What was your background prior to becoming the Business Manager of APIA?
I have a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University and have enjoyed a varied work background in a range of roles and industries, including in a number of sectoral membership-based associations. These include the Australian Capital Territory Australian Football League, the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society and at the Australian Sports Commission. Other experiences include working in sales, executive recruitment, oil and gas exploration crew management, sports management and general farm work. I have lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Merimbula and Cooma. I moved to Canberra in 1992 to take up the position of General Manager of the ACT Australian Football League and have been here ever since.
Which industries have you worked in?
Given the scope of the full-time jobs that I have enjoyed (15 at the last count), the number of industries that I have worked in is also rather large. I started out in the finance industry as an accountant; I lasted nine months before I realised that I didn’t want to be an accountant. I have also been involved in importation (dealing with hand knitting yarns), agriculture, merchant banking/money market dealing, the exploration side of the oil and gas industry, agriculture, motor trade, sport and finally the pipeline industry. It’s a diverse background but my role at APIA is my favourite job out of them all.
What led you to becoming involved in the APIA?
I had recently left the Australian Sports Commission after a series of funding cuts and, while searching for a new role, I happened to see a small advertisement in The Canberra Times for a business manager for APIA. I knew absolutely nothing about the industry but I was able to tick off on the list all of the skills in the advertisement so I applied. That was at the start of 2004 and the rest is history, so to speak.
Please describe your current position at APIA. What areas do you manage and how does your job support other members of the Secretariat?
Mine is a wide-reaching role that covers every aspect of the business except for media, policy and economic regulation, which Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright and Policy Adviser Steve Davies look after so admirably for the members.
In particular, I am responsible for the overall management of all of APIA’s events, including the Annual Convention and Exhibition and industry lunches, dinners and seminars. In this regard, I am very well supported by Events and Administration Officer Katy Whiting and Membership Officer Gisela Thaurer. My role takes in the accounting and financial management for the organisation, a role in which Business and Financial Officer Peter Heffernan does a brilliant job in supporting me. Each of the APIA committees has a senior member of staff involved and I participate in the Health, Safety and Environment Committee, the Pipeline Operators Group and the Research and Standards Committee. As Company Secretary, I am responsible for the secretarial duties with the APIA Board and its regular meetings, including finance, governance, compliance and company policy matters. Finally, my job encompasses, with the support of Gisela, the management of APIA’s membership base.
As to how my job supports other members in the secretariat, I see it as a two-way street and we are an extremely close-knit team that supports each other in a manner that I have never experienced before. I like to allow my team members the appropriate autonomy to operate their own areas in a manner they deem fit, knowing that I am there to help or assist whenever or wherever required. With the large amount of travel that Cheryl and I undertake, the team at the Secretariat does a brilliant job at keeping the wheels turning while we are away from the office. My support of the other members of the Secretariat revolves around being available for them at any time that they need it, otherwise, I tend to let them get on with their jobs.
How does your job interact with Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright’s position?
My role as the Business Manager is to manage the business, while the Chief Executive’s role is wider and more strategic. It involves developing new projects and ideas such as the Young Pipeliners Forum and the Pipeline Engineer Training Project for members, and work in the all-important area of representation and government liaison. Cheryl and I are very lucky in that we both love what we do individually and both recognise that the other person is managing what we each don’t like to do or are not best suited to – I am better at managing events, figures and finances while Cheryl has me totally done for government liaison, media relations and economic policy issues.
While I operate very autonomously within my areas of responsibility, Cheryl and I are in constant contact, keeping each other appraised as to what is happening within the various areas of operation. We continually bounce ideas and issues off each other and, through challenging each other’s views a better result is often achieved. It is quite funny to hear us discuss issues because, while we both have the same positive end result in mind, how we get there is often very different and we both end up being enlightened by the other’s different perspective. This collaborative effort produces a healthy result because it means that we are thoroughly investigating issues from different angles and perspectives.
What do you see as the most enjoyable aspect of your job and, conversely, what do you find the most challenging?
By far the most enjoyable aspect of my role is dealing with the many wonderful people involved in APIA and the wider industry. Right from the start, back in 2004, I was blown away by the quality of the people who we deal with every day and this has continued throughout my tenure. It is so refreshing to deal with people who you respect and whose company you enjoy; when an issue arises, it can be tackled openly and constructively to ensure that the end result is fair to all.
I also love the travel aspect of my role, which is important because I spend a lot of my time on the road for APIA. Another aspect of the role that I enjoy is the variety in the number of areas that I manage; there is always something happening in one area or another so I never get the time to be bored. I see myself as a jack of all trades and master of none.
The most challenging aspect of my role is to maintain the standard of events that we have built up over the past ten years. I am a bit of a perfectionist so I put pressure on myself and the team to do it right at all times and ensure that our members and their guests leave an event or function fully satisfied with the quality of service and the overall quality of the event.
On average, how many interstate events do you travel to each year?
Throughout the course of an average year, I would travel to around 40 events – approximately 30 APIA events and ten other industry-related events and meetings.
What is your favourite time of year in the APIA calendar?
I have three favourite times throughout APIA calendar year: in February when we are ramping up again after the summer break, especially the Western Australia Golf Day which is a fantastic way to kick off the event calendar; obviously Convention time, which is a real highlight of the event calendar and the culmination of so much of my work throughout the year; and finally, the Christmas event season when we run the series of APIA Christmas events, which is always a lot of fun and a great way to end what has generally been a very busy year.
