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  Steve Abson is an ex major contracting executive and has practiced with Flagstaff Consulting Group since 2015. He is respected by both owners and project participants for his experience and neutrality, knowledge of effective project governance, technical expertise and attention to relationships. He has served on major project Dispute Boards in Queensland and has either led or participated in over 20 major project assurance reviews over the past 3 years. Steve regularly advises Owners teams on strategies to package and deliver major projects and plays a pivotal role in mentoring and guiding delivery teams. Between 2015-2019, Steve represented the entire infrastructure sector in Queensland as the part time CEO of Infrastructure Association of Queensland (IAQ), leading a strong government engagement program and liaising with government and independent infrastructure organisations on policy and reform. He is a past president of the Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA) and is a Fellow to the Australian Institute of Building (FAIB).
 

Rob Buchanan

 

Paul Coughlan Head of Infrastructure Development, Brisbane Airport Corporation Paul Coughlan is the Head of Infrastructure Development at Brisbane Airport Corporation. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and was the Project Director of the recently completed new parallel runway at the Brisbane Airport.  Paul led the project through the planning, approval and delivery phases.

Jon Davies has been passionate about construction since he was given his first Lego set. After 30 years working in contract and commercial roles with contractors on three continents, Jon is keen to use his experience to drive positive change in the industry he loves.
Jonathan Cartledge brings over twenty years of experience including as an executive leader building organisational capability, championing culture and delivering effective partnerships for positive change. He draws on diverse experience across the not-for-profit and public sectors in Australia and the UK, encompassing strategy, public affairs, government relations, and program leadership. Jonathan has a deep understanding of how to drive change, influence and support collaboration for organisational success.
 

Graham Easton is both a civil engineer and a lawyer. He is based in Sydney, Australia and works as an independent Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Board Member. Formal qualifications include: B.Sc. (Computer Science), University of Sydney, 1967; B.E. (Hons.) (Civil Engineering), University of Sydney, 1969; M.Eng. Sc., University of Birmingham, U.K., 1972; LL.B., University of New South Wales, 1988.He is a Barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; a Grade 1 Arbitrator and Accredited Mediator, Resolution Institute, Australia; a Member of the London Court of International Arbitration; an Accredited Arbitrator, Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

Mr. Easton has lectured extensively on the contractual and legal aspects of engineering and related technical areas, both in Australia and overseas, including a seven-year period teaching Construction Management at the University of New South Wales. He was the joint author of a standard textbook “Civil Engineering Construction” published by McGraw Hill in Australia. For more than 30 years, Mr. Easton has acted as an arbitrator / court referee / mediator in over 250 disputes throughout Australia and overseas. He has been a member of many Dispute Boards on major projects and has been appointed to several international arbitration tribunals in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Easton is a Past-President of the DRBF Executive Board of Directors and is a recipient of the Al Mathews Award for Dispute Board Excellence, the DRBF's top honor. He is the Lead Editor for the DRBF Manual – Guide to Practices and Procedures, published in 2019.

Ronald A (Ron) Finlay AM is a principal and the chief executive of Finlay Consulting and a sole legal practitioner trading as R.A. Finlay, Lawyer since 1997 and is regarded as one of Australia’s leading infrastructure and governance specialists. Ron is the independent Chair of the WestConnex Group, a member of the Naval Shipbuilding Expert Advisory Panel, the Foundation Executive Board Member and Secretary of DRBF Region 3 and has been Chair, a Member or a One-Person on over 20 Dispute Avoidance Boards, including current Chair of DAAB for Snowy 2.0. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for “significant service to the law, particularly in the area of dispute resolution, through public infrastructure advisory roles, and to the sport of Baseball”. Ron is a Past-President of the DRBF Executive Board of Directors.

 

Jessica Gallienne is the owner and founder of Organisation Dynamics, and brings over two decades of people, culture and collaboration experience across some of Australia’s largest and most successful organisations and projects. She is renowned for her incredibly powerful, dynamic and insightful facilitation and coaching skills – enabling people in organisations to apply novel approaches to navigate high performing teams through complex challenges. Jessica brings specialities in areas of high performance teaming, culture transformation, leadership development and alignment, strategy and governance, collective impact, organisation design and effectiveness, inter-organisational collaboration and community-based innovation. Her psychology and commerce backgrounds inform an approach which is both people-centric and offers pragmatic fit-for-purpose solutions. Her broad experience enables her to apply first principles in her approach, leading her to quickly identify the outcome and articulate a clear path to it.  Her commercial perceptiveness enables Jessica to provide a sound foundation to build cultural mechanisms for high performance. 

