With us today on Episode 036 was a good friend of ours, and a good friend of many in the water industry, the one and only Dr Purvi Midwinter.
For those that don’t know Purvi, she has a PhD in organic chemistry and has worked all across the globe. She is currently working a Business Development Manager at Hach - But she has several other identities such as a the most energetic and passionate Water Professional Advocate on the planet, as well as being a brilliant Storyteller and writer. In her own words, she describes her journey as “it isn’t a straight line it’s a mosaic of science, movement, resilience, and reinvention.”
With that poetry, we knew it was going to result in a wonderful hour of conversation.
Enjoy the interview!!
Hawkes & AD
So after many months away from the Podcast recording studio, we kick off 2025 with a wonderful guest.
Episode 035 is with Brad Tite – who is a civil engineer with over 35 years’ experience in water engineering design/construction and in water resource management. AD used to work with Brad when he first joined Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP). Brad has worked on a wide range of drainage related projects including large scale road/rail infrastructure projects. He has also extensive experience with environmental impact assessments, flood levees, hazardous dams, mining infrastructure, floodplain management, water sensitive urban design and residential subdivisions.
Some of his career highlights include being responsible for drainage design associated with the Toowoomba Second Range Road Crossing Project and the Adelaide Metro Rail Revitalisation Project.
Brad is now semi-retired, as Brad's life took a major U-turn in June 2021, when he suffered a cardiac arrest at a train station and almost died. Since this 2021 event, Brad has embarked on a journey of change and rebuild, which will inspire.
Hope you enjoy his interview - it's fantastic.....
Hawkes & AD
In this episode, the Good Drop Podcast team continue to promote a theme of water quality. And with us today was Cameron Jackson who is the Principal Environmental Scientist in the Futures Servicing Team at Urban Utilities in Brisbane.
Cameron has a passion for science and in 1990 he graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in Environmental Chemistry.
AD has known Cameron Jackson for over 26 years, and this was a great opportunity for them both to reconnect. Since that initial meeting however their paths haven’t crossed too many times, but it did recently in October, when Cameron took over the reign as Australian Water Association’s Qld “Water Professional of the Year”.
We were so privileged to have Cameron join us and talk about his amazing career and accomplishments.
Enjoy his interview!!
Hawkes & AD
On Episode 033 of The Good Drop with Hawkes & AD - was Dr Stuart Khan, Professor and Head of School Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney.
Stuart is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at UNSW, and a Hans Fischer Fellow at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. He’s published over 200 peer reviewed journal articles on issues relating to water quality treatment, including drinking water, wastewater, water recycling and desalination, among other integral aspects of water use.
Stuart’s interest in Urban water management, water quality and treatment has led to research in many deeply important topics relating to water use and reuse, including a focus on the use of Purified Recycled Water as an alternative drinking water source and the rising issue of contaminants of concern, such as PFAS.
We had a great conversation that covered Stuart's incredible water journey and learnt so much from him especially about the current issue of dealing with emerging contaminants in our drinking water supplies.
We were really honoured that Stuart had some time to chat with us.
Enjoy his conversation - it's a beauty.
Hawkes & AD.......
This week, we had an insightful chat with Dr Stacey Hamilton CF about her journey down the #PRW river.
Stacey is the Team Leader in the Treatment Performance and Review division at Water Corporation from Perth in Western Australia. Stacey has a PhD in Chemistry from Curtin University, and has been working as a scientist in the water industry for over 15yrs.
She has spent many years as a cornerstone of #WaterCorporation's approach to ensuring the future resilience of Perth's water supply. In this interview, we covered off on some of the common myths raised by the general public, the #Yuckfactor and other common misconceptions around the use of a well-established approach to water source augmentation. We hope you enjoy this episode.
Hawkes & AD
On Episode 031 - we spoke with award winning Brisbane based personal, editorial and campaign stylist – Kerrie Carucci.
Kerrie is passionate about helping both men and women to elevate their personal brand and to unlock their best version.
Through this passion, Kerrie has established herself as a trusted advisor to clients, businesses, and brands across SEQ and Australia-wide. With a keen eye for fit, fabric, and sustainability, honed through countless interactions with individuals from all walks of life, Kerrie approaches each project with a blend of expertise and empathy.
Some of her clients include esteemed brands such as Country Road, Veronika Maine, Bupa, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Michael Hill, Cue, Forever New, Serafina, and the Brisbane Racing Club.
