Our Guests

Olivia Newman
Operations Manager - CPM Advisory and Project Management
Olivia has over 20 years in the Infrastructure, water and public services sectors. During that time Olivia has worked with organisations such as Gold Coast City Council, Ipswitch City Council, Urban Utilities, ARTC and Sunwater. In 2020 Olivia commenced her current role with CPM where she is now the Operations Manager at CPM Advisory and Project Management. And continuing her stellar career Olivia is a current committee member with the Australian Water Association. Tune in to your favourite podcast platform in September 2022 to hear Oliva's story. Olivia can be found via LinkedIn here.
David Wiskar
General Manager City and Regional Futures - Urban Utilities
David has over 25 years in the water and public services sector. During that time David has worked with organisations such as Wide Bay Water Corporation, North Burnett Regional Council, Power and Water Corporation and Queensland Water Directorate. In October 2021 David commenced his current role with Urban Utilities where he is now the General Manager City and Regional Futures. Tune in to your favourite podcast platform in September 2022 to hear Davids's story. If you want to reach out to David the best place is via LinkedIn here.
Bradd Hamersley
Alliance Manager - Southern SeaWater Alliance
Bradd started his career straight out of school with a trade and was on the fast track to management by 25. Over his career, Brad has worked with John Holland for over 12 years where he climbed to a senior role before taking his first CEO role at Harvey Water in Western Australia. After 4 years in the top job with Harvey, Water Brad made the career change that has taken him into his current role as the Alliance manager with Southern SeaWater Alliance. Brad likes to keep busy and also serves as Chair and Deputy Chair of several organisations both in and out of the water sector. Bradd Holds an MBA from Charles Sturt as well as Post graduate qualifications in OHS and Employment relations. Tune into Spotify or most other popular podcast platforms to hear Bradd share his journey with us. If you would like to chat with brad you can reach out to him on LinkedIn here
Geoffrey Veneris, BBus, CMgr AFIML
Manager Production and Services - Goldenfields Water
Geoff is a Professional Chartered senior manager with over 10 years of local government operations experience. Geoff started his career with a trade background before completing a tertiary education including a Bachelor of Business and becoming a chartered Manager via the Institute of Managers and Leaders Australia and New Zealand. Geoff is now live on your favourite podcast platform here Geoff is happy to connect and chat via LinkedIn.
Robbie Goedecke
Strategic Planning Advisor - Sydney Water
Robbie has a refreshing career story to share, he has been in the water sector for under 10 years and is looking forwards to where the next 10 take him and the industry. Robbie Has worked with Seqwater, Australian Water Association the Australian defence force and is currently a Strategic Planning Advisor with Sydney Water. Robbie has a B.eng in Civil & structural and Civil & environmental engineering from the University of Adelaide Tune in to hear Robbie take part in our first "Under 10 Series" podcast which will take place on the last Thursday of each month. Reach out to connect with Robbie via LinkedIn here.
Deb Frecklington MP
Member for Nanago, Member for Nanango and Shadow Minister for Water and the Construction of Dams, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing.
Deb Frecklington is the State Member for Nanango and Shadow Minister for Water and the Construction of Dams, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing.Deb was elected to State Parliament in 2012 as the Member for Nanango.Deb was re-elected for a second term in January 2015 and In 2017, Deb was re-elected for a third term as the Member for Nanango, and in December was honoured to be chosen by her colleagues as Leader of the Opposition. In 2020, Deb was relected for a fourth term as the Member for Nanango, and is also the Shadow Minister for Water and the Construction of Dams, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing.The best way to contact deb is: nanango@parliament.qld.gov.au or (07) 4190 7100
Shaun Nesbitt
Chief Digital and Information Officer - Urban Utilities
With over 20 years’ experience in the ICT industry, Shaun has successfully led ICT transformation and driven improvements in team culture, ICT System resilience and leveraged contemporary technical solutions to drive business change by investing in analytics, data management capabilities, CRM and Internet of Things (IoT) to enable them to deliver better services.
Shaun has previously held CIO roles across both public and private sectors, most recently at Heath Support Queensland and Seqwater before joining Urban Utilities as Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO) in January 2021. As CDIO, Shaun is responsible for all Information Technology & Digital functions. Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science, a post-graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and is a certified Project Manager and enterprise architect.
Shaun is a Non-executive director for the institute for Healthy Communities Australia and is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Tune in to your favourite podcast platform in October 2022 to hear Shaun's story. You can find Shaun on LinkedIn here.
