 and has been a minister in the state government ever since. Prior to entering state parliament, he was lord mayor of Sydney for 10 years, a time which included the Olympics.
Sartor graduated from Sydney University in chemical engineering.

Don Fry, 66
Chairman of Aimtek, Cairns

Mechanical and elec-trical engineer Don Fry is the chairman and owner of the Cairns-based engineering firm Aimtek (formerly NQEA). In the past year he closed down the former NQEA's ship-building business and sold its ship repair facility to Viking Industries.
However, the staff of 50 continue to pursue research, development and manufacturing opportunities in aerospace and sugar cane mill automation equipment. The company has recently exported a bagasse processing plant to Venezuela and continues its work in naval architecture, designing specialist ships for overseas clients.
Fry has been successful in turning engineering concepts into profitable commercial reality for several decades. In recent years he developed a cooperative venture with the University of Queensland developing scramjet engines, including building components for the recent scramjet launch at Woomera.
Fry was recently appointed a special trustee for ensuring the allocation of funds under the federal government's Cyclone Larry assistance package. He has also served as chairman on a federal advisory committee on homelessness and continues related work through his involvement with the Salvation Army Advisory Board.
He recently received the Distinguished Constructor Award and was inducted into the Queensland University of Technology Hall of Fame.

Elizabeth Taylor, 51
Chair of the Board of Professional Engineers of Qld, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health at Central Qld University, Rockhamption

Professor Elizabeth Taylor has been the chair of the Queensland Board of Professional Engineers for more than three years. She is the first woman to hold that position.
The board admin-isters the Queensland Professional Engineers Act 2002, which provides for the registration of professional engineers to practise in Queensland.
Since 2005 she has been a member of the Queensland Manufacturing Leaders Group and at present is its representative on the National Manufacturing Forum.
Taylor is executive dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health at Central Queensland University and recently was elected as deputy president of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans.
She is deputy chair of the Board of Engineers Media, publisher of Engineers Australia magazine, and a member of the Board and international representative of RedR Australia (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief).
A civil engineer from New South Wales University, Taylor also has a degree in law.

James Graham, 58
Managing Director of
Gresham Partners, Sydney

A chemical engineer from Sydney University, James Graham has been the managing director of the Gresham Partners Group since its establishment in 1985. Gresham Partners is an Australian - owned independent investment bank focusing on financial advisory services, private equity funds and property investment funds. The total committed funds under its management are more than $750 million.
Over the past three years, Gresham has advised on a total of 36 announced public equity market transactions, with major clients in the past year being Healthscope, GE Money and Exel Oyj.
Graham, who started his career as a chemical engineer with Dow Chemicals before becoming a merchant banker, believes that what he learned about risk management in chemical engineering was very useful in his approach to investment banking.
He said in the past 12 months a major challenge has been "to find distinctive value for Australian companies in an increasingly global market".
Outside Gresham, Graham is a director of Wesfarmers and Rabobank Australia. He has also been the chairman of the Advisory Council of the Institute for Neuromuscular Research since 2000.

Campbell Newman, 42
Lord Mayor of Brisbane

The sustainable development of Brisbane has been one of Campbell Newman's main policies as lord mayor of Brisbane. Only last month he launched a new draft policy that will provide a consistent way of assessing the sustainable performance of new developments.
Newman has also been driving the renewal and expansion of the city's infrastructure, particularly traffic and transport issues. He was elected lord mayor in March 2004.
Brisbane City Council is the largest local council in Australia and at the centre of one of the fastest growing regions in the country.
Newman graduated in civil engineering from the University of New South Wales and has an MBA from the University of Queensland. He spent 13 years in the Australian Army and some time in industry specialising in bulk materials handling, before entering politics.

John Mulcahy, 56
Chief Executive Officer,
Suncorp Group, Brisbane

A civil engineer from Sydney University, Dr John Mulcahy joined Suncorp as chief executive officer and managing director in January 2003. With assets of over $54 billion, 4.3 million customers and over 8700 staff, the company is now Australia's sixth largest bank and fourth largest general insurance group, with a market value of about $11 billion. It is also one of Australia's top 25 publicly listed corporations.
"Without a doubt the most significant challenge Suncorp has faced in the past year was, and still is, the recovery process for our customers in the wake of Cyclone Larry in north Queensland," he said. "We have taken a leading role in the long-term rebuilding process in Innisfail and the surrounds. "With the majority of claims assessed we are now in the repair and rebuilding phases.
Mulcahy's career took him from engineering first to project and asset management, and then to running company divisions, culminating in his current position.
He is now seen as one of the most widely experienced management executives in financial services in Australia.
Earlier this year the federal government appointed Mulcahy to the Board of its Future Fund. He is also personally involved in Suncorp's fundraising initiatives for the Hear and Say Centre, which is one of the charities the organisation supports. Others include the Queensland Cancer Fund and the Salvation Army.

David Hawker, 57
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Federal Parliament, Canberra

David Hawker has been speaker of the House of Representatives since November 2004. A member of the Liberal Party, he represents the Victorian electorate of Wannon.
Hawker is one of the very few engineers in federal politics. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Melbourne University, but practiced engineering only briefly at the Altona Refinery. He was a farmer and grazier before entering Parliament in 1983.
Hawker still has an interest in engineering issues including infrastructure and sustainability.

Engineers Australia Magazine, Volume 78 No 6, June 2006.

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