Doug Aberle, 53
Managing Director, Western Power, Perth
Electrical engineer, University of Western Australia

Doug Aberle is the managing director of Western Power, the electricity transmission and distribution business established after the disaggregation of Western Australia’s vertically integrated utility in April 2006.
In its first year of operation, he faced the challenge of completely restructuring the new business. Western Power has more than 3200 employees, including embedded contractors and an annual turnover of $700 million.
Aberle is also overseeing an $800 million investment program, approximately double the spend of the previous two years. As well, the state-owned business was given budget approvals for $3.5 billion worth of expenditure over the next four years. This will enable it to meet the record growth occurring within Western Australia while upgrading the network after years of under-investment.
Outside work, Aberle regularly runs, swims and enjoys scuba diving. He has had a long-standing interest in counselling and psychotherapy and has spent 14 years on the Board of South West Counselling Incorporated, a not-for-profit counselling agency, located in the south-west of Western Australia.

George Maltabarow, 57
Managing Director, EnergyAustralia, Sydney
Electrical engineer, University of Sydney

The current key focus for EnergyAustralia’s managing director George Maltabarow is the rollout of the company’s $3.7 billion capital works plan to 2009/2010 to meet the growth in demand for electricity.
The company is working on combining traditional engineering skills with telecommunications and computer systems to develop more innovative control systems. In the past year EnergyAustralia has maintained its position as the largest employer of apprentices in NSW, with 520 currently training to become electricians, line workers, cable jointers and vehicle body repairers.
The year’s highlights included a major upgrade of the electricity infrastructure under way in Sydney’s CBD, including a new City West Cable Tunnel and City North Zone Substation.
Apart from his engineering degree, Maltabarow holds an economics degree from Macquarie University. He was appointed EnergyAustralia managing director in 2005.
Maltabarow is married to Amanda and father of three daughters.

Kirby Adams , 51
Managing Director and CEO of BlueScope Steel, Melbourne
Industrial engineer, Auburn University, Alabama, US

Since Kirby Adams became chief of BlueScope in 2002 the company has tripled its value, to more than $10 billion in revenue.
The firm has 18,250 employees, with about 8300 located in Australia. The rest of the labour force is in North America, Southeast Asia, China, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Prior to his appointment Kirby was a senior executive with the BHP Billiton group and head of the former BHP Steel since March 2000.
He is a former chairman of the International Iron and Steel Institute and a former president and chief executive officer of Titanium Metals Corporation, the world’s largest titanium metals company.
Adams has signalled his intention to retire from BlueScope Steel later this year.
His favourite recreations are skiing, swimming and travel.

Stuart McGill, 64
Senior Vice-President, ExxonMobil Corporation, Irving, Texas
Chemical engineer, University of Sydney

Dr Stuart McGill was appointed senior vice-president of ExxonMobil Corporation in October 2004, having started in the industry with Esso Australia in 1969 as an engineer in the production department.
In 2006, ExxonMobil recorded record earnings of $39 billion from revenue of $365 billion.
Over the past year ExxonMobil has continued its growth and exploration strategies which incorporate the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas, US, where the company is working with QP and ConocoPhillips. The Golden Pass plant is designed to process
15.6Mt/a of LNG. Construction began in August 2006 and operations at the site will commence in 2009.
McGill said technology will be critical in developing nonconventional energy resources for the future, citing last year’s development in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado where a patented multizone stimulation technology was used to commercialise the basin.

Paul Anthony, 51
CEO of AGL
Mechanical engineer, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK

Paul Anthony heads Australia’s largest energy utility with a customer base of 4.1 million accounts in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.
AGL is also a top 50 ASX-listed company with a 2005/2006 revenue of $4.3 billion. Founded in Sydney almost 170 years ago, the company is one of the country’s oldest continuing public companies.
Anthony is passionate about addressing climate change and carbon emissions in a sustainable way and recently appeared on ABC television on the “Difference of opinion” show where climate change was the subject of discussion.
“AGL already takes carbon emissions and the price of carbon into every single investment decision it makes,” he said.
He pointed out that in the past 12 months AGL had committed to invest more than $2 billion in renewable power generation and already has a number of wind and hydro projects under construction.

Peter McMorrow, 57
Managing Director, Leighton Contractors, Sydney
Highway engineer, Western Australia Institute of Technology (now Curtin University)

Under the leadership of managing director Peter McMorrow, Leighton Contractors has doubled in size and diversified its portfolio to now include significant mining, industrial, telecommunications and investment activities.
Leighton Contractors has over 5000 employees. Last year the company contributed revenue of $2.26 billion to the parent company Leighton Holdings.
Over the past few years McMorrow’s successes include the acquisition of HWE Mining, securing the $2 billion North-South Bypass Tunnel and $1.8 billion Gateway Upgrade project, both in Brisbane.
McMorrow is a fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, a director of the Australian Contractors Association and a member of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).
He enjoys tennis, painting and sailing. His last holiday with wife Bernie was spent sailing around Croatia in the Adriatic Sea.

