Arete Podcast with Richard Triggs

Engineering workshops have come a long way in the past 30 years. With the advent of computer-aided design (CAD), laser cutting and CNC folding, much of what used to be noisy and dirty work is now done by machines that wouldn’t look out of place in a hospital. My guest on the podcast this week is Douglas Dart, Director of GCI Group, a fabrication business started by his father 18 years ago. What st...

While most industries have embraced digital innovations over the past 30 years or so, few people probably appreciate the enthusiasm with which the energy and resources sector have done so in that time. With infrastructure downtime costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour, and optimisations returning millions of dollars in bottom-line profit, ignoring digital trends is not an option for an...

Open discussion about mental health issues has lost a lot of the stigma it used to have in years gone by. But one aspect of mental health that we don’t hear a lot about is the impact on children growing up with parents struggling with mental health issues, diagnosed or otherwise. Luckily we have organisations such as Kookaburra Kids to cater for the needs of these children. I spoke to board chair...

Opera Queensland website: www.oq.com.au/ Patrick Nolan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrickjgnolan/ Richard Triggs LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs Arete Executive website: www.areteexecutive.com.au Richard's book on Amazon: areteexecutive.com.au/free-book/

While advances in technology should theoretically make things simpler, the reality is that it actually makes things more complex. Luckily though, we've got people like Phil Shipley who can make sense of out of complexity. Phil and his wife own two businesses, CompliantERP and Cerpass Software, specialising in IT and SAP security and compliance business management applications. While that may seem...

Few executives get through their career without having to tackle change management on multiple occasions, but few people thrive at it quite like my guest on the podcast this week, Barton Green. Barton is the current CEO of The Committee for Brisbane, a not-for-profit established in 1958 as the Brisbane Development Association, with a mandate to represent business in all matters relating to make Br...

What do you do when a promising professional sporting career with the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League is cut short by injury? For Thursday Island born, Jack Reis, it meant an unexpected diversion to studying business and finance, a diversion that ultimately led to him co-founding Baidam, a Cyber Security Consultancy in Brisbane, four years ago. Pivotal in Jack’s decision to start the...

How many people do you know who can be in the same job for 17 years and still feel like they are 'living the dream'? Mitchell Giles was the CEO of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation of Queensland (ADFQ), before it merged with the Gold Coast Drug Council in 2012 to become Lives Lived Well, and he's remained CEO since then. If compassion were a blood type you could be certain that Mitchell has it runni...

The mining and resources sector often gets a bad rap when it comes to environmental credentials, but what most people don't realise is that mining is actually critical for many of the emerging technologies that environmentalists are urging us to switch to. Glass for solar panels, for example, doesn't grow on trees. It relies on high-quality silica sands, such as those found at Cape Flattery in Far...

Yaron Lifschitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaron-lifschitz-73683056/#experience CIRCA Website: https://circa.org.au/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

Brad Welsh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-welsh-a880a449/ Energy Resources Australia Website: http://www.energyres.com.au/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Executive Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

IHG Hotels & Resorts Website: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/ Leanne Harwood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanne-harwood-0a89892a/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council Website: https://honeybee.org.au/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

Ben Strong LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-strong/ Ausenco Website: https://www.ausenco.com/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

Jared Hawkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-hawkins-02404b86/ ActivTec Website: https://www.activtec.com.au/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Executive Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

VET Development Centre Website: https://vdc.edu.au/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/

Cyrus Allen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrusallen/ CapFeather Website: https://www.capfeather.global/ Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Executive Website: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/

It’s always nice to speak to a business leader who understands the power of community. Jarrod Stephenson is the GM of CadMac: agricultural machinery specialists with branches in Southern Riverina and North East Victoria. He tells us how his company connects with the local agricultural community to (literally) keep the wheels turning, and how he has overseen change in the business to move its focus...

We speak to a truly inspirational guy on this episode. An inventor, business owner and thoroughly entertaining conversationalist, Alex Gransbury regales us with his personal journey from wannabe financier to world-renowned inventor, and how his company Dreamfarm took the kitchenware market by storm. In Alex’s words, Dreamfarm “takes problems in life that haven’t been solved… and we solve them”. Ba...

Tidal Solutions, founded by Natasha and Rob Collins in 2009, provides the Mining and Oil & Gas industries with complete maintenance solutions, including onshore, offshore, and isolated mine site support services. After seeing a gap in the market in the mining sector, Rob and Natasha thought that they could offer great service to their clients in mining maintenance, so they founded Tidal Solutions....

We’ve spoken to some high flyers in our time, but you’d be hard-pushed to find an executive who has hit the heights of Alan Sparks. What hasn’t this man done?!? In no particular order, he’s been the Senior Vice President of Philips Consumer Electronics across Asia Pacific/Middle East/Africa, he’s been the CEO of Cellnet and he’s been the President of Carrier Corporation. Not to mention a whole hos...

Michael is the Regional General Manager for Asia, Russia, and Australia for RPMGlobal (aka RPM). RPMGlobal (Runge Pincock Minarco) Holdings Limited operates as a holding company. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides mining software, enterprise mine management, planning, simulation, consulting, and training services. In this episode, Michael discusses his 12-year career path, which inclu...

In this episode of the Arete Executive Podcast, I talk to John Grant. John is the Executive Chairman at FirstWave Cloud Limited. FirstWave Cloud Limited is an Australian headquartered global cloud security technology company, providing unique telco orchestration platforms. The company develops and sells locally produced technology to a global SME market via an international network of partners. He...

It was great to hear from two big hitters in an industry that is thriving in uncertain times. John Wilton is the MD of Piping Speciality Supply Service (PSSS), providing equipment for sale and hire to the mining and infrastructure industries and CST Hire, a specialty truck hire business, while Nick Barnsdall is his investor. John has a great track record of product innovation and company growth, s...

Gavriel Schneider is the CEO of the Risk 2 Solution group, founder of Presilience & program director at ACU, chair, and member of the Global Advisory Committee at Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM), and a keynote speaker. Risk 2 Solution is a group of companies that focus on providing solutions in the Risk, Culture and Management, Safety, Security, Medical, Consulting, Intelligence, and...