However, prior to her self proclaimed “leap of faith” into the styling industry, Kerrie had a 12yr career in the civil engineering industry, where she worked for several engineering consultancies gathering skills in water, roads and highways, residential, and mining.
We had a wonderful conversation where we talked about her amazing career - and it was so great to learn some practical pearls of stylist wisdom that we could easily implement into our lives and help us continually improve.
Enjoy the interview !!
Hawkes & AD
In Episode 030 - we were fortunate to talk with author, speaker, and content writer Patrick Skene. In addition to these roles, Patrick likes to refer to himself as a Chief Creative Officer, Curious Optimist, and Story Teller.
For those that are avid LinkedIn users, you probably have seen the stories that Patrick tells. Every morning, without fail, Patrick puts up a post, often focussing on his passion for sport, and his love of show-casing the best that multi-culturalism has to offer.
His stories are not just limited to LinkedIn. His work has appeared in many media organisations such as The Guardian Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian Financial Review & The Australian. But wait there is more, Patrick has also authored two books. A best-seller entitled “The Big O – the Life and Times of Olsen Filipaina” and another called “Celestial Footy - the story of Chinese heritage Aussie Rules”.
It was great to hear about this man’s career, and dig deeper into what makes him tick, and most importantly understand about his passion for story-telling and multi-culturalism.
Enjoy the episode !
Hawkes & AD
In Episode 029 of The Good Drop - A Water Industry Flavoured Podcast, we interviewed Rob Welke who is the Managing Director of “Water Pumping Institute” which is an international body committed to education in sustainable pumping for water pipeline systems.
Rob is a true inspiration. At 76yrs young, he has racked up over 5 decades of experience, more than both of us combined - simply amazing.
In our conversation, we discuss Rob's passion for energy efficiency and sustainability, and talk about his training program which is the conduit for sharing his knowledge.
Rob is also a mad keen motorbike enthusiast - and we hear about how this love has played a massive part in shaping his water engineering journey.
Definitely a true gentleman and an inspiration for us to learn from.
Enjoy the episode !!
Hawkes & AD
Episode 028 is with Felicity Furey – who is generating a real impact on the careers of many. She is an award-winning business leader, engineer and entrepreneur, who has made a career out of making the ‘impossible’, possible.
Felicity has led multi-million dollar engineering projects across Australia, founded several successful businesses including WeAspire and Power of Engineering and secured partnerships with the likes of Qantas, Toyota and Energy Australia to bring her vision to life.
Felicity is on a mission to transform leadership and foster intergenerational collaboration. As the co-founder and CEO of WeAspire she’s aiming to train 1 million emerging leaders to ‘do the impossible’ and become professional, diverse and global leaders by 2030. Felicity helps find hidden leadership talent, mentors high-performing teams and equips current and emerging leaders across every industry with the skills they need to make an impact and drive meaningful change.
Some other of her amazing accolades, by age 26, Felicity was named one of AFR’s 100 Women of Influence and Boss Magazine’s Young Executive of The Year.
Felicity is also a host of the podcast called “Promoted” which is the definitive podcast for ambitious professionals ready to ascend the corporate ladder, And just to wrap up, she is also undertaking a PhD in emerging leadership.
Hope you enjoy here interview !!
Hawkes & AD
In Episode 027, we spoke with Mark Trembath who is a Corporate Partnerships Manager for Water Aid Australia.
For those that don’t know much about WaterAid, Well WaterAid is an international Not for Profit Non Government Organisation who provides water, sanitation and hygiene to the world’s most impoverished and marginalised communities.
Mark has had a wonderful career, particularly in Business Development and Sales. He has also been heavily involved in several industry associations, such as Australian Water Association, where he is former Qld committee member, and former NSW Branch president. He has also been active with the Qld Water, Directorate, Water Industry Operators Association, Water NZ, and many many more.
It was great to learn more about Mark's incredible career and his dedication and love of giving back to the water industry.
Enjoy the interview.
Hawkes and AD
In our first episode for 2024, we kick start the year off by interviewing the 2023 Australian Water Association's (QLD) Young Water Professional (YWP) of the Year - Amber Craig.
Amber is a Senior Project Officer & Hydro-climate analyst at the Murray Darling Basin Authority.
From her interview you will see that she is an extremely passionate and enthusiastic Water Professional, who is deeply involved in extracurricular activities, giving back to the industry through her involvement with Homeward Bound, an international leadership program focusing on the development of women in STEM and working together for a more sustainable and equitable world. She also carries on her passion from her Earth Science, majoring in Geology background as a ‘digger’ with Dinosaur Dreaming, in conjunction with the Melbourne Museum and Monash University.
