Roads Australia

The National Roads & Traffic Expo has been jam-packed with experts across the transport sector over the last two days, including our CEO Ehssan Veiszadeh.   Ehssan outlined the challenges and opportunities our members and sector face in navigating significant uncertainty – from global supply chain disruptions, which are a natural outcome of increasingly volatile political and security landscapes, to economic challenges, as economies continue implementing post-pandemic belt-tightening. He acknowledged that this uncertainty across operating environments and jurisdictional pipelines creates additional risk for the sector, and ultimately ricochets across our capability to increase productivity.   But it’s not all doom and gloom, and Ehssan also touched on the positive shifts in our sector as we evolve and adapt to manage these challenges. There has never been a better approach to culture in our workplaces, with new measures to empower more women into the sector – women now make up over a quarter of our national transport workforce. While there is still a significant lag in women in leadership in our sector, there will likely be a course correction as more of our young female professionals step up through their organisations, and Ehssan discussed the shifts in our sector’s leadership with attendees.   Innovation was also a key theme in Ehssan’s panel discussion on road safety at construction worksites, with all panellists contributing their expertise to the discussion – Liz Waller from Transurban, who was pivotal in contributing to our Accelerating Australia’s Road Safety Goals Report; Tony Aloisio from Australian Flexible Pavement Association (AfPA), Lisa Kinross, GAICD, MComm, MOL from Civil Contractors Federation Victoria - CCF Vic, and moderated by Matthew Bereni from Traffic Management Association of Australia (TMAA). Roads Australia is proud to be coordinating on issues of serious significance to our members, particularly road safety, to drive the best outcomes for all workers in our sector, and it was great for Matthew to remind all listeners of the upcoming #RWDOR on November 9.   The expo also provided an excellent opportunity to discuss new approaches (and gadgets) with presenters, and it was great to hear from DT Infrastructure about their new initiatives in building highways and rail upgrades. Ehssan was also pleased to bump into long-time RA friend and member, Geoff Webb, and chat about the ongoing transport modernisation underway in Tasmania.

Congratulations to Brad Sherlock on being selected for the 2025 Roads Australia Fellowship Program! 🎉 Since joining BG&E in 2012, Brad has made a significant impact, contributing to and leading major transport projects. As the Highways and Roads Team Lead in WA, his technical expertise and leadership have been invaluable. We’re excited to see Brad join the other successful applicants in this year’s fellowship. This program offers an excellent development opportunity, and we wish Brad and all the fellows every success on their journey! #RoadsAustralia #FellowshipProgram #Leadership # #BGEEngineering

“Transport is Queensland’s most valuable public asset. When you build public infrastructure, you make a tremendous contribution to the community.”   In her address to our #EmergingLeaders Breakfast in Brisbane, the ☀️ state’s most senior transport official at the Department of Transport and Main Roads, and Roads Australia Board Director, Sally Stannard, reminded young professionals that each project they undertake is “an opportunity to actively shape the community.”   Our young professionals were impressed by Sally’s commitment to delivering equitable access to infrastructure across Queensland, and enjoyed hearing about her experiences as an engineer, small business owner and Director-General, while also being a wife, and mum to three busy children.   Offering opportunities for young professionals to hear from passionate leaders like Sally is one of our proudest achievements at Roads Australia. It wouldn’t be possible for us to deliver programs like #EmergingLeaders without the support of our partner CPB Contractors.   Visit our website to access the full event gallery: https://lnkd.in/gBR9eENM 

We are excited to announce that Scott Henning, transport structures lead in our Melbourne office, has been accepted into the 2025 Roads Australia Fellowship program. This unique program brings together future leaders across Australia, pairing them with industry leaders to enhance their skills, knowledge and professional networks. Scott’s career has spanned continents, most recently leading our Victorian structures practice. With over 13 years of experience, he is passionate about finding the right solutions and implementing them efficiently, with a focus on practicality, sustainability and safety. We look forward to seeing what this next chapter holds as he continues to support transformative infrastructure. Find out more about the program and the 2025 Fellows: https://lnkd.in/gW8yZK5V #RAFellowship

🌟Engineering Manager Miranda Kossen from New South Wales and 🌟Alliance General Manager Andrew Coonan from South Australia will represent CPB Contractors as part of the Roads Australia Fellowship program for the 2025 calendar year. Together, they bring over 44 years of industry experience to the fellowship program, which focuses on enhancing skills, knowledge, and professional networks through a series of structured activities and mentoring by industry leaders over the 12-month course. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g6MzCHMD Want to hear more about what's happening across CPB Contractors? You can sign up for our mailing list here: https://lnkd.in/g2y8eRJA #CPBtogether #CPBinConstruction