Steve Goldstein was admitted as a Barrister in 1993 and specialises in building and construction matters. Steve is heavily involved in all forms of alternative dispute resolution including as arbitrator, mediator, facilitator, expert determiner and Dispute Avoidance Board member. Steve has been appointed as a Dispute Board Member on more than 15 occasions. He has also acted as a Supreme Court Referee, District Court referee and Local Court arbitrator. Steve is President of the DRBF Executive Board of Directors and was formerly President of Region 3. Steve is a fellow of the Resolution Institute and held the position of NSW Chapter Chair for 4 years. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and is a Chartered Professional Engineer and Member of Engineers Australia. Steve practised as a civil engineer in the construction industry for 17 years prior to being called to the Bar.
  Louise Hart is an independent adviser in major projects and procurement. She has worked in both the public and private sectors in London and Sydney and led the establishment of a number of major infrastructure projects. While working for Rail Corporation NSW, the predecessor to Sydney Trains, she set up the Waratah PPP, the $3.6bn procurement of the 678-car fleet of double deck passenger trains now serving Sydney’s network. Her book, Procuring Successful Mega-Projects, was described in the Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers as “an extraordinarily clear and exceptionally useful guide”. Louise is a member of the Dispute Review Board Foundation and currently serves on Dispute Avoidance Boards in the transport and affordable housing sectors. 
 

Pamela Jack is a dispute resolution practitioner, lawyer and consultant. She is a current dispute board member and an active member of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation. Pamela has extensive legal experience in the fields of infrastructure, construction and property, having practised as a construction lawyer for more than 35 years, including leading the construction and infrastructure practice at MinterEllison. Pamela has extensive experience in disputes and in the many methods of dispute resolution, including arbitration, litigation, expert determination and mediation, as well as dispute avoidance and resolution boards. She has had substantial Involvement in many major infrastructure projects including Sydney Metro; the redevelopment of Tug Harbour at Port Hedland, Western Australia; Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal; East West link in Victoria; Airport Link in Brisbane; and Epping to Chatswood rail link in NSW. Pamela is a committed advocate for the benefits of dispute avoidance boards and has acted as a trainer for DRBF workshops. She currently sits on a dispute board for a major road and tunnelling contract with a value in excess of AUD$2billion. In addition to her current consulting work and dispute board roles she sits on the board of Youth off the Streets, an Australian charity and on the board of the Two Good Foundation, a social enterprise.

  Chris Lock is an infrastructure professional with extensive experience in the governance, delivery, financial management and dispute resolution of major projects. In his last executive position, Chris championed the use of Dispute Boards within Transport for New South Wales and completed 9 projects with Dispute Resolution/Avoidance Boards as a participant.

Currently an independent non-executive Director of McConnell Dowell Corporation Limited (where he is also a member of Audit, Risk and Remuneration Committees of the Board), Chris is also Chair of the Dispute Board on a major Sydney infrastructure project and has been a member of two other Dispute Boards, one as Chair.

Ian McIntyre is President of the DRBF Region 3 Board of Directors and serves on the DRBF Executive Board. 
Alan McLennan Vice-President of DRBF Region 3 and Director of consultancy, Alan McLennan Strategic Services Pty Ltd Alan McLennan is a foundation member of DRBF Region 3 (Australia and New Zealand); and currently serves as Vice-President.  He has had a long career in engineering leadership, mainly in the transport sector (roads and bridges). Alan has served as Dispute Board Member on 17 boards, seven of which as Chair.
  Jennifer McVeigh was admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of Queensland on 24 February 1986.  Since then, the majority of her work has been in the field of dispute resolution in the construction industry. Having seen the drain on parties of both litigation and arbitration, Jennifer was an early adopter of ADR.  In 1994 Jennifer was accredited as a mediator by the Queensland Law Society and in 1999 I was awarded a Professional Certificate in Arbitration by the University of South Australia. Jennifer has substantial practical experience as a decision maker gained as a sessional member of the Queensland Building Tribunal, chairperson of the Architect’s Disciplinary Panel, chairperson of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Services Panel of Referees, chairperson of ad hoc disciplinary committees convened by the Valuer’s Registration Board, the first full time member of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal and  a sessional member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Kiri Parr is an academic, speaker and independent consultant in the construction industry in Australia. Kiri is passionate about improving outcomes in the construction industry with her work sitting at the intersection of construction law, procurement strategy, human behaviour and governance models. As well as operating her own consultancy practice, where she is sought after for her skills as a team builder, facilitator and advisor, Kiri is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne law school lecturing in the Construction Law Master’s program in two courses “Construction Project Delivery” and “Major Projects – the Legal Interfaces”. In industry Kiri is a member of the FIDIC Contracts Committee and is actively involved locally with Consult Australia and the Society of Construction Law Australia. Prior to establishing her own company in 2020, Kiri spent more than 20 years’ as a construction lawyer, initially in private practice and followed by 15 years as Regional General Counsel for Arup, a large international professional consulting company. During this time, Kiri was involved in numerous large projects in the region including Airport Link, Gold Coast Light Rail and Marina Bay Sands. From 2015 to 2019 Kiri was included in Doyle’s Leading In-House Construction Lawyers in Australia.