Trevor Eastwood, 65
Nonexecutive chairman, Wesfarmers, Perth
Mechanical engineer, University of Western Australia

Trevor Eastwood is very optimistic for the future of Wesfarmers, a firm which is a serious contender for acquiring retailing firm Coles Group. He believes Wesfarmers’ success in recent years (it employs about 30,000 people and achieved a $9 billion revenue in 2005/2006) has been in the way it developed systems to manage a diverse group of subsidiary companies.
“Our corporate executive is independent of the operating companies, all of which are treated as individual entities,” he told Engineers Australia magazine.
He started his career with the then Westralian Farmers Cooperative in 1963, and held a number of management positions including his final eight years as managing director of Wesfarmers. He was appointed chairman of Wesfarmers in 2002.
Eastwood’s main passions outside of work are building fine furniture and collecting, restoring, racing and rallying historic cars.

Denny Mooney, 51
Chair and Managing Director of G
M Holden Australia, Melbourne
Mechanical engineer, University of Michigan

Joining General Motors in 1978 as a college graduate in training with Oldsmobile Division in Michigan, US, Denny Mooney has moved through the ranks including positions as detail engineer, project engineer, senior project engineer and business team manager. He was appointed to chair and managing director of GM Holden Australia in 2003.
Holden employs 8200 in Australia, and globally General Motors recorded revenue in 2006 of $254 billion.
Holden Australia’s plant builds 150,000 vehicles a year and, Mooney said, his objective is to capture enough global market to keep the plant fully operational.
He said the launch of the VE Commodore stabilised GM Holden Australia’s operations as a global centre for GM in rear wheel drive engineering.
For example, GM Holden Australia exported 30,000 cars to the Middle East last year and export plans include Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, Korea and the US.
Under Mooney’s reign, GM Holden established a Women’s Council in 2005 and since then the company has been awarded an “Employer of Choice for Women” citation three years running.

Grant Every-Burns, 55
CEO and Managing Director, Macquarie Generation, Newcastle
Electrical engineer, University of NSW

While Grant Every-Burns acknowledges that keeping up a freshwater supply to Bayswater and Liddell Powerstations is presenting a challenge in the current drought, he believes Australia should try to retain its competitive advantage as a supplier of relatively low-cost energy.
He would also like to see a lot more new electricity supply projects for peak and baseload generation that are clean and efficient and strengthen a base for technical and commercial skill development and employment growth.
NSW state-owned Macquarie Generation employs over 600 people, more than 100 of whom have engineering qualifications. Its revenue in 2005/2006 was $890 million.
Every-Burns was appointed as chief executive in 1996, following the establishment of Macquarie Generation following the dissolution of the former Pacific Power state utility.
He has been vice-chairman of the National Generators Forum since 1998 and is chairman of the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO) Participant Advisory Committee.
Every-Burns’ leisure interests include boating, scuba diving and family activities. He is also a strong supporter of the Hunter Rescue Helicopter Service and local medical research.

Ken Moss, 61
Chairman of Boral and Centennial Coal Company, Sydney
Mechanical engineer, University of Newcastle

Dr Ken Moss is chairman of the Boral board and the Centennial Coal Company, and was recently appointed deputy chairman of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Boral is currently working on its continued expansion in supplying building and construction materials into Southeast Asia and the US. Centennial Coal Company is working on plans for the $300 million Anvil Hill open-cut coal mine in the Hunter Valley.
He has also helped oversee the Australian Maritime Safety Authority expand its search and rescue capabilities.
Outside work Moss is involved in a Latin reading group and is also studying French.
He has recently walked in Patagonia in South America and is about to embark on a trip to Africa for a wildlife experience.

Peter Farrell, 65
Chairman and CEO of ResMed, San Diego
Chemical engineer, Sydney University

Dr Peter Farrell is chairman and CEO of ResMed Inc, a US and Australian dual-listed public company and a leader in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of devices for the diagnosis, treatment and management of sleep disordered breathing (SDB).
“Our latest estimates for the 2006/2007 financial year are almost A$1 billion. We now have sales in about 100 countries, but the Americas, Germany and France account for about 80% of our revenues,” he told Engineers Australia magazine.
The firm’s revenue is almost double last year’s. Staff numbers are also up from 1300 to 3000. Farrell expects an average 20%/a growth over the next five years.
In 1984, after a distinguished academic career in the US and Australia (he holds a masters in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD from the University of Washington in biomedical engineering) he became both vice-president for research and development at Baxter Healthcare and director of Baxter’s Japanese subsidiary.
In 1986, he formed ResMed to manufacture continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) devices for treating sleep apnea. Farrell’s personal interests include Australian art and international photography. He is also a keen golfer.
“I’m currently a 10 handicapper, but not really playing to it,” he said.