Janice Wilson
Director & Engineer - Double Black Diamond Solutions
Janice grew up on a dairy farm in rural Québec, Canada and after 16 years of experience in infrastructure delivery and the utility sector across Canada and Australia, Janice founded her own business Double Black Diamond Solutions. Janice is a specialist water and wastewater engineer and project manager with extensive experience in both operations and maintenance and is passionate about the industry. Janice is actively involved with the Australian Water Association and sits on Multiple boards including Mount Isa Water Board. Janice holds qualifications including, a Cert III in water industry treatment, a Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Science - in Water Resources Engineering. Tune in for the episode in October 2022 to hear Janice's story. If you want to reach out to Janice the best place is via LinkedIn here.
Anna Murray
Infrastructure Operations Manager - Barwon Water
Anna Murray is a dynamic leader with over 20 years’ experience in industry in key operational, maintenance and reliability roles enabling best practice operation and management of infrastructure for the delivery of key services to customers and the community.Her work has taken her from Brisbane to outback Queensland, from New Zealand to Sweden. She relocated to Geelong with her family in 2011.In her current role as Operations Manager at Barwon Water, Anna leads a team of Operators and Engineers, overseeing the operation of 14 Treatment Plants plus the complex network of assets to ensure that essential water & sewer services are supplied to Geelong and the surrounding region.Anna lists her attributes as being an enthusiastic and inclusive leader – leveraging the strengths of her team to get the best business outcomes. As a working mother to two daughters, Anna is conscious of the role that she plays as an early influencer in her daughters’ life choices. She strives to set a good example by showing passion for her work while still maintaining a healthy work/ life balance. A leading priority for Anna at Barwon Water is further building upon the strong culture of inclusion within the Operation’s team and using that to further improve diversity.
Sam Rinortner
Water Process Engineer - Veolia
We are excited to bring you our Second "Under 10 Series" podcast. In this episode, Sam shares that while in her final years of study, she wasn’t sure where her combined Bachelor of Chemical Engineering / Bachelor of Science degree would take her. After landing a graduate role with a regional water consultancy, she fell in love with all the water industry has to offer. Since entering the industry in 2018, it has been evident that Sam has an innate passion for the water sector. Having early career experience working in consultative, government and private sectors has given her the opportunity to support the community that she both lives in and serves, through the sustainable design, delivery and operation of crucial water infrastructure. Sam takes pride in her current role as the Water Process Engineer at Veolia working on the Hunter Water Contract, she provides technical and operational support to the teams who operate Hunter Waters 6 Water Treatment Plants. She is privileged to tackle the challenges involved in the supply of essential water and sewage services to over 500,000 residents across the Hunter region on a daily basis. She actively utilises her strong interpersonal skills to engage with the younger generations to inspire, attract and promote the participation of Women in STEM while also communicating the importance of water literacy with the younger generations. She is a professional member of the Australian Water Association and was one of the 2021/2022 Water Services Association of Australia Young Utility Leaders. If you want to reach out to Sam the best place is via LinkedIn here
James Benjamin
Chief Executive Officer - Bowen River Utilities
James is CEO of Bowen River Utilities, the project proponent of the Urannah Dam, associated Collinsville Irrigation Scheme and Bowen Renewable Energy Hub. James is passionate about developing Australia’s regional economies and has a vision to support local communities through food, energy and water. James has more than 20 years’ experience working and advising energy and water utilities. He specialises in structuring and executing infrastructure transactions and has been actively involved in applying commercial principles through the project life cycle, from origination to commissioning. James formerly held senior financial management positions with a metropolitan water utility and before that he held consulting positions with EY and Frontier Economics, where he advised on technical and policy matters throughout Australia, Asia, Middle East, UK and Europe. James formerly held senior appointments in the Queensland Government, where he worked on national energy policy and market reforms, having previously worked in the electricity markets for a power generator. James was previously a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, holds economics and accounting qualifications from the University of Queensland and is a member of the Institute of Public Accountants and Australian Institute of Company Directors. Feel free to reach out to James here
Steve Adamthwaite
NSW/ACT Water Leader - Arup
