Robran is the principal and owner of Ametqua, a boutique consultancy he has established focussing on water and environmental engineering and operations. His passions are in the environment, sustainability and improving communities through the economic, efficient and innovative management of their water resources.
Robran is a highly-respected professional engineer with over fifteen years of experience in water operations across Australia and New Zealand. His career has seen him work across a wide range of technologies on water and wastewater treatment plants; desalination plants; network operations and irrigation schemes. He is also an experienced business strategist who has been able to drive any number of successful initiatives with regards to strategy, optimisation, cost estimation, due diligence reporting and establishing sustainable water operations and maintenance businesses.
As a charted professional engineer Robran brings a diverse skill set and educational background to the board, holding undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and science with masters degrees in business administration and environmental engineering. He is a fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Darren is the National Sales Manager at RPC Pipe Systems, part of the RPC Technologies group, Australia's premier designer and manufacturer of quality fibre composite products. RPC Pipe Systems Pty Ltd is the Adelaide manufacturing facility for Flowtite® GRP pipe & fittings for water, sewer & jacking/trenchless.
Darren is a highly experienced senior leader with an extensive career in technical sales, marketing, business & product development; typically related to the Industrial industry sectors of Flow Control & Fluid Transfer Management; emphasis placed on product specification/solution selling including overall total cost of ownership and fit for purpose. Darren’s key leadership expertise includes: Sales & Marketing Management, Business Development, Technical Product Development & Specification, Major Project Tenders/ Negotiation/Control, Procurement, Operations, Commercial and Financial Management.
Darren has diverse industry sector experience & knowledge: Oil [up/down-stream], Gas [LPG/LNG, domestic & coal seam], Chemical & Petrochemical, Metals & Mineral Mining, Water & Wastewater, Civil Infrastructure, Dams & Reservoirs, Energy/Power Generation, Marine & Shipbuilding, HVAC Building Services, Fire Protection, Food & Beverage, Agriculture & Irrigation, Manufacturing and General Industry.
Mark is an experienced property and commercial lawyer with 15 years’ experience advising clients on their business and contractual arrangements, both in Australia and in the United Kingdom, where he spent three years working at a top 40 law firm. In addition to law, he has a degree in maths and computer science, which all adds up to him looking at the world from a different perspective.
Mark advises clients on all aspects of their property dealings including acquisition, disposal, development, leasing or due diligence. Whenever dealing with clients, Mark works with them to achieve the best commercial outcome for their business. When advising clients on their business operations, Mark brings a pragmatic approach to cut through the legalese and deal with the issues that matter.
Mark has advised water industry participants in South Australia for over 10 years. He has advised on the spread of purple pipe and the installation of pipeworks for stormwater and wastewater recycling and reticulation systems as well as supply and service contracts throughout the industry. He also advised clients on, and made submissions to the government about, the Water Industry Act.
David is the CEO of Dematec Automation, a South Australian systems integration business that services clients in the water, defence, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors.
David has qualifications in electrical engineering and business administration and is passionate about the development and advancement of the current and next generations of South Australian business, as evidenced by his roles as a committee member of the Industry Leaders Fund Scholars’ Network and as co-chair of the not-for-profit Business in Schools.
David is particularly interested in SME’s collaborating to access new markets and opportunities in the water sector, and sees the Water Industry Alliance as an ideal conduit to foster the networks and provide the support necessary for this to take place.
Lionel is currently the Client Liaison Manager at Allwater. He completed his PhD in 2004 from the University of South Australia and has over 16 years’ experience in the water industry. He has a strong water research background having authored over 120 scientific publications.
Lionel was previously the Chair and Vice President of the AWA SA Branch Committee and sat on the Strategic Advisory Council of the Federal AWA. He currently sits on the IWA Australia Committee, AWA SA Branch Committee and the Editorial Board of the AWA Water Journal. Lionel holds adjunct positions at the University of Adelaide (Affiliate Lecturer) and University of South Australia (Associate Professor).
Jim is the General Manager of Strategy, Performance & Innovation at SA Water. This role leads development of strategy and business planning as well as driving a strong performance management focus. The Group helps SA Water to generate new ideas and bring them to life and ensures the way of working are aligned and continually improved. Jim joined SA Water in 2011 initially as Senior Manager Procurement and led a significant transformation of the procurement function. In 2014, Jim became General Manager Commercial & Business Development. This role included the overall responsibility for delivery of SA Water’s substantial capital program and also focused on business growth for the organisation.
Jim’s career prior to SA Water has included key leadership roles in both the private and public sector, including the energy, and banking, as well as consulting.
Jim has also been active in building broader professional capability across Australia and championed reform initiatives which saw the creation of a new global standard procurement professional body and other key joint collaborative activities bringing together private and public sector organisations for common good.
Karen was appointed CEO of Water Research Australia after holding senior management positions at SA Water and CSIRO’s water flagship. Karen has over 15 years’ water industry experience.
After gaining a geology degree from the University of Exeter, UK, Karen began her career in the energy sector, where she was the first female wellsite geologist in the Cooper Basin. Through on the job training at Amdel Ltd, she subsequently became a materials scientist providing testing and consulting services to the construction industry.
In 1996 Karen gained a Masters of Environmental Studies, which facilitated her to move into Environmental, Sustainability, R&D and Resources management within the water industry. While in charge of the $15 million per annum urban water R&D portfolio at CSIRO, Karen was responsible for leading collaborative efforts to develop innovative water technologies and bring them to market. Over the past couple of years Karen led SA Water’s drive to help South Australian water businesses gain access to markets in India and China. Working closely with the WIA, she supported their export growth initiatives, attended two trade missions to India and served as assistant to Karlene Maywald in her role as Special Advisor, International Water Opportunities for SA.
Andrew Telfer is a Director of AWE and a Senior Principal Hydrogeologist.
Andrew has specialist technical expertise in groundwater engineering and groundwater hydraulics, strategic and applied water resource management, borefield design, salt interception scheme design, implementation and review, aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) design and implementation, groundwater-surface water interactions and groundwater-vegetation interactions.
Andrew is well known across South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales for his salinity management work within the River Murray and Murray Darling Basin.