Kevin Murray, 57
Managing Director, TransGrid, Sydney
Electrical engineer, University of NSW

In 2006 Kevin Murray was appointed managing director of TransGrid, a NSW state owned corporation responsible for the transmission of high voltage (bulk) electricity in NSW. The corporation has assets worth over $3.7 billion, income of $480 million and staff of 950.
With expertise in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of asset management, Murray is currently halfway through leading a five-year capitals work program valued at $1.2 billion. The most significant project involves the upgrading of the backbone of the national electricity grid in western NSW at a cost in excess of $300 million.
He is a member of the NSW Energy and Water Ombudsman Board, member of NEMMCO Participants Advisory Council and the Electricity Network Owners Forum.
In his spare time he enjoys golf, travel, gardening and family activities.

Jim Gill, 60
Chief Executive Officer of Water Corporation, Perth
Civil engineer, University of WA

Dr Jim Gill was given one of Engineers Australia’s highest honours last November by being named the 2006 Civil Engineer of the Year.
His most recent achievements have included the implementation of a program of capital works to diversify water sources for Perth, including the construction of Perth’s desalination plant, the first major desalination plant in Australia.
For the past five years Gill has led the Water Corporation’s source development against drought and ongoing climate change. Streamflow from catchments into dams providing 1.6 million people with their drinking water supplies has reduced by two thirds.
Gill has a PhD from Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard. He is deputy chairman of the Water Services Association of Australia.
Gill’s favourite relaxation is cycling.

John Mulcahy, 57
Chief Executive Officer, Suncorp, Brisbane
Civil engineer, University of Sydney

Dr John Mulcahy has held numerous high-profile roles within the financial services and construction industries throughout his career. He joined Suncorp, a diversified financial services provider, as chief executive officer and managing director in January 2003.
Since then he has led Suncorp through a growth phase which has seen it buy and integrate two major competitors, with the acquisition of the $8 billion Promina Group completed only in March.
As a result of the acquisition, Suncorp is now one of Australia’s 15 largest Australian Stock Exchange listed companies with a market capitalisation of around $20 billion. The company has around seven million customers and 16,000 employees throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Mulcahy obtained his bachelor degree in 1974 before reading for a PhD in engineering in 1981. He credits his engineering background for providing the building blocks that have helped him progress through his executive career.
Mulcahy has a young family and in his spare time enjoys reading, golf and scuba diving.

Albert Goller, 56
Chairman and Managing Director of Siemens Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne
Electronics engineer, Paderborn University, Germany

Albert Goller was appointed as chairman and managing director of Siemens in Australia and New Zealand in 2002.
Commencing his career as an electronics engineer with Siemens in Germany in 1973, Goller has held a number of senior executive positions including president and CEO of Siemens Canada in Toronto and head of the Corporate Office for E-business in Munich, Germany.
In 2006, Siemens in Australia and New Zealand earned $2.157 billion in sales and had a regional workforce of 3460.
Key recent business successes include commissioning of a groundbreaking medical syngo Dyna computed tomograph (CT) and iPilot guidance tool at Dalcross Private Hospital in Sydney and a contract for more than $200 million to install gas turbines for a new 640MW powerstation near Wagga Wagga in NSW.
Goller is a keen sportsman and enjoys running, tennis, golf and windsurfing.

Wayne Osborn, 55
Managing Director of Alcoa World Alumina, Perth
Electrical and electronics engineer, Gordon Institute of Technology, Geelong

Wayne Osborn is the managing director of Alcoa World Alumina, which posted an annual revenue of $4.3 billion for the year ending December 2006. He is in charge of 6200 staff across Victoria and Western Australia.
One of Osborn’s professional highlights in the past year was seeing the company complete a major upgrade of the Pinjarra Alumina Refinery in Western Australia, making it one of the world’s largest.
According to Osborn, his fascination with technology began when, growing up in a small country town, he witnessed the modern wonders of 240V power and television arrive at the same time.
As a managing director, he occasionally misses the satisfaction attached to working on projects directly and watching things being built. “However, my compensation is that I get involved in a much broader range of projects from original conception, community consultation and approvals through to completion. That’s hard to beat,” he said.
Osborn enjoys the natural world and has a particular affinity with the ocean. In April, he sailed to the Abrolhos Islands off the Western Australian coast to photograph Australia’s northernmost sea lion colony. His next trip will be next month to photograph sperm whales in the Portuguese archipelago The Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

