Sydney Division has had a bumper year with many new initiatives and improvements rolled out. The pace of change in society is unrelenting and so too are the positive improvement initiatives within Engineers Australia.
Nationally we have improved our Governance arrangements, created a new College of Leadership and Management, established the National Engineering Register (NER), entered into a strategic partnership with Macquarie Bank, enhanced our national magazine (“create”) and improved our education offering. Engineers Australia has also established a chapter in the Middle East, supported our Sydney Division member and past National President Dr Marlene Kanga to be the incoming President of the “World Federation of Engineering Organisations”, established the “Transport Australia Society” and continued the rollout of enhanced information technology systems to serve our members more effectively.
Sydney Division recognises the very significant contribution Steve Finlay, our General Manager for many years, has made to the profession. We also welcome our new General Manager Greg Ewing who promises to continue to support members and effectively represent the organisation both internally and externally. Our increasing external engagement with government, industry, academia and the media will enable us to influence and constructively contribute to policy and debate in a positive way for the benefit of our society.
Sydney Division in 2015 has had a wonderful year of consolidation and growth. We have undertaken many activities to promote our role as the trusted voice of the profession. These included continued engagement with State Government, ongoing promotion of the profession through the Powerhouse Museum permanent exhibition of Engineering Excellence award entries, a very successful Engineering Week and Discover Engineering days at High Schools throughout the State. In addition events focusing on High School students featured prominently with both an Autumn and Summer school being held with activities focused on providing High School girls with an engineering experience. We have found these events are very effective in providing these students with an insight into our exciting profession and will encourage increasing numbers of girls to pursue a career in engineering.
Pleaese view 2014-2015 Sydney Division Review and Engineers Australia Annual Report for more details on our successful year. I encourage you all to share with others how engineers have contributed positively to our society and way of life.
For all our members, I wish you the very best for the Christmas and the holiday season. With Michael Myers as Sydney Division President, we can look forward to 2016 where Engineers Australia will continue to increase our value to members.
Bruce Howard FIEAust CPEng
Engineers Australia Sydney Division President 2015
Photo: Bruce Howard (right) welcoming Micheal Myers as the new Sydney Divison President for 2016 at the Annual Divison Meeting held on Monday 7 December.