We’re proud to share that Amanda Hua and Steve Thompson have been appointed to the 2025 Roads Australia Fellowship Program. The Roads Australia Fellowship Program is a prestigious program designed to develop the next generation of leaders in the Australian transport and infrastructure sector. The program offers a unique opportunity for a select group of future leaders. Amanda and Steve will participate in mentoring and a structured series of activities that enhance their skills, knowledge, and professional networks. Amanda is a civil engineer with significant experience working on a wide range of road and rail infrastructure projects. In recent years Amanda has enjoyed overseeing design coordination and providing technical leadership to multi-disciplinary project teams, managing the deployment and optimisation of project resources, and driving timely service delivery including positive technical and commercial outcomes. Steve is an experienced engineer and design manager specialising in the design delivery of major transport infrastructure and built environment projects locally and internationally. Steve focuses on creating a collaborative environment to consider architectural, functional and technical requirements to drive best for project outcomes. Please join us in congratulating Steve and Amanda and all other 2025 Fellows. Find out more here: https://mottm.ac/3NDhLmU

💥#EPIC news out of Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East, where almost 900 applications have been received to join the world’s first all-women tunnel boring machine (TBM) crew.💥 After comprehensive training, roles will include TBM operators, gantry operators and other essential support roles. The all-women crew will be one of eight TBM crews working on the southern section of the tunnels. This initiative, led by CPB Contractors and its Suburban Connect consortium partners, aims to encourage more gender diversity in the construction industry. You can read more here: https://lnkd.in/gHN44yCc Want to hear more about what's happening across CPB Contractors? You can sign up for our mailing list here: https://lnkd.in/g2y8eRJA #CPBtogether #CPBinConstruction Suburban Rail Loop Authority

William Phillips is a graduate construction adviser with BMD Group. He is also a recipient of Roads Australia’s 2024 Promise, Passion and Pursuit Award.   With RA’s support, Will is researching how organisations in our sector can help young professionals learn, grow and thrive. He recently sat down with five young professionals at Komatsu – Nitin Kumar, Achileas Delinikolis, Martin Moreau, Olivia Robinson, and Zeb Lupson, to catalogue their experiences.   Read Will’s #IndustryPerspectives piece, shared with subscribers in our #Insider magazine: https://lnkd.in/gVqF8tgh

Roads Australia is delighted to announce our new #FutureLeaders Committee for 2025. Comprised of RA Fellowship Alumni, the new Committee reflects our diverse membership and will provide strategic oversight over our Fellowship and Emerging Leaders Programs. We warmly congratulate our incoming Chair, Verity Turner - Transurban and Deputy Chairs, Ly Galanos - Aurecon and Alex Berry - McConnell Dowell, and welcome our new appointments - Matthew Burns - Transport for NSW, Clarissa Ahlberg - HDR and （李理）David, Li Li - SMEC. On behalf of everyone at RA, the Future Leaders Committee and the Fellowship Alumni, we wish to thank our outgoing Chair, Stuart Cook - BG&E for his service over the past five years. We also thank and acknowledge our outgoing Committee members, Thilanka Silva - Arup and Jana B. - Fika Consulting, who along with Stuart, have been instrumental in supporting the next generation of leaders in the transport sector. This year, we have also introduced Alumni Chapter Lead roles in each state, to provide additional support to the Committee as we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the RA Fellowship. We are pleased to have the ongoing support of Stuart and Thilanka in 2025 as QLD and WA Chapter Leads, as well as Jenny Robertson - John Holland, Donny Yap - Ventia, and Ana Guzman - WSP. Keep an eye on RA Insider for further updates from the Future Leaders Committee and how we will support young professionals in 2025: https://lnkd.in/egPRkdBb

Bede Noonan addressed a packed room of young professionals in Perth this week at the final event in our 2024 Emerging Leaders Breakfast series, sponsored by CPB Contractors.   We were particularly pleased to welcome a number of our 2024 and 2025 Fellows to the event including our new Future Leaders Committee representative for WA（李理）David, Li Li as well as Laura Donovan, Emma Shore, Monica Raju and John Perrott.   Sharing his insights both as a Roads Australia Board Director and CEO of ACCIONA AU & NZ, Bede reflected on how both the industry and his approach to leadership has evolved.   Acknowledging the need for greater innovation, efficiency and sustainability in the Australian infrastructure sector, he challenged attendees to be agents of change.   “For you as future leaders, the opportunity is to think not about the process, but about the outcome,” said Bede. “Be brave, be courageous, be open to change…at this stage in your career, embracing that and being the leaders of it is important.”   The full event gallery can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gPw8nj37   Keep an eye on our LinkedIn feed and RA Insider in coming weeks for more information about our 2025 Emerging Leaders Program.   Thank you to our sponsor CPB Contractors, who has helped make this very special event series possible, and to our speakers Bede Noonan, Justin Redelinghuys, Thilanka Silva and Elizabeth Kelleher-Cook.