Richard Goodmanson, 59
Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of DuPont, Wilmington, Delaware, US
Civil engineer, Royal Military College Duntroon (University of NSW)

Richard Goodmanson is executive vice-president and chief operating officer of DuPont and a member of the company’s Office of the Chief Executive. He joined DuPont in 1999. Current responsibilities include leadership of the operational functions in the company and the geographic regions, with specific focus on growth in emerging economies and transformational productivity programs.
Prior to joining DuPont, from 1996 to 1999, Goodmanson was president and chief executive officer of America West Airlines, based in Tempe, Arizona. During his tenure at America West, the airline achieved the highest rate of growth of any hub-and-spoke major carrier in North America, won the J D Power award for customer service twice and achieved the highest EPS results in the company’s history.
Goodmanson also serves on the board of directors of Rio Tinto and is chair of the board of the United Way of Delaware.
A US citizen, Goodmanson was born in Australia and educated at universities in both countries. He holds degrees in civil engineering from the University of NSW, commerce and economics from the University of Queensland and an MBA from Columbia University in the US.

Mike Quigley, 54
President of Science, Technology and Strategy at Alcatel-Lucent, Paris
Electrical Engineer, University of NSW

Before taking up his current position, Mike Quigley was Alcatel’s president and chief operating officer and member of the Alcatel Executive Committee. Before that, he was president of Alcatel North America and president of Alcatel’s fixed communications activities.
Headquartered in Paris, the company designs and delivers communications equipment to telecommunications carriers, internet service providers and businesses. It employs 79,000 people worldwide and has operations in over 130 countries.
Last year, Alcatel merged with US company Lucent Technologies. At the same time it also transferred its satellite subsidiaries, railway signalling business and critical security systems domains to French defense company Thales.
Alcatel-Lucent’s adjusted proforma revenues in 2006 was $29.9 billion, excluding the impact of activities to be transferred to Thales.

James Graham, 59
Managing Director of Gresham Partners, Sydney
Chemical engineer, 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.
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 has been very useful in his approach to investment banking.
Outside Gresham, Graham is chairman of Rabo Australia and Rabobank Australia, and is a director of Wesfarmers. He has also been the chairman of the Advisory Council of the Institute for Neuromuscular Research since 2000. Based at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, the institute’s research aims at identifying the causes, understanding the mechanisms and developing therapies for muscle and nerve disorders in children.

Douglas Rathbone, 61
Managing Director and CEO of Nufarm, Melbourne
Chemical engineer, Melbourne University

In his role of managing director and CEO of crop protection manufacturer Nufarm, Douglas Rathbone is responsible for about 2600 employees. The company’s revenue in the 2005/06 financial year was $1.68 billion.
He recently completed negotiating the acquisition of the balance of Agripec, a crop protection company based in Brazil.
Nufarm acquired a 49.9% stake in the company – then Brazil’s largest locally-owned agricultural chemical company – in 2004. Nufarm will pay $210 million for the balance of the business.
Rathbone is president of the Children’s Cancer Centre Foundation at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, of which Nufarm is a supporter. His family’s wine business enjoyed rewards recently with Rathbone describing the release of the family’s 2004 cabernet as one of the “best ever”.

Colin Isaac, 46
CEO of BOC South Pacific, Sydney
Chemical engineer, University of Natal, South Africa

Colin Isaac was appointed managing director of BOC South Pacific in January 2007. He said it is a very exciting time to be working in the South Pacific.
In September 2006, BOC became a part of the Linde Group, the industrial gases and engineering company. BOC provides services in the industry, from retail sales through its gas and gear outlets to major industrial gas supply schemes.
The South Pacific business includes Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. In this region the company has about 2700 employees and revenue of more than $1.5 billion a year.
A British citizen, Isaac brings to the role more than 20 years experience in BOC, most recently as head of the company in North Asia based in Shanghai.
He has also held senior management positions in Southeast Asia and South Africa and served on the boards of several listed and non-listed companies in the region.

