David is currently employed by Austek Roads based in South East Queensland as their Business Consultant.

Possessing nearly 40 years of industry experience David has managed civil testing laboratories, spray seal business units, asphalt production facilities, polymer emulsion plants and a host of other supporting businesses supporting the roading sector.

With a passion for innovation and product development David has helped pioneer the introduction of RAP (Recycled Asphalt Pavement) designs in the early 1990’s, been instrumental in the development of steel slag and bitumen crumbed rubber asphalt designs both in New Zealand and Australia in various companies.

The latest and most interesting set of product developments are detailed in the latest AfPA symposium presentation (2021) in leading the innovation based around the use of recovered carbon black in asphalt mixes combined with the replacement of diesel / gas (fossil fuels) in the asphalt production process.

David has a proven track record in business management, a detailed planner with the ability to develop and implement key strategies which deliver expectations into visible and cohesive results.

Delivering a track record of successful and profitable business cost centre management, operational improvement programs, technical innovation, effective health, safety and environmental delivery including supply chain negotiation underpinning his ability to manage operations at the most senior level.

Importantly he is team player who takes an active interest in both team and individual developments through positive mentoring and coaching. He makes decisive management decisions when required whilst still ensuring that relationships and strategies are maintained to deliver win – win objectives.

With 17 years experience in performing asphalt maintenance repairs for multiple different councils and companies in southeast Qld I have had the unique opportunity to view the varying methods and procedures that different councils and organizations implement when performing small asphalt maintenance repairs. Having had extensive business management experience in previous roles it is evident to me that in general there opportunities to drastically improve productivity in most council maintenance crews.

I take a lot of pride in the road repairs I perform and it was always very frustrating coming back to do another road failure next to a patch I had previously repaired. These adjoining failures were generally due to water ingress in the join around the initial patch repair. This led me to begin researching solutions for sealing around road repairs and the launching of AJT Asphalt Joint Tape and associated products to prevent water ingress into road pavements.

Rohan has worked as a structural engineer with icubed consulting for the past 11 years having exposure to a variety of different projects in residential, commercial, infrastructure and industrial building industries.

Over the past four years, Rohan has been leading the icubed structural engineering division with a team of engineers and drafters working together in a collaborative environment.

He has a strong technical background in the design of timber, steel, concrete and reinforced masonry structures. Rohan has applied these skills to assist in the design of industrial warehouses, residential buildings, commercial offices, internal and external, peer reviews and the design of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) road bridges, boardwalks, jetties, wharfs and pedestrian bridges around Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, UAE, Egypt and the USA.

Rohan has presented his research in pedestrian induced excitation of light weight FRP bridges at the Composites in Construction conference in Amsterdam and more recently his further developments in the topic at the Australian Small Bridges Conference on the Gold Coast in 2021.  He has co-authored a paper on the world’s first composite FRP and geo-polymer concrete wharf (Pinkenba Wharf) for the International Federation for Structural Concrete, and co-authored a paper for the International Public Works Conference for the testing, design and installation of FRP decking on a bascule bridge for Birkenhead Bridge in South Australia.

Nick Canto is an executive, engineer and entrepreneur with over 27 years of experience in the infrastructure and energy sectors.  He is currently the Executive Director of icubed consulting, a Brisbane based development consulting practice specialising in Renewable Energy and Infrastructure projects. Founded by Nick in 2003, icubed today employs around 50 employees, including six partners.  Since inception, icubed has consulted on over 5GW of constructed wind energy projects across Australia and New Zealand, with a similar magnitude under development.

In late 2015, Nick founded Yarranlea Solar to develop a 100MW PV Solar project 50km south-west of Toowoomba.  The Yarranlea Solar project demonstrated the broad capabilities of icubed consulting to the market.  It’s success has resulted in icubed being commissioned to manage the approval of approximately 1GW of PV Solar and Battery Storage projects across Queensland.  Nicks’ depth of knowledge and expertise in energy project development is sought out by developers to provide expert strategic advice across a range of technologies.  Yarranlea Solar was sold to a Global Renewable Energy Investor in 2018 and construction was completed in early 2020, providing enough energy into the national electricity market to power over 35,000 Queensland homes.

I have 16 years in the water and sewerage industry since graduating from USQ in 2006.  I have spent the past 13 years at Toowoomba Regional Council, with 11 of those in the Water Network Planning section.  I have extensive experience in the use of WaterGems and SewerGems, particularly with regards to forward planning and the assessment of development applications.  Recently I have been heavily involved in Council’s water security program and the development of Water Vision.

Joe Barnewall has a long history of leadership and executive roles spanning both corporate management and project management across Australia, Pacific Island countries, the Middle East and Africa.  He has worked as a consultant, project manager and a project director.  With a background in agricultural economics, he has worked in institutional strengthening and capacity building across WASH, extension, community consultation and social infrastructure projects.  His development aid clients have included AusAID, the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, NZODA and the AfDB.  His commercial clients have included province and national governments and business, large and small.

Joe’s passion is leading  and supporting teams as they implement change and development across the social landscape to deliver improved grass roots outcomes.  Joe has worked with Ecoflo-WASH since 2012 and has led the company’s focus on developing a Pacific Island Country market for safe sanitation through dry and composting toilets.

This work has led to Joe heading up Ecoflo's new venture LooCube - prefabricated buildings custom designed for safe sanitation in remote locations without power or water. 

Joe holds a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Science and a Masters degree in Business Administration from UQ, is Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management for fourteen years.

Kenny is the Bundaberg Office Manager and a Senior Engineer with McMurtrie Consulting Engineers. Kenny is a Chartered Professional Engineer, holds RPEQ status and a Masters of Pavement Technology. In his downtime, Kenny enjoys following sports, playing golf and caravanning with his family.

James is the Managing Director of IN4 Advisory. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering who is both Chartered and an RPEQ, and has over 20 years of experience in Australia and internationally within strategic, procurement, delivery and operational roles. This experience covers line management with international contractors, and advisory services in both Public and Private organsiations.

James has successfully managed complex major infrastructure projects and construction sites in both metropolitan and regional areas throughout the project lifecycle in a variety of discipline sectors, and importantly enabled James to manage critical internal and external relationships whilst maintaining the trust of key stakeholders.

James has worked in the Middle East and Australia for than 15 years. He has significant experience as a local government Civil Engineer and has an extensive background in contract administration, project management. James commenced his career in Australia with McNab Constructions whilst doing his Masters at University at Southern Queensland. As a RPEQ and CPPM, James exhibits practical knowledge in professional engineering principles, skills and values. Currently, James works for Southern Downs Regional Council as Manager Works, Infrastructure Services and is based in Warwick. James is now looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities in his new role as a Manager with a specific focus on customer satisfaction.

Dr Andrew Burbridge is a Principal Engineer with the Department of Transport and Main Roads. He is recognized locally and internationally as a technical specialist in road safety, serving on several project working groups across the Austroads Road Design and Road Safety task forces, and is one of three Austroads representatives on the Road Safety Technical Committee of the World Road Association, PIARC.

Emily Plath is a Senior Traffic Engineer at Point8 Pty Ltd. Starting her career in specialized road safety engineering with TMR, Emily has since gone on to deliver a broad range of National, State and local level projects in the areas of transport operations and theory, speed management, transport planning, traffic engineering and temporary traffic management, applying her fundamental understanding of road safety principles to a wide variety of contexts.  Emily’s diverse experience and skills give her the ability to approach projects from a variety of perspectives and understanding of the need for principles based, pragmatic approaches to situations where standards and guidelines may not exist or are not suitable for the site-specific situation.