It was Amber's first ever podcast, but you would never know - she did a wonderful job. She definitely has a wonderful and extremely bright future in front of her.
It was a pleasure to hear about her journey and career.
Enjoy !!!
Hawkes & AD
To finish off the 2023 year, The Good Drop Podcast goes international.
In this episode, AD goes solo (due to his partner-in-crime Simon Hawkes being unable to make it due to a last minute personal commitment) in interviewing Rolf Schweizer, who is the Chief Executive Officer for The Hidrostal Group which is a leading global manufacturer of centrifugal pumps.
Rolf dialled in from Neunkirch, Switzerland. Please try not to laugh at AD's attempt at pronouncing Neunkirch.
AD first met Rolf earlier this year, and he tells the story of how a little, or should we say a big piece of chocolate was the catalyst for this interview occurring.
Hope you all enjoy listening to Rolf who talks about his interesting career journey, and shares some wonderful words of wisdom about leadership and strategy!!
Hawkes & AD
In Episode 024 - we interview a Man of Steel, no not Superman, but a man who has spent his career moulding steel across a variety of industries.
Our guest is Bruce Gawler – Bruce is a mechanical engineer with almost forty years experience. For the last 30yrs, Bruce has worked in steel pipe manufacturing and has had employment with Tubemakers of Australia, Tyco Water, Pentair and now Steel Mains. For the last 14 years, he has been the Engineering Services Manager at Steel Mains where he Oversees a team of Mechanical Engineers and Draftsman responsible for customer product drawings, production plant design, tooling, production support and technical product customer support. He is truly the Godfather of Steel Pipe Manufacturing in Australia.
What makes Bruce special is simple. He cares and is passionate about what he does, plus he is willing to help and share knowledge.
We covered a wide range of topics, such as Bruce's wide career (we are not going to say anymore), his pipe making journey, as well as touching on the importance of Faith - which is an essential part of who Bruce is.
Sit back and enjoy the episode - it's a beauty !!
Hawkes & AD.
We know it’s very much out of left field, and a real change of pace from our normal engineering or water flavoured focus, but with footy grand finals for AFL and NRL coming up, The Good Drop podcast wanted to delve into the world of sport, specifically, Strategy in sport.
But before we go further, firstly our apologies that this episode has been issued a little later than usual due to extenuating circumstances – but its fitting that this episode (our 23rd) pays homage to the importance of the number 23 in sport, most famously worn by Michael Jordan as well as the great cricketing icon in Shane Warne.
Our Guest today was Strategic Consultant and CEO of Strategem Holdings, Andrew Larratt. Stratagem Holdings has worked with a diverse client base, with many sporting and non-sporting organisations to develop and implement a winning strategy, and transform teams and organisations to maximise their potential.
Andrew has provided advice to large sporting organisations such as Athletics Australia, the Australian Sports Commission, Rugby Australia and Cricket Australia, and has built a career on understanding an organisation’s needs and a path to success.
Our crossing paths with Andrew was, as interesting encounters sometimes are, by pure chance – a serendipitous moment. During AWA’s OzWater conference in Sydney this year, we took time out for dinner to discuss the Good Drop podcast and its future plans for guests.
Our discussion points with Andrew were wide reaching. Some of the key issues we discussed was about how he goes about helping sporting organisations be more creative, how he drives change, both of which are aimed at achieving a different future. We also touched on how to measure success, and how to overcome the diversity issue in elite sports.
Andrew was an incredible communicator, a big picture thinker – and this resulted in a wonderful conversation.
Enjoy his story and be inspired by his genuine, down to earth words of wisdom.
Hawkes & AD…
In this episode, we spoke with Process Engineer and the current Australian Water Association’s (AWA) 2022 South Australian Young Water Professional of the Year – Loreline Kerlidou.
Loreline was born in France, just outside of Paris, and has been living and working in Adelaide for over 10 years. She is currently working for the environmental, engineering and strategic consulting company - Ricardo plc.
Loreline’s been involved in managing pilot plant operations to assess process innovations, developed industry guidelines for the water utility sector and reviewed the performance and compliance of water assets for municipal and mining water providers all throughout Australia.