Christopher Roberts, 53
President and CEO of Cochlear, Sydney
Chemical engineer, University of NSW

As president and CEO of Cochlear, Christopher Roberts is in charge of 1600 people. The company, which develops implantable hearing technology, had a revenue of $452 million in the 2005/06 financial year.
Roberts has been instrumental in the company’s strategy to capture new markets for its hearing devices. Continued investment in research and development has driven product innovation.
Roberts is also working on a range of growth initiatives driving awareness and expanded indication such as bilateral implantation.
Bilateral implantation involves receiving a cochlear implant in each ear to gain binaural hearing.
People with normal hearing in two ears have a binaural advantage – the brain can compare and contrast signals from both ears providing advantages such as understanding speech in noisy listening environments, sound localisation, and spatial or 3D sound.
Outside of work, Roberts is chair of Reserach Australia, a not-for-profit organisation of over 180 entities committed to health and medical research. He last went for a holiday at Lake Conjola on the South Coast of NSW.

Gordon Jardine, 54
CEO of Powerlink Queensland, Brisbane
Mining engineer, University of Queensland

Gordon Jardine is CEO of one of the largest and most cost-effective transmission line utilities in Australia with its assets having grown from $1.5 billion in 1995 to $3.6 billion currently. Powerlink has 726 employees and achieved a 2006 revenue of $534 million.
Jardine is proud of the fact that Powerlink has maintained its position as a top quartile performer in terms of cost-effectiveness and network reliability, compared with 18 other international electricity transmission utilities.
He is a regularly invited speaker at electricity industry conferences and has held posts on a number of committees involved with shaping the National Electricity Market.
Apart from his engineering honours degree, Jardine holds a commerce degree and a masters of environmental science. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Carlo Salteri, 86
Nonexecutive Chair of Tenix Group, Sydney
Mechanical engineer, University of Milan

Tenix employs 4500 people around Australia. Its annual revenue in the financial year ending June 2006 was $1.2 billion.
A major challenge and highlight for Salteri in the past year was his involvement in restructuring the business.
“My sons Paul and Robert have been running Tenix for the past few years and I have been their sounding board and adviser,” he said.
The company is currently engaged in a design bid for the Australian Defence Force’s $2 billion amphibious ships contract.
Tenix teamed up with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia to produce a design for a 230m-long, 27kt vessel that is based on the ones being used by the Spanish Navy. The Navy will arrive at a decision on the bid this year.
To relax outside work, Salteri enjoys reading.

Des King, 51
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Caltex Australia, Sydney
Chemical engineer, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London

It was a proud moment when Professor Des King moved his family to Australia this year to take up the role as managing director and chief executive officer of Caltex Australia. Caltex has over 3100 employees around the country and last year recorded revenue of $18.4 billion.
King is responsible for a number of safety, environmental and growth projects including the $250 million expansion of the diesel hydro treating plant at the Lytton refinery in Queensland. There are also major projects in place to increase Caltex’s refinery capability to produce more petrol, diesel and jet fuel by over 15%.
King is a director of the Australian Institute of Petroleum.
Prior to his appointment at Caltex Australia, he was the general manager of the Chevron Corporation Pembroke Refinery in Wales.
King completed his PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is attributed with a method of calculating gas hold up in turbulent fluidised beds (the King equation) and a method of estimating cyclone efficiencies in certain fluidised bed applications.
King spends most of his spare time on the soccer and cricket fields with eight year old son Elliot.
His wife Georgeann, also a chemical engineer, is currently involved in developing refinery computer simulators for refinery training.

David Saxelby, 54
Managing Director of Thiess, Brisbane
Civil engineer, Sydney University

David Saxelby was appointed as the managing director of Thiess in February, after working for the company for 14 years. He led the joint venture bid teams on the Epping-Chatswood rail line and Lane Cove Tunnel in Sydney and the Mitcham-Frankston Motorway which is part of the EastLink project in Melbourne.
The company has over 16,000 employees and 8000 subcontractors working in Australia, Indonesia and India. Its revenue is approaching $5 billion.
Under Saxelby’s direction, it is continuing to diversify into sectors such as rail with the TrackStar Alliance in Queensland and water.
For Saxelby, studying civil engineering was a natural fit. “From a young age, I always wanted to build things,” he said.
Although he now occupies a managerial role, he still finds time to visit construction sites to discuss the progress of projects with teams.
Saxelby is also a director of the Minerals Council of Australia. Before joining Thiess, he spent 17 years with the Baulderstone Hornibrook Group. Outside work, Saxelby enjoys spending time with his family, bushwalking, social tennis and boating.

