EWB’s recent board elections and AGM have seen some changes to EWB’s board.
Firstly, we must thank two amazing contributors to EWB who are retiring from the board:
Gavin Blakey OAM has served for some eight years on EWB’s Board and has been Chair since 2016. Gavin has made an extraordinary contribution to EWB over this time, and has more recently taken a leave of absence, during which time he has been applying his engineering expertise to some of our projects on-the-ground. We thank Gavin for his incredible commitment to EWB – both on the board, and ongoing!
Peter McArdle has also been a board member for almost five years and has been a critical contributor in guiding EWB’s involvement in humanitarian response work as well as being a core part of EWB’s Reconciliation Working Group. Whilst retiring from the board, Peter will still remain close in supporting EWB – thank you Pete!
Secondly, we welcome two new members to the EWB board:
Rebecca Watts: Rebecca is no stranger to EWB and has been involved with EWB for over a decade. While at university, Rebecca participated in School Outreach, Design Summits in Cambodia and
completed her engineering thesis on rural electrification through appropriate technology with EWB. Rebecca began her career with a year-long field placement with EWB as Project Facilitator in Cambodia, which stemmed from her thesis and saw dozens of solar home systems installed in rural households, providing access to electricity. More recently, Rebecca was awarded the MECCA M-Power scholarship which aimed to increase the representation of women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in STEM. The project included a series of school outreach workshops in the Torres Strait, cross-cultural awareness training and the creation of an animation video which detailed the experience of a woman in a world that wasn’t designed for her. Rebecca’s corporate career has focussed on investment and business transactions across venture capital and
investment banking. From this, Rebecca has expertise in financial resourcing and cash flow management as well as business models and scaling up operations. Rebecca’s previous committee experience includes the Vice Curator WEF Global Shapers and committee member of Young Engineers Australia. Rebecca aims to contribute to the board by combining her long-term knowledge of EWB’s programs and philosophy with financial literacy and governance, while also bringing a sustainability mindset.
Abhishek Singh: Abhishek brings over 25 years’ experience of leading technology-enabled transformation programs in asset-intensive organisations operating is a highly regulated and safety critical environment. Abhishek has a track record of building organisational capability, realigning management of assets to service delivery outcomes, leading initiatives to transform the business, and enhancing people, process, and technology capabilities. Abhishek has made practical the concepts of digital transformation for organisations where it matters most, reinventing the way they delivery services and the impact they have on the planet. He is also a strong advocate of inclusion and diversity and has contributed immensely to shaping the culture of the organisations he has worked for. Abhishek has an Executive MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW) and a Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Delhi). He is also the Vice-Chair of Engineers Australia’s College of Leadership and Management committee (Qld).