The Good Drop with Hawkes and AD

Episode 016's guest is former engineer Phil Selmes - who Simon & AD worked alongside for many years on the Logan Water Alliance.  Phil has worked in the water industry for 25yrs, and has had roles in local government such as Sydney Water, Albert Shire Council, Gold Coast City and also as an engineering consultant (Parsons Brinckerhoff). But despite such an incredible engineering career, P...

In their first interview for 2023, Hawkes & AD start their year off by discussing a very important topic - Mental Health.   So, what's the reason behind discussing Mental Health.  Well, the last couple of years have been challenging, COVID-19, home-schooling, floods, fires, job security, rising interest rates, Ukraine etc, all of which have really impacted families and communities. &...

Our final guest on "The Good Drop with Hawkes & AD" for 2022 is Joseph (or Joe) Tam.  Joe is currently the Principal Supply Engineer for Seqwater where he leads the development of supply options and securing land to increase water supply certainty for South East Queensland. He also conducts high-level strategic planning for a possible augmentation. Joe’s has had an interesting career that...

In this episode, we sat down with Civil Engineer, Master of Wine (MW), and grandfather - Andrew Corrigan MW. Andrew has had an incredible engineering career, but in a way, it has been somewhat overshadowed by his incredible work in the wine industry, in particular his qualification as a Master of Wine.  It is important to acknowledge that MW is a rare qualification - there are currently 416 M...

In this episode, Hawkes and AD sit down for a conversation with Luisa Maria Panuccio who is a qualified Civil and Architectural Engineer who graduated from the University of Adelaide.  Luisa is now currently working in Melbourne as a Senior Project Manager with Arup.  Luisa has an Italian background, and like most Italians, she is passionate. In particular, passionate about promoting STE...

In this episode Hawkes & AD reflected on their first ten podcast episodes. After setting a goal when we commenced to complete 6 podcasts before the end of the year (2022), we have exceeded this, notching up the first 10 episodes several months ahead.  We both wanted to reflect back on the first ten episodes and consider our learnings, what some of the great takeaways were for each of us i...

Our interview guest for Episode 10 is a little different than our previous guests (as he is not an engineer nor is he involved in the water industry), but he is someone who really packs a punch and is incredibly motivating - that person is Noel Peters. Noel is 61yrs of age, lives in Hobart, is a bricklayer by day, and 6th Dan Karate instructor and Kyoshi (or Professor) by night.  For over 40...

Natalie (Nat) Muir is Cardno (now Stantec)'s General Manager for Water & Environment. Hawkes & AD sat down with Nat to get her take on things that are important to us all, such as how to eke out a Work / Life balance (is it ever?) and how to handle Leadership. We discussed some of these important aspects with Nat, including her personal journey in Water, how she manages the everyday juggle...

Dr Tom Connor is a retired Structural Engineer, former Vice President of Technology in KBR's Infrastructure and Minerals Unit, Former National President of the Institution of Engineers Australia (now Engineers Australia), Recipient of Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), 1999 Queensland Engineer of the Year, Recipient of the Peter Nicol Russell Medal (EA's highest award for technical contributi...

Sally Prosser is a Voice and Public Speaking Coach, a qualified speech and drama teacher, former TV news reporter, former media spokesperson and Host of 'That Voice' podcast (phew!).  Hawkes & AD had a conversation with Sally about some of the ideas that have probably haunted us all at some point in time - the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.  As engineers we've both exp...

This episode of The Good Drop is a conversation with Ian Cameron, a retired Civil Engineer with 34 years experience in the Water Industry. Hawkes & AD wanted to have this conversation with Ian largely because of the impact Ian has had on our individual water journeys, and to highlight Ian's amazing contribution back to the industry through his Mentoring and Volunteering work that he still cont...

Todd Battley is AECOM's Chief Strategy Officer and former Chief Executive Officer of AECOM's Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) region. This was somewhat of a reunion for AD and Todd, having been classmates at James Cook University in Townsville, which they both attended for their University studies - 25 years ago!  Hawkes & AD sat down for a conversation with Todd to learn a little bit more...

This interview is with Maddy English, who has a dual management role at KPMG in Sydney.  She is a Manager in the Engineering Assets and Project Delivery team, and a Divisional Environment, Social and Governance (ESG for short) Manager for Infrastructure. Maddy is an active member of AWA’s Young Professional committee in NSW who has championed the mentoring program and developed a Sustainabili...

In today’s episode , Hawkes and AD sit down with Climate Activist and Sustainability Champion – Steve Posselt. Steve’s water journey has been truly amazing.  He started his Civil Engineering career at Sydney Water before working in the UK and Libya. After returning to Australia, he made his mark establishing a successful penstock manufacturing company at Ipswich. Following that venture, at th...

Today we gain an insight into Anthony's background in Water, his passions and inspiration, and motivation for the The Good Drop. Hope you enjoy listening! I'd like to introduce to you my fellow co-host and good friend Anthony Domanti, aka AD. As AD has mentioned earlier, we've known each other going on 13 years, of which we spent about 11 1/2 working together on a long term project. For anyone who...

In today's episode AD interviews Hawkes one-on-one to get an understanding of what makes him tick.  It gives me great pleasure to introduce my co-host and good friend Simon Hawkes. I have known Hawkes for approximately 13yrs, and I can honestly say you won’t find a better man, and I am privileged to work with him on this podcast.  Simon comes from regional NSW - and is a qualified Enviro...