Loreline is extremely passionate about giving back to the water industry. She has been (and still is) involved in the AWA SA Young Water Professional committee for over 7 years, and was the former Chair of the committee for 2 years. She was also a dedicated member and the former Vice Chair of the WaterAid SA Committee, who has been committed to raising awareness to enable the world's poorest people to gain access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
It was great to talk with her about her early years and career journey, the importance of promoting Women in Engineering, as well as getting her opinions on the implementation of using gender equality key-performance indicators (KPI’s) to achieve a diverse and inclusive work environment.
Hope you enjoy the interview!!
Hawkes & AD
Richard Savage currently works for Aurecon as a Director in their Environment and Planning Section (Brisbane).
Richard is well admired and a true gentlemen in the water industry. AD first came across Richard during his time sitting on the AWA Qld Branch Committee.
Richard served on the branch committee for almost a decade – which is a wonderful feat. And as a result of all his great industry involvement and activities, he obtained the Qld AWA Water Professional of the year ward in 2018.
We discussed his early years growing up in South Africa, his career journey, and his passion for committing to providing a safer, more sustainable and enjoyable world. It was really a great chat - we learnt so much about this wonderful individual.
Enjoy the interview !!
Hawkes & AD
In this 20th edition of The Good Drop Podcast, Hawkes & AD had the great pleasure of speaking with the Immediate Past President of the Australian Water Association - Louise Dudley.
For 10yrs (between 2012 and 2022), Louise was also the Chief Executive Officer for Urban Utilities, Qld’s largest water utility service provider which services over 1.4 million people in South East Queensland.
She is also a member of Chief Executive Women and her contribution to the engineering profession was acknowledged with the Engineering Executive title, conferred by Engineers Australia in 2021. She is also a director on the boards of WaterAID Australia and WaterStart.
We had a wide ranging conversation discussing the topic of change - her recent movement out of her role as CEO of Urban Utilities, change within industry, change as a leader.
Louise gave us an interesting insight into new technologies she has been exposed to in her role as Board Member of the non-profit organisation Waterstart, which provides funding to new water industry technology startups
It was also great to hear her perspective on some key water issues being faced by the industry.
Enjoy the episode!!
Hawkes & AD
In Episode 019 of The Good Drop Podcast, Hawkes & AD sat down with Marlon Pritchard who works for Downer Group in Brisbane. Marlon is also the Commissioning Lead on the Logan Water Partnership.
Marlon's skill-set is amazing. He brings so much to the table - he is literally like a Swiss pocket knife, multiple functions in one, i.e. design input skills, construction know-how and the best commissioning operator who is respected by all who work with him.
Marlon has been heavily involved in the commissioning of Logan Water's Biosolids Gasification Facility project, which picked up the National Innovation & Excellence Metro Award at the Australian Water Association's (AWA) Ozwater Conference held in Sydney earlier this month.
We hope you enjoy listening to his amazing story, and be inspired by his problem solving and his desire to help people in need.
In Episode 018 of “The Good Drop Podcast”, Hawkes and AD discuss the C word - Confidence. How do you build it? Can it be learned? But also importantly how do you avoid that demon of self-doubt that can easily eat away at your confidence level?
The guest on the podcast is Tracey Leslie. Now, Tracey is a former Civil Engineer who has recently pursued a path as a Life Coach. She spent a career spanning over 20 years within the engineering sector in Water, before recently deciding that helping others was her calling. She is passionate in this pursuit, and is attuned with helping others find their full potential.
AD first met Tracy in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2010, when he presented at New Zealand’s National Water Conference. How time has gone by so fast. Now as fate would have it, Tracey ended up working with both Simon and AD for a couple of years at Logan Water, before she decided to move South to Melbourne, where she now resides.
Simon and AD were so excited to learn about her career transformation and picked up some pearls of wisdom from her on how to become more resilient and confident.
Hope you enjoy the episode !!!
Our guest is Civil Engineer, and now retired former Technical Director at Aurecon - Rob Ayre.
Rob has worked in flood hydrology for the entirety of his career (almost 40yrs) and has worked in public and private Sectors. He has been responsible for directing the flood operations (during his tenure with Sunwater) of Ross River Dam, Scrivener Dam, North Pine Dam, Somerset Dam and Wivenhoe Dam all of which are gated dams. Throughout his career, Rob has been involved in the operation of over 60 flood events.
Now, one of the big topics, that we discussed with Rob today is the January 2011 flood event (where Rob was part of the team that controlled the operation of dam releases), and the subsequent flood inquiry.
As you can imagine, there was lots to unpack and talk about.
We hope you enjoy Episode 017 as much as we did.
Hawkes & AD