Grant King, 52
Managing Director of Origin Energy, Sydney
Civil engineer, University of NSW

Following the demerger of the energy and building/construction businesses of Boral Limited in 2000, Grant King was appointed to his present position. In the 2005/06 financial year Origin Energy reported revenue of $5.95 billion, up 21% on the previous year. The company has 3450 employees and 105,000 shareholders.
Origin Energy supplies natural gas, electricity and LP gas to over three million business and retail customers in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. It is currently accelerating development efforts on a Darling Downs powerstation project in Queensland and has also planned new exploration projects as part of its growth strategy. In recent announcements King described this current period as a year of transition, with capital expenditure programs on coal seam gas, BassGas and the offshore Otway essentially completed.
King has extensive experience in the Australian oil and gas industry and is chair of Contact Energy and the Energy Supply Association of Australia, director of Envestra and a councillor of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

John Schubert, 64
Chair of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sydney
Chemical engineer, Melbourne University

Dr John Schubert has been a member of the board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia since 1991 and has served as the chair since November 2004. In this role, he also chairs the board performance & renewal committee and is a member of the committees for remuneration and risk & people.
He is on the boards of Qantas Airways Limited, and BHP Limited, and chair of G2 Therapies Limited. He is a fellow of the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering and Engineers Australia.

Wal King, 62
Executive Director, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Leighton Holdings, Sydney
Civil engineer, University of NSW

Twenty years ago Wal King was appointed chief executive officer of Leighton Holdings and under his leadership the company has grown from a privately owned civil engineering firm into a group that includes Thiess, John Holland, Leighton Properties, Leighton Contractors, Leighton Asia (Southern) and Leighton Asia (Northern).
Leighton Holdings recently reported that it expected its annual net profit to rise around 55% this financial year to around $425 million.
Leighton’s unaudited total revenues stood at $8.6 billion in the nine months to March and the company currently employs around 27,000 people across Australia and Asia.
In the last quarterly report King said a recent highlight was the successful completion of the Lane Cove Tunnel by Thiess John Holland.
A number of new projects have also been won including an alliance to upgrade a Queensland rail line, awarded to Thiess; a new ring road in Townsville for Thiess; and another rail alliance in Sydney, awarded to Leighton Contractors.
King participates in various business groups and is president of the Australian Constructors Association (ACA). In 2004, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
His sporting interests include skiing, cycling, trekking and tennis.

Ken Scott-Mackenzie, 57
CEO of Bilfinger Berger Australia, Sydney
Mining engineer, Melbourne University

Ken Scott-Mackenzie is the CEO of Bilfinger Berger Australia, based in Sydney. He is in charge of over 4000 staff in the Australian operations of Bilfinger Berger which is the holding company for Abigroup, Baulderstone and Bilfinger Berger Services.
He is also the vice-president of the Australian Constructors Association.
Over the past year, he has appreciated the extent and diversity of opportunities currently available in the construction industry and has enjoyed tackling challenges relating to people and supply constraints.
Major projects the group is currently involved with include the North South Bypass Tunnel and Gateway Bridge duplication in Brisbane and the Tugun Bypass on the New South Wales and Queensland border. The group has water alliances in Queensland and road alliances in Victoria and New South Wales.
Scott-Mackenzie felt attracted to engineering since his school days and the training has allowed him to analytically evaluate day to day decisions.
He received his bachelor of mining engineering from the University of Melbourne. He then completed a diploma of law in 1984 and is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
When not working, he enjoys boating, skiing, tennis and travelling.

Marius Kloppers, 44
Group President non-ferrous materials and Executive Director, BHP Billiton, Melbourne
Chemical engineer, University of Pretoria (previously Transvaal University College), South Africa

Dr Marius Kloppers has been announced as the incoming chief executive officer of BHP Billiton, taking over from Chip Goodyear from 1 October 2007. He is currently group president non-ferrous materials and an executive director of BHP Billiton. He has responsibility for the aluminium, base metals, stainless steel materials and diamonds and specialty products customer sector groups. Since the formation of the BHP Billiton Group in 2001 he has also held the positions of chief marketing officer and chief commercial officer.
BHP Billiton recorded revenue of $47.5 billion in the 2006 financial year, up 25% on the previous year’s results. The company has some 38,000 employees working in more than 100 operations in approximately 25 countries.
Four major growth projects were completed during the year and seven new projects were approved. The new projects have an expected cost of $6 billion, bringing current project pipeline to 23 projects with an expected investment of $16.8 billion.
Further to his undergraduate studies, he has completed a PhD in materials science from MIT, as well as an MBA. He is married with three children.

Julian Segal, 52
Managing Director and CEO of Incitec Pivot, Melbourne
Chemical engineer, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

Julian Segal is the managing director and CEO of fertiliser supplier Incitec Pivot, which posted revenue in the year ending September 2006 of $1.1 billion. Based in Melbourne, he is in charge of 1100 people.
In the past year, Segal has been involved with the company’s separation from former 70% shareholder Orica and the continuation of the company’s business efficiency program. This achieved $19.7 million in savings in the half year to March.
The company has integrated Southern Cross Fertilisers into its business after purchasing it from BHP Billiton.
A challenge has been coping with the effects of the continuing drought in parts of Australia.
An interest in building things led Segal to take up engineering. “I am able to maintain this enthusiasm through my involvement in manufacturing,” he said.
Segal received his bachelor of science in chemical engineering from the Israel Institute of Technology at Haifa. After that, he worked on a gasoline-from-coal project in South Africa and on an oxygen-enhanced combustion process.
He enjoys listening to music to relax after work.

