Summit Panel - Challenges Evolving Engineering Practice and Ensuring Engineering Capability
Panel Chair - Helen Fairweather
Head of Accreditation, Engineers Australia
Dr Helen Fairweather currently is Head of Accreditation with Engineers Australia, providing oversight of the accreditation of engineering programs across Australia. Helen commenced this role in August 2022 after over 10 years as an environmental engineering academic at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Helen’s academic career provided her with opportunities to integrate her industry experiences over several decades into the engineering curriculum at a time of transition across most facets of our lives. Helen’s industry experience included roles in government across three countries and establishing her own consultancy.
Helen takes this experience into her new role to influence the engineering profession more broadly. In recent years, Helen has focussed on mechanisms to attract a diverse cohort to study engineering to support the move to an engineering profession that is as diverse as the society it serves. One of the key areas Helen has focussed on has been amplifying the role engineers have to play implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Bernadette Foley
Acting Chief Engineer, Engineers Australia
Bernadette Foley was appointed Acting Chief Engineer in March 2024 after joining Engineers Australia in 2019 as the Head of Accreditation. She has been General Manger of Professional Standards since 2021.
Bernadette is a civil engineer with more than 30 years’ experience across industry and education in Australia and the UK. Her technical expertise is in urban concept planning, water resource management and sustainability. Prior to joining Engineers Australia, Bernadette was the Associate Dean (Curriculum and Accreditation) in the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide.
Bernadette has a background in engineering education including curriculum reform, improving educational outcomes and graduate employability, improving professional standards and strengthening connections between academia and industry. She was an International Engineering Alliance working group member for the 2021 review of the international Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies for the engineering profession.
Sally Glen
Director, IPA Asia Pacific
Sally heads up the Asia Pacific operation for IPA. In this role, she is responsible for continuing to strengthen IPA’s relationship with global and local clients in the region, including renewables, mining and minerals, oil and gas, power and infrastructure, new ventures, and other industries. Her focus is collaborating with client capital champions and decision makers to enable IPA clients to manage project risk and innovate and improve within their capital project systems. Sally was IPA’s Global Manager of Mining, Minerals & Metals (MMM) between 2021 and 2023 and strengthened IPA’s relationships with global and local clients investing in capital projects in the MMM sector following a long period of low investment in the sector.
As Director Sally has overseen the rebuilding of IPA Australia since 2020, after spending 5 years away from IPA working in the media and telecommunications sectors. She spent two of those years running the construction program for Australia’s National Broadband Network, the country’s largest infrastructure project. As a previous director and senior analyst at IPA Australia, and having started her career as a Project Manager at Rio Tinto, Sally has personally reviewed hundreds of capital projects, spent nearly 10 years delivering construction projects and has a particular interest in the study of leadership. Sally regularly teaches a range of capital effectiveness-related topics for the IPA Institute, including in India, Chile and Australia in the last 12 months. Outside of work, Sally is a trained, volunteer surf lifesaver and has two teenage daughters.
Alan Goodridge
Chief Executive Officer, Peracon
Alan Goodridge graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours) from the University of Western Australia in 1989. He also has a Master of Engineering degree from the Victorian University of Technology. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Senior Member of IEEE.
For most of his engineering career he has worked for consulting engineers in Victoria. He has also worked for a construction company and a wind turbine manufacturer.
For the last 20 years he has mainly worked on the design of substations for electrical utilities.
He has worked at Peracon for 12 years. He has been the CEO since January of this year. Peracon is a consulting engineering company with over a hundred staff in six Australian offices. Most of the work is for electrical utilities in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
Peracon is fully staff owned. Permanent employees can buy shares in the company. Profits are distributed to the staff shareholders.
Iven Mareels
Pro Vice-Chancellor Innovation, Federation University
Since October 2022, Iven Mareels has been the Executive Dean, Institute of Innovation, Science and Sustainability at Federation University Australia, responsible for the disciplines of Business, Engineering, IT and Science. He is also a Director of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and a non-executive Director of Rubicon Water.
Previously, he was with IBM, as Director of IBM Research in Australia (Feb 2018- Mar 2021); and Dean of Engineering at the University of Melbourne (2007-2018).
Iven received the PhD in Systems Engineering, Australian National University (1987), and the Master of Engineering (Electromechanical), Gent University (1982).
He is a Commander in the Order of the Crown of Belgium, and received the Centenary Medal of Australia for contributions to engineering education and research. He is a Fellow of The Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the International Federation of Automatic Control and Engineers Australia and a foreign fellow of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.
Francis Norman
CEO and Managing Director, CODA (Centre of Decommissioning Australia)
Dr Francis Norman is a highly experienced strategic leader. His role of CEO and Managing Director, leading CODA (Centre of Decommissioning Australia) is informed by over 40 years of experience in resource project engineering and business leadership. Francis has been the CEO of CODA since it became independent in 2021, prior to which he was general manager with NERA (National Energy Resources Australia), the industry growth centre who helped establish CODA.
In his role as CEO he is leading CODA as an independent industry peak body bringing together the Australian decommissioning industry. CODA works right across the industry, including operators, service suppliers, government, research and regulators to grow local capacity and capability to undertake the upcoming decommissioning work in a safe, efficient, environmentally sensitive and cost-effective manner. CODA has a strong focus on the skills needed both for the execution of the significant volumes of decommissioning work planned across Australia as well as the transferability of these skills into adjacent industries including offshore wind.
A former WA division president for Engineers Australia, Francis holds a MSc in project management and a PhD in management. His PhD, completed in 2019, focussed on interpersonal communications in virtual teams working on engineering projects.
Nee Nee Ong
Electrical Engineer and Project Manager, GHD
Nee Nee Ong, FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER APEC Engineer IntPE(Aus), has over twenty five years of electrical engineering experience and is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of Engineers Australia.
Currently, Nee Nee is working as an Electrical Engineer and Project Manager for GHD Pty Ltd, designing and managing projects ranging from providing electrical power supply solutions to designing communication and control systems. She is very actively involved with professional organisations, as the past Chair of the Engineers Australia Electrical College Board, Chair of WA branch College of Leadership and Management, member of the Accreditation Board and Congress.