Steve Adamthwaite is passionately committed to Australia’s infrastructure sector and shifting how it achieves resilience and security long term. He represents the next generation of leaders and innovators driving change, leading projects and growing skills that will underpin a sustainable future for sector, the people within it and the communities that rely upon it. Currently leading Arup’s NSW/ACT Water Business, Steve drives water strategies centred on implementing sustainable, community-oriented solutions and delivering the best levels of service and infrastructure for the community and industry. Steve also shapes the sector beyond project delivery – he is actively involved in shaping future strategy through leadership positions with WaterAid NSW (Deputy Chair), Australian Water Assoc (Vice President NSW) and Engineers Australia (Deputy Chair – National Young Engineers Committee and Shadow Board Member) You can connect with Steve here
Kate Bowker
Senior Planner - Water Corporation
Kate has a Bachelor of Science and Master's in Integrated Water Management and has worked in the water sector since 2010. Kate has also worked in the energy and rail sectors. Not only is Kate an advocate for the water sector she is also extremely community-focused and has been a board and committee member for organisations such as Streets for People, City of Bayswater, and most recently the Munda Biddi Trail Foundation If you would like to reach out to kate the best way to contact her is via LinkedIn
Jessica Kahl
Project Manager Corporate Development - Sunwater & Managing Director -Dream Big Australia
In our third "Under 10 Series" podcast, we bring an inspiring future leader and gender equality advocate. With Just under 10 years of post-graduate experience, Jessica is already making a name for herself in the industry. With a Bachelor's in Engineering, MBA in leadership and policy, and an AICD graduate. Jessica currently works in a role with Sunwater and is also the founder and director of a non for profit called Dream Big. To contact Jess you can find her on Linkedin here or to learn more about Dream Big head to the website here
Dona Tantirimudalige
Managing Director - Westernport Water
Dona is an experienced leader within the Victorian water industry and has a strong passion for the role of the public sector in creating a fair and just society.
Dona has six years of experience as a Board Director and 23 years of experience in the water industry across strategic planning, customer experience, and the asset life cycle. Dona is the current Chair of Springvale Monash Legal Services, past Chair of Women’s Health in the South East, and the outgoing president of the Institute of Water Administration.
Prior to joining Westernport Water, Dona was the General Manager of Distribution Services at Yarra Valley Water, responsible for managing water, recycled water and sewerage infrastructure to agreed levels of service and in accordance with environmental performance standards.
Dona is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Masters in Public Policy & Management and a Bachelor of Engineering (civil – honours) Tune in to your favourite podcast platform in December 2022 to hear Dona's story. You can follow or connect with Dona via LinkedIn here.
Barton Maher
Assistant Chief Engineer - Queensland Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water
Barton is an RPEQ (Registered Professional Engineer Queensland) currently working with the Queensland Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water. Barton has had an extensive carer working with various government agencies over his career including NSW Public Works & Services, South East Water Corporation and Seqwater. Barton is regularly involved within the community and has also been a keynote speaker at recent events such as the Hydrology & Water Resources Symposium hosted by Engineers Australia Reach out to Barton here
William Speirs
Futures Strategist - Livability and Economy at Urban Utilties
Having graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Engineering William is passionate about the industry and an avid learner having gone on to study Economics and Strategy. William has worked in organisations such as CSIRO, Jacobs and Unitywater prior to his current role with Urban Utilities. William is also heavily involved with AWA and is the QLD vice president If you would like to contact William the best place to do so is here
Linda Dobe
Deputy Director General at Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water
As the Deputy Director General, Water Resource Management with the Queensland Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water Linda is Queensland’s most senior state government water executive. With broad government and private sector experience across the water, mining, finance and education portfolios she has successfully led numerous large multi-disciplinary teams, with a focus on culture transformation while delivering strategic, innovative solutions. Linda operates in a diverse and complex stakeholder environment, building lasting relationships that stand the test of time. Linda's formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Science and a Diploma in Education.
You can reach connect with Linda here
Jessica Bohorquez A
Advisor- Inside Infrastructure Researcher - University of Adelaide
Jessica has close to 10 years of experience in the development and delivery of hydraulic engineering projects in Colombia and Australia from research and consulting roles. Jessica enjoys using storytelling to enhance and complement engineering problem-solving in the water industry and inspire future generations and the community on the importance of water as a resource. Currently, Jessica is an Advisor at Inside Infrastructure (a Ricardo company) and a Postdoctoral Researcher at The University of Adelaide. She is also part of the SA Young Water Professionals committee of the Australian Water Association. You can connect with Jessica here
Season wrap up
Highlights of Season 1
After a well-deserved break, the highlights of the first 19 episodes of season 1 will go to air on the 19th of February before we come back for season 2 in March 2023