Speakers

As Associate Director-General (Policy & Planning), Mark provides high-level strategic advice to both Transport and Main Roads' Ministers, and the Director-General and plays a key role in managing the delivery of National Transport reform agendas in Queensland.

Mark has responsibility for Strategic Policy; Integrated Transport Planning; Road System Management; Rail, Ports & Freight and Passenger Transport.

Mark is on the board of CNI Pty Ltd responsible for delivering Australia's largest road infrastructure project, the $3.4 billion Airport Link. He is also the Project Sponsor for the $8.2 billion Cross River Rail project.

Mark has worked in the transport sector for over 20 years for state and local government, and in the private sector.

Since joining the Queensland public sector in 1997, he has held executive roles as Associate Director-General (Policy & Planning), Deputy Director-General (Policy and Planning) at TMR, Executive Director of Integrated Transport Planning in the former Queensland Transport, and head of TransLink's Planning and Infrastructure Group.

Anna has a wide range of public sector experience across a number of Commonwealth and Queensland Government agencies including the Department of Housing, the Department of Communities, the Department of Health and Aging and more recently the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Anna holds a Bachelor of Business and a Masters of Public Administration with extensive experience in policy implementation and service delivery including capital works infrastructure.
Anna was a foundation member of the Gold Coast Rapid Transit project team in 2006 and held a number of senior positions within the project team prior to her appointment as Project Director in August 2011.

During her time on the project, Anna has led a number of key initiatives that have directly contributed to the success of the project to date, including the industry leading Local Industry Participation program which maximises local employment opportunities and local business involvement in the delivery and ongoing operation of the light rail system.

Anna is a proud and active member of the Gold Coast community, having resided here since 1998.

Phil has led complex commercial businesses as Chief Executive Officer over the last 20 years engaged in the construction and operation of toll roads, and in the operation of major sea ports. In these roles he has overseen the planning and construction of large civil and marine infrastructure projects, and major business transformation initiatives.

His achievements have included the review and reform of Board and associated governance processes, negotiation of significant contracts in excess of $2b with multinational vendors, successful management of stakeholders within complex government and private sector environments, organisational restructure and reform, and significant improvement in company commercial performance and business growth.

Most recently Phil has led, as Chief Executive Officer, the delivery of the largest road and bridge construction project in the history of the state of Queensland. This project was delivered significantly ahead of schedule and under budget.  He is an extremely experienced leader of organisations and people, an exceptional problem solver with outstanding influencing skills.

Simon leads the planning, delivery and asset management of TransLink’s infrastructure and investment programs as well as being responsible for establishing and maintaining strong governance for all TransLink infrastructure projects and investments. In his role, Simon also leads the Busway Operations team that monitors and patrols South East Queensland’s busway network.  Simon also has eight years of international experience in rail operations.

Amanda Newbery is managing director of one of Queensland’s largest communications consultancies, overseeing a staff of 25 who consult on projects throughout Australia. A strategic communication specialist, Amanda is a trusted advisor to corporate and government executives. Her experience across corporate communication, community and stakeholder engagement, and media relations, enables her to provide both business and communications advice to clients.

Her clients have included Queensland Government departments and statutory authorities, Brisbane City Council, Logan City Council and Redland City Council.

Michael Roth’s career has focussed on transport policy. The first years were spent in the rail industry on projects to improve passenger and freight train services. He then moved to Queensland Transport to get more involved with the fiscal and policy levers available to governments as they construct, regulate and operate the transport system. Michael developed policies to address urban congestion and climate change, including contributions to COAG Reviews and establishing joint Federal, State and Local government funded initiatives.

As Executive Manager Public Policy for RACQ since 2007, Michael is responsible for developing Club policies and lobbying governments and industry on behalf of members. Many of the policies and submissions are available on the RACQ website. They cover areas such as road safety, climate change, congestion, energy security, motoring taxation reform and transport infrastructure provision and funding.

John is the Managing Principal - Queensland for Coffey Commercial Advisory (a leading infrastructure advisory consultancy), a Director of Hassad Australia Pty Ltd and the Chair of the Infrastructure Association of Queensland.

John has over 23 years experience in corporate and institutional banking and project financing gained through working for two leading Australian banks with specific expertise across the property, agriculture, power generation, energy, mining, ports, airports and rail sectors. For the past two years, John has been translating this financing and structuring experience into providing financial, commercial and strategic advice for infrastructure and commercial projects within Australia and overseas.