Richard Leupen, 53
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of United Group, Sydney
Mechanical engineer, Wollongong University

Under the leadership of Richard Leupen, United Group recorded revenue of $2.2 billion for last financial year, up 78% on 2005 results. United Group entered the S&P/ASX100 index in March, becoming a top 100 Australian company, which Leupen said was a great achievement for the 11,500-strong team.
Pleased with the group’s results, the board has extended Leupen’s contract to September 2011. During his six year tenure to date, United Group has grown from less than $100 million market capitalisation in 2000 to almost $2 billion.
In last year’s announcement to ASX, Leupen said the successful integration of two major acquisitions, Premas and Alstom, made strong contributions to revenue.
Leupen has 30 years experience in engineering and construction and has worked for international and Australian engineering companies including GHD and Kaiser Engineers. He said that integrity, dependability and commercial as well as technical skills were all keys to his success.
Leupen is a director of the Australian Constructors Association and a national and NSW councillor of the Australian Industry Group.

Ian Smith, 49
Managing Director and CEO of Newcrest Mining, Melbourne
Mining engineer, University of NSW

Ian Smith is the managing director and chief executive of Newcrest Mining and in charge of 4000 staff.
In the past year, he has been successful in positioning the business to take advantage of heightened commodity prices.
The company’s annual revenue in the year ending June 2006 was $1.4 billion.
A recent milestone for the company was the commencement of underground production from its Telfer mine.
This mine will extract gold and copper from reserves in northwest Western Australia. The underground ore handling system for the project was commissioned last year. A dewatering system was also installed to counter the possible effects of cyclones.
Smith chose engineering to follow his father. “It’s in the family,” he explained.

Greg Lewin, 54
President, Shell Global Solutions International, The Hague, Netherlands
Chemical engineer, Melbourne University

Shell Global Solutions International president Greg Lewin originally joined Shell Australia in 1975 before leaving the country in 1989 to work for Shell International. He was appointed to his current position in 2003.
Shell Global Solutions International is a division of Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and currently employs 5000 staff around the world. The company supports Shell’s business activities in downstream manufacturing, downstream marketing, gas and LNG, upstream production and project management.
Lewin said Shell Global Solutions has continued to provide consultancy and technology to utilise Australia’s coal reserves over the past year, including the latest study to apply Shell’s proprietary coal gasification process to Anglo American’s brown coal from Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.
Though Lewin currently resides in The Netherlands, he said his heart remains in Australia, especially in a country property outside Stawell, Victoria and the family vineyard in Sunraysia. Also, both his children are currently studying at Melbourne University.

Michael Rocca, 56
Group Managing Director of Telstra Services, Sydney
Electronics and communcations engineer, North Sydney Technical College

Michael Rocca is the group managing director of Telstra Services, a business unit within Telstra that at the end of the financial year 2005/06 employed approximately 17,000 staff across the country. Telstra Services is responsible for the construction, operations and maintenance of all Telstra networks across Australia and online products and platforms. It completes around 6 million service jobs and receives approximately 13 million inbound customer calls each year.
A highlight for Rocca in the past year was overseeing the construction of the fibre transmission network that supports the Next G broadband wireless network, built in 10 months. He also implemented a new approach to training through a $67 million five year investment in the Telstra Learning Academy, ensuring the company’s technicians and engineers receive targeted training in world-class facilities.
He is proud to have been involved in the company’s investment in new tools and equipment.
After work, Rocca enjoys exercising and spending time with his family.

Jonathan Ling, 53
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fletcher Building, Auckland, NZ
Mechanical engineer, University of Melbourne

Jonathan Ling joined the Fletcher Building board and was appointed chief executive officer and managing director in September 2006. He took the reigns of a company whose revenue for the past year was $6 billion and employs over 16,000 people.
Fletcher Building recently paid $854 million for the acquisition of the global company that recorded nearly $1 billion revenue last year with 3800 employees.
Ling said the acquisition provides a logical extension to Fletcher Building’s existing decorative surface laminates business. It follows other smaller bolt-on acquisitions during the year including Maddren Timber, Penrose and Eziform Sheet Metal.
Ling spends any spare time with his wife and two children.

