House Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
Session Two – Plenary
Catherine King MP
Committee Chair
[Biography]
Water Sector
Workshop Convenor – Glenn Wightwick
Chief Technologist and Director, Development Laboratory IBM Australia
Glenn Wightwick is Director of the IBM Australia Development Laboratory, Chief Technologist for IBM Australia and an IBM Distinguished Engineer. Glenn has led numerous systems and software development projects, and has undertaken international assignments in the USA and China. Glenn is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology and the IBM Corporate Technical Leadership Team. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and has served a three year term on the Australian Research Council College of Experts. He was recently appointed an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.
Transport Sector
Workshop Convenor – Alan Burns
Partner, Strategic Connections Group and Chair, Australian Rail Industry Corporation
Alan has recently founded Strategic Connections Group, a consultancy in engineering, social science and business services. Alan’s consulting work in transportation and manufacturing was preceded by work in aerospace, industrial construction, steel and advanced railway manufacturing. Alan has extensive experience in developing innovative business solutions, engineering enterprise and manufacturing technology. Alan is Chair of the Board of the Australian Rail Industry Corporation; Industry Representative for the Ai Group and delivering the Victorian Transport Infrastructure Manufacturing Scheme initiative; and a Trustee of the Caroline Chisholm Education Foundation. Alan is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of Engineers Australia.
Energy Sector
Workshop Convenor – Martin Thomas AM FTSE
Chairman ATSE Energy Forum
Mr Thomas has served as Chairman of Austenergy, the New South Wales Electricity Council and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Energy Panel. From 1995-1998 he was appointed Managing Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy. He is a past Director of the Tyree Group and EnviroMission Limited. He was President of the Institution of Engineers, Australia from 1991-1992 and elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 1991. He was President of the Australian Institute of Energy from 2000 to 2002. He was awarded the James Kirby Memorial Award of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Australasian Region. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1993 for services to engineering and energy management and was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal in 2003.
Communications Sector
Workshop Convenor – Dr Terry Percival
Laboratory Director, NICTA
Dr Terry Percival spent the first ten years of his career building microwave receiving systems for radio-telescopes. He joined OTC in 1987 and led R&D groups in optical fibre and satellite communications. He then joined CSIRO and led the development and patenting of new technology for high speed wireless LANs. In 2000 he established the Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy and used it to demonstrate pioneering applications in tele-health, distance educations and collaborative film post-production. In 2004 he joined NICTA as a laboratory director and has focused on a major collaboration with the NSW RTA on traffic management.
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