  Associations
 Chris Champion, 51
Chief executive officer of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia
Civil engineer Chris Champion has been the chief executive officer of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA), previously known as the Institute of Municipal Engineering Australia, since April 2000. At present the institute has 2000 members.
Champion wants to continue to build the institute’s national profile and influence as well as broaden the organisation’s focus from its traditional local government base to a wider public works focus.
He believes that the recent rees-tablishment of the IPWEA’s National Asset Management Strategy Committee will play a major role in developing a national approach to improve the way public works infrastructure is managed in the community.
He encourages young engineers to become involved in organisations such as IPWEA and Engineers Australia as it can “broaden your experience and help you develop both personally and professionally”.
He said belonging to such an organisation is also about contributing to it. “It can be very rewarding and satisfying if you put the effort in,” he said.
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 Doug Jones, 65
National president of Engineers Australia
As the presidency of Engineers Australia is limited to one year, the incumbent doesn’t have much time to make his or her mark. Doug Jones has set a broad six-point agenda for his term, including a renewed focus on sustainability as an integral part of engineers’ training and work, and wider recognition of the role of engineers in the Australian Defence Force.
Now half-way through his presidency he has officially aligned the notion of sustainability with the entire profession, not just aspects of it, and has developed connections with the ADF and its engineers. On ANZAC Day he laid a wreath on behalf of Engineers Australia at the War Memorial Dawn Service in London and later visited WW1 grave sites on the Somme in France.
Coincidentally, but as if to prove his point about engineers in the ADF, an engineer – Brigadier Peter Hutchinson – has just taken over the leadership of Australia’s military personnel in Iraq.
Jones, a mechanical engineer, has a strong belief in the value of engineering both as a career and as an essential driver for the improvement in the quality of life of all in the community. “Engineering provides the mechanism to convert scientific knowledge into tangible infrastructure, facilities and goods and services,” he said. This belief motivates him “to devote so much time and effort to Engineers Australia”.
His professional career has been mainly in engineering management, largely with Australian subsidiaries of international companies.
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 Dick Kell, 65
President of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers and chairman of Cardno
Dick Kell is the president of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC).
His ambition for FIDIC is “to build it into an even stronger and more representative international organisation than when I assumed the presidency”.
Founded in 1913, FIDIC now represents almost 70 member associations from all parts of the world. As such, it is the international voice for most of the globe’s practising consulting engineers.
Kell’s interest in the wider world goes back a couple of decades when his firm, then known as McMillan Britton and Kell Pty Ltd (it merged with Cardno a few years later) became involved in consulting work in Southeast Asia. He is most proud of his part in delivering three major infrastructure programs – the Sarawak Bridges Project, the Indonesian Bridges Project and the Papua New Guinea Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Projects.
“The involvement in projects outside Australia and the network of friends it has generated has been one of the most satisfying aspects of my career,” he said.
Kell is also an active member of the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia and was president of that body in the mid- 1990s.
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 Barry Neilsen, 50
President of the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia
Barry Neilsen has been the president of the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA) since December 2002. During that time the membership of the ACEA has grown significantly with the joining of several large consulting firms. The association now has about 300 member firms representing some 20,000 engineers.
“This means we now speak for a larger proportion of the profession,” Neilsen said.
Even though progress on some of the pressing issues such as professional indemnity insurance and conditions of contract has been slow, he said the influence of the ACEA in government circles has increased. “Our voice is being heard more.” His term as president finishes at the end of this year.
Neilsen is a director of Pitt & Sherry Consulting Engineers, which has grown out of Tasmania, with offices in Hobart, Victoria and East Timor. The firm has a staff of about 100.
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 Warren Roberts, 49
National president of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia
Civil engineer Warren Roberts is the national president of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia. His annual appointment began late last year. He is also general manager infrastructure and environment for the City of Stonnington in Melbourne.
As president, he intends to maintain the institute’s momentum and focus on issues related to public works engineering, for instance youth employment and recruitment in the field.
He considers the most enjoyable part of his role as “working with staff and the community to deliver quality outcomes.”
He is motivated by challenges, job satisfaction, and working with people and seeing them achieve.
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 Peter Taylor, 60
Chief executive of Engineers Australia
Civil engineer Peter Taylor became Engineers Australia’s chief executive last February. With more than 75,000 members the organisation, formerly known as the Institution of Engineers Australia, is this country’s premier association representing professional engineers and engineering technologists, associates and students.
Taylor ranks the appointment to his current position as one of his career highlights. He enjoys working with a team of colleagues developing innovative solutions and achieving “the best outcomes for all concerned”.
Internally one of Taylor’s major aims is to increase the effectiveness and level of service to Engineers Australia’s current members and to make the organisation better known and attractive to potential members. Externally, in his first four months in the job, he has already represented the organisation with the Australian government, the APEC Business Forum and kindred organisations in New Zealand and Britain.
Taylor’s prior career was with the Royal Australian Engineers and in local government. His most recent position before joining the Engineers Australia staff was chief executive officer of the Toowoomba City Council.
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 Barry Tonkin, 50
National president of the Association of Professional Engineers Scientists and Managers Australia
Barry Tonkin’s commitment to the Association of Professional Engineers Scientists and Managers Australia reflects his passion and belief in the future of engineering and engineers as individuals. He believes that more and more people, from all sections of society, will come to see intelligent engineering as one of the most powerful forces in helping to create a sustainable future.
A civil engineer, Tonkin spent the first 18 years of his professional life working for Western Australian Government Railways. From 1988 to the present he has held senior management positions in the Western Australian Department of Housing and Works.
Tonkin is motivated by people that seek to help others, such as Nelson Mandela and the people in aid agencies such as RedR. He said he found the individual struggle and the recognition of leadership in the young Maori heroine of the film Whale Rider deeply moving.
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 John Vines, 53
Chief executive officer of the Association of Professional Engineers Scientists and Managers Australia
John Vines is the longstanding chief executive of the 42,000 member strong Association of Engineers Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA). He puts the success of the association’s MBA program as one of his main career highlights. The APESMA Deakin University MBA is recognised as the largest in Australia.
“Conducting work value cases to gain improved salaries for engineers is another highlight,” he said.
Vines has also contributed, via various government committees, to national policy development relevant to engineers.
A civil engineer, Vines has an economics degree and an MBA. He is a member of the Institute of Company Directors.
He is an officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to development of the skills of engineers and scientists, and for his contribution on a number of government science and technology bodies.
As a champion of engineering, Vines would like to see engineers get much wider recognition for their role as “primary contributors to Australia’s economic and community wellbeing”.
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Engineers Australia Magazine, Volume 76 No 6, June 2004.
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