Ross Taylor, 44
Global chief operating officer of Lend Lease, Sydney
Civil engineer, University of Queensland

Ross Taylor joined Lend Lease as an engineer in 1985 and held several positions in Australia and Asia before being appointed managing director of Lend Lease’s project management and construction business in 1995.
Through the acquisition of Bovis in 1999, he was instrumental in growing Lend Lease from a largely Australian-based company with offshore interests to a company of global scale.
Lend Lease, launched in Sydney in 1958, now has more than 9800 employees worldwide and had a gross revenue in 2005/2006 of $12.1 billion. Taylor’s favourite sport is surfing.

Andrew Liveris, 52
President, CEO and Chairman, the Dow Chemical Company, Michigan, US
Chemical engineer, University of Queensland

Andrew Liveris is president, chief executive officer and chairman of the global chemical and plastics manufacturer based in Midland, Michigan, whose revenue sales for 2006 stood at $49 billion. Dow employs 43,000 people worldwide.
Over recent years Liveris has had a focus on debt reduction and through 2006 the debt to capital ratio was reduced from 39% to 34%.
Innovation remains a strong focus over the coming year with the planned launch of Propylene Glycol Renewable and the go-ahead for global production of Infuse olefin block copolymers. The company is also to establish a research and development centre in India and conduct methane-to-chemicals and solar generation building product research.
Liveris has been a member of Dow’s board since February 2004 and was elected as chairman in April, 2005.
He also serves on the board of Citigroup, and is chairman of the American Chemistry Council and the International Council of Chemical Associations.

Don Voelte, 53
Managing Director of Woodside Petroleum, Perth
Civil engineer, University of Nebraska

Don Voelte is the managing director of Woodside Petroleum which posted an annual sales revenue in 2006 of $3.8 billion. The company employs almost 3000 people worldwide.
The company is building a fifth LNG processing train at the Northwest Shelf Venture in Karratha, Western Australia. This expansion is 70% complete. Shipping of prefabricated modules to Karratha is ongoing and expected to be completed this year. The project remains on schedule for LNG shipments in 2008. The participants are BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG, Shell Development Australia and BHP Petroleum.

Ken MacKenzie, 42
Managing Director and CEO of Amcor, Melbourne
Mechanical engineer, McGill University, Montreal

Ken MacKenzie relocated to Australia from Switzerland with his family to take up the position of managing director and CEO of packaging company Amcor.
Headquartered in Melbourne, the company has 217 manufacturing sites in 34 countries and derives about 80% of its earnings from overseas. It employs 24,000 people and its annual revenue in the year ending June 2006 was $11 billion.
The company recently completed a $97 million PET plant in the US which will manufacture hot fill Gatorade bottles for beverage company PepsiCo. The business has also commercialised its PowerFlex design for hot-fill PET bottles. This structural innovation eliminates the need for panels or ribbing on plastic bottles, making them easier to label and allowing more flexibility in container shapes.
MacKenzie received his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Peter Watson, 50
Managing Director and CEO of Transfield Services, Sydney
Civil engineer, Monash University

Peter Watson has been the managing director of Transfield Services since 2002 and is in charge of more than 20,000 staff worldwide. Last financial year, the company’s revenue was $1.9 billion.
Of his achievements in the last year, Watson is most proud of the launch of the Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund and entering the North American market by acquiring US companies US Maintenance and Timec.
He was attracted to engineering because of its aim to identify, understand and design sustainable solutions.
He also enjoyed the satisfaction of designing something that would meet the needs of the present and the future. Although he doesn’t do as much technical work in his current role, he finds the discipline and precision which he applied to engineering a valuable skill as a managing director.
For his 50th birthday last year, Watson climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania: “Like a true engineer, I approached this “holiday” with a serious plan. I took a training regime with a personal trainer before tackling the climb which was almost 6000m. The experience was amazing and reaffirmed the value of teamwork to me.”
Watson obtained his diploma in civil engineering from Caulfield Institute of Technology, which is now part of Monash University.

Trevor Worthington, 43
Vice-President of Product Development, Ford Australia
Aeronautical engineer, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

In 2002, Trevor Worthington was appointed to his current position as vice-president of product development at Ford Australia.
He is responsible for the company’s product development team, whose 1200 staff design and engineer the sedan and 4WD vehicle lines and their derivatives for domestic and export markets.
Including the product development team, there are about 5000 employees in Ford Australia.
Worthington recently oversaw the development of a new Fiesta hatchback designed specifically for the Indian market.
This was one of the first projects to be undertaken as the company grows its role within Ford’s global product development community as a design centre for the Asia Pacific region.
Worthington enjoys cycling and travelling with his wife Robin and their two sons.

Engineers Australia Magazine, Volume 79 No 6, June 2007.

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