Which APIA Convention has been your favourite and why?
I honestly can’t give a definitive answer because I have loved all nine that I have attended so far. When asked this question, I tend to answer with some of my favourite Convention events. Some of the dinners that stand out in my mind are the Tuesday dinner at the Adelaide Town Hall in 2005 when we had “˜How Green is My Cactus’ 312406.jpg312409.jpg star Keith Scott entertain us; the Fancy Dress Dinner at Ooraminna Station outside of Alice Springs in 2006 when the theme was “˜Mad Max meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert’, which was probably the most unique event that I have organised; the incredible reveal that we did with BABBA at the start of the Fancy Dress Dinner in Perth (“˜1968′) in 2008, which was the 40th anniversary of APIA; the Welcome Dinner on the lawns of the Darwin Casino at the start of the 2010 Convention; and, last year’s Fancy Dress Dinner at the Greek Club in Brisbane when the theme was “˜The Greek Gods Go Crazy in Briz Vegas’ and the dance floor was never empty. In addition, I can’t forget the success of the “˜Pipeliner Band’ last year in Brisbane and the fun of joining them on stage with Cheryl to play the gazoo.
How does your position within APIA assist members in achieving their goals within the industry?
I am very mindful, and Cheryl is also, that all the staff at the Secretariat must be available to assist wherever possible with the needs of our members. This is achieved by connecting new members with other members and companies working in their field and with whom they can possibly do business. It is always pleasing when members thank us for putting them in touch with someone who has been able to assist them in their business. An important aspect of connecting members is to provide quality and relevant industry events and functions that members want to attend, knowing that they will more often than not provide the opportunity and environment for them to meet industry stakeholders relevant to their company’s activities.
My role also plays an important part in the facilitation of committee meetings that manage the various sectors of the industry, such as operations, health, environment and safety, and research. I enjoy the contact with the various committee members and it is satisfying to assist these committees in achieving their goals by minimising the amount of voluntary work that the committee members undertake. At the Secretariat we are very mindful that our committee members are doing this work outside of their paid jobs so we try to take up as much of the slack as possible and make it as easy as possible for our volunteers.
How does your position assist members in achieving goals at a broader, inter-industry level in Australia, as well as at an international level?
An important part of my role, and that of the other members of the Secretariat, is to connect people with possible clients and service providers in the various industry groups within APIA. In other words, we are often asked by someone working primarily within the gas supply sector for contacts within the slurry or water sectors. This enables members to expand their operations more quickly than they may have been able to without our assistance. As with my thoughts on the previous question, it is my responsibility to provide quality events and functions that encourage stakeholders from all of the different industry sectors in the pipeline industry to attend and network with other participants.
From an international perspective, APIA and my role most strongly represents the industry within the field of pipeline research. As a member of the tripartite agreement with the North American-based Pipeline Research Council International and the European Pipeline Research Group, APIA provides members of its Research and Standards Committee with the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from other international researchers in our quest to safeguard the integrity of Australia’s pipelines. APIA has sent a number of young pipeline engineers to the international Joint Technical Research meetings held in Australia, Italy and the United States and on a two-week study tour following the Italian and United States meetings. I have been fortunate to travel with these young people and it has been fantastic to see them expand their knowledge and international networks throughout the course of the tours.
What do you think are the greatest challenges to the industry at present, and how will APIA assist in overcoming these issues?
In my view, the three greatest challenges facing the industry at this time are, firstly, securing long-term supplies of accessible gas so that there is a more consistent flow of major pipeline construction projects. While the Queensland LNG projects have kept the industry busy in recent years and will continue to do so for some time, it will only be the discovery of new gas fields – whether this be conventional or unconventional gas – that will herald the start of further major projects. APIA, through Cheryl’s intense promotion and representation of the gas industry and the use of gas, has been a strong advocate for the industry as it continues to lobby governments at all levels to free up access to these fields and to ease regulatory pressure on pipeline companies. It will be through the efforts of bodies such as APIA that governments will finally recognise the need to ensure security of supply, hence facilitating the construction of more pipelines in future years.
The second challenge that I see is the maintenance of the world-recognised standard of pipeline design, construction, operations and maintenance that the Australian industry has established over many years. With the influx of more international players into all sectors of the industry, it is imperative that our safety standards are maintained and adhered to by all stakeholders and so the continued review and upgrade of all of the appropriate standards applying to the industry, AS 2885 in particular, must be encouraged and embraced by all participants within the industry. APIA assists the management of this challenge through its support of all of the relevant industry committees, for example, the Research and Standards Committee, the Pipeline Operators Group and Health, Safety and Environment committee. APIA is at the forefront of promoting the safety message and the need to maintain standards to the industry and government.
Finally, and this challenge flows from the previous one that I mentioned, in recent years we have seen the retirement of many of the elder statesmen of the industry; the pioneers who established the high standards that we enjoy today. It is absolutely imperative that the vacancies being left by these people on the committees that oversee the various aspects of the industry, from research and standards to operations, health and safety, are taken up by the next generation of pipeliners and that the knowledge of this group is passed onto the next generation.
Through their example, the older guard have shown us that nothing will be achieved without the industry helping itself, and I hope that our next generation embraces this approach and continues the high level of industry involvement. From what I have seen, I am really encouraged that the baton is being passed on effectively. APIA has encouraged this baton change through the establishment of the Young Pipeliners Forum and the Pipeline Engineers Training Project, which has sought to document much of the knowledge built up over many years by our retiring experts.