Ann Russo is Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, the non-profit association dedicated to the use of Dispute Boards worldwide. She is co-editor of the book Dispute Board Manual: A Guide to Best Practices and Procedures. Prior to joining the DRBF, she served as Public Relations Manager for J.A. Jones, Inc., an international construction and engineering firm based in Charlotte, NC, USA. She received the DRBF's President’s Distinguished Service Award in 2005.
  Vince Sanfilippo is General Manager of CPB Contractors Queensland and Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he applies exceptional leadership and commercial acumen to the governance of this market-leading organisation, driving sustainable growth and continuous improvement across construction projects spanning the civil, resources and building sectors. Since 2017, Vince has overseen delivery of numerous challenging and complex projects including the transformational Cross River Rail Project in Brisbane, the New Parallel Runway at Brisbane International Airport, and Stage 2 of Gold Coast Light Rail, as well as completion of PNG’s iconic international convention centre Apec Haus. Leading a strong safety-first culture, Vince instils a focus on value, innovation, and quality, and is unwavering in his commitment to working closely with communities to optimise local and Indigenous opportunities. Hands-on in his approach, he is recognised for developing and nurturing positive, productive relationships, and for his commitment to identifying solutions that consider and respond to the needs of all parties. 

Derek Skinner Director of consultancy, Geodek Pty Ltd Derek Skinner is a Civil Engineer with over 40 years’ experience in the construction of roads and bridges, performing roles of site engineer, contract administrator and principal’s representative. For the past 10 years he has engaged in dispute avoidance and resolution as a member of 15 Dispute Boards for a range of transport infrastructure projects in Queensland and New South Wales. Derek has a keen interest in the successful delivery of projects through a focus on the health of the project and the relationships between the parties to identify and resolve issues before they become disputes.

  Scott Smith was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Mayors (SEQ) in December 2017. Scott is an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of leadership in business improvement and project management, and more than 20 years' experience in senior roles in the local government sector. Scott first joined the Council of Mayors (SEQ) in 2005, providing program management and strategic direction in the areas of process reform, red tape reduction and the streamlining of local government services. The Council of Mayors (SEQ) has played an integral role in planning for the future of transport in SEQ, delivering the People Mass Movement Study in 2019, securing a commitment to an SEQ City Deal and leading the region’s investigations towards an SEQ 2032 Olympic Games bid.

Jim Sloman OAM is a civil engineer by training and very experienced in project and business delivery and governance. After 23 years with Lend Lease, Jim, in early 1997 became Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer for the Sydney Organising Committee for the 2000 Olympic Games. He was responsible for the planning and delivery of the Sydney 2000 Olympic (and Paralympic) Games and events with a workforce of 150,000 people that included 50,000 volunteers and many contractors, including a number of sponsors and rights holders. Since then, Jim has acted as a consultant to numerous other major events including the London 2012 Olympics and the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. He was also an Independent Director of the Goodman Group from 2006 to 2018, Executive Chairman of Laing O'Rourke Australia from 2010 to 2021 (and remains a Strategic Advisor) and has been an Independent Director of SHAPE Australia since 2005.

 

Scott Stewart as Divisional Manager, Brisbane Infrastructure, Scott is responsible for the delivery of Council’s infrastructure portfolio of approximately $2 billion per annum, including asset management, infrastructure planning, design, project management, construction services, maintenance, waste and resource recovery, and transport planning and operations. By managing public funding and public-private partnerships, and establishing progressive delivery models, Scott is instrumental in the progressive and financially responsible delivery of Council’s major assets. Scott has more than 30 years of infrastructure and executive leadership experience across local and international roles in the private and public sectors, including major road, rail and urban infrastructure projects in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. Since joining Council, Scott has played an integral part in the development and delivery of major city-shaping projects including Brisbane Metro, Green Bridges program, and the TransApex program, including Go Between Bridge and Legacy Way toll roads. Scott holds a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours), Master of Engineering Science (Project Management) and completed the INSEAD Advanced Management Program in France. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Barry Tozer is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Arbitrator, Facilitator, FIDIC Certified Adjudicator, DAB Member (Australasia) and Valuer. He is the principal Consulting Construction Engineer of Tozer & Associates Pty Ltd, a company that provides advice and prepares expert reports on construction methods, planning and cost estimating. His specialist role in the business is in dispute avoidance as mediator, conciliator and facilitator and in dispute resolution as valuer (GC21), adjudicator, expert determiner and arbitrator.  Barry has had extensive experience over 15 years as a Dispute Avoidance Board (DAB) member in Australia and the Pacific, a role which encompasses all of these facets of dispute resolution. He is a Board Member and current Treasurer of DRBF Region 3.