Over the past ten years, John has arranged the financing for a variety of major infrastructure and development projects across the mining, transport, agriculture, energy and education sectors. More recently, John has been advising government, corporate entities and wholesale investors in infrastructure, property and agricultural transactions including related policy, feasibility, commercial arrangements, financing and strategy.

Jim is responsible for the leadership of Queensland Rail, delivering on the company’s strategy and driving organisational objectives.

He joined QR Limited in July 2008 to focus on transformational leadership and change management leading to the separation of the company and formation of Queensland Rail. He was the Chief Financial Officer from the commencement of the new Queensland Rail in 2010 and in December 2011 moved to the Acting CEO position.

Before joining QR Limited, Jim held senior management positions in TNT, Carpentaria Transport and Toll Australia where he held lead roles in finance, shared services, credit management, customer service, business integration, commercial management and procurement.

Jim has 29 years experience in the transport industry specialising in business improvement, delivering transformational change and leading outcome focussed commercial teams.

Kurt joined BIS Shrapnel in 2011, having recently earned his master's degree, working as an applied economic forecaster and analyst for both the Economics and Infrastructure and Mining units.  Kurt has contributed key forecasts and analysis to BIS Shrapnel's premier publications including:

• Road Construction in Australia- Victoria
• Engineering Construction in Australia- Queensland, Victoria and ACT
• Long Term Forecasts- International
• Economic Outlook- international markets, equities, commodities and exchange rates
• Maintenance in Australia- Project Manager

In addition, Kurt has recently completed a major in-depth mining and engineering construction study for private clients in Queensland.  Although a new addition to the firm, Kurt has already introduced new national and regional models highlighting the importance, impacts and linkages of Australian industry sectors.

Kurt earned his MSc, Economic Management & Policy, with Distinction, from Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.

Damien is the Director of Bitzios Consulting, a specialist Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Consultancy with offices on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane and in Sydney.  He has led transport infrastructure planning projects throughout Australia as well as in the USA, SE Asia and the Middle East.  In Queensland, over the past 20 years, Damien has been involved in regional transport infrastructure strategies throughout the state as well as feasibility and impact assessment studies for land mark projects such as Gold Coast Light Rail, Tugun Bypass, Robina-Tugun Rail extension and the Pacific Motorway Eight Lane Master Planning between Nerang and Tugun. 

Damien has also lectured, published and presented extensively on transport infrastructure planning in a number of forums the most recent of which was for the United Nations in Kuwait where he presented at a series of capacity-building workshops for government staff.

Iain has worked for Leighton Contractors for 18 years and in May 2011 was appointed to the Northern Region Leadership Team as Operations Manager for Transport Infrastructure following his tenure as Alliance Manager of the Eastern Busway – Buranda to Main Avenue project.

Iain is responsible for overseeing the delivery of all transport infrastructure projects including the road and rail projects across the business, as well as lead and support tendering and business development.
Iain is an experienced Alliance Manager with over 20 years’ experience as a civil engineer working in a wide range of roles on both infrastructure and building projects. He gained invaluable experience working on the first alliance in Australia, the Wandoo Offshore Oil Platform, and has gone on to work on some of Australia’s most iconic infrastructure projects.

As Operations Manager for Transport Infrastructure, he is accountable to deliver projects which meet client expectations as well as Leighton Contractors’ business objectives.

Leighton Contractors Northern Region is Leighton Contractors’ construction division operating across Queensland, Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.

Paul is responsible for prioritisation of investment, development and management of the department’s integrated program of works, and the engineering and technology needed to support sustained performance and operation of the transport system. As part of his role, Paul is responsible for several high-level projects and decision-making groups including the Gold Coast Rapid Transit project and the Infrastructure Investment Committee.

Prior to appointment to this position, Paul was the General Manager (State-wide Planning) for the Department of Main Roads. He was responsible for strategic planning of the state-controlled road network and for developing a framework for affordable investment decision-making across the network.
Paul has 42 years of experience with roads and community issues, having worked in remote western areas as well as the rapidly developing urban areas of Mackay, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), a Graduate Diploma in Business Management and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer with membership of Engineers Australia.

Ben’s business is to make the planning process fast and easy.  He has spent the past 5 years building a visual planning technology and method for projects and precincts that has been applied to over $60bn of projects.

Ben and his team are integrators and collaborators. Enabling clients to see all the pieces of the plan fit together - before, during and after design. This is accelerating project development across industries and functions.

Ben’s doctorate focused on simplified planning methods for urban infill development. Oxford Circus was a case in point.