Sydney Chapter – Emerging Professionals Panel: Lessons from a Life in Asset Management

by | Sep 18, 2025 | Chapter News, YAMP News

Last night the Asset Management Council’s Sydney Chapter hosted an inspiring Emerging Professionals panel event, Lessons from a Life in Asset Management.

Panellists Maddison King (Asset Project Coordinator, Taronga Zoo), Sally Busch (Asset Strategy and Performance Lead, Ausgrid), and Gavin Cavanagh (Systems Engineering SME) shared their unique career journeys and the key lessons they’ve learned along the way.

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Sydney – Emerging Professionals Panel Event – Lessons from a Life in Asset Management

by | Sep 1, 2025

Join us for an exciting evening as we invite three panellists to share their unique career journeys in asset management.

At different points in their careers and with varying levels of experience, our speakers will offer diverse perspectives on the evolving challenges and opportunities within the industry. They will discuss career highlights, key lessons learned along the way, and top tips for emerging professionals in asset management.

This event is a great opportunity for both emerging professionals and seasoned practitioners to gain valuable insights and network with others in the industry. While this is an Emerging Professionals event, all practitioners are welcome to attend.

Our panellists include:

  • Maddison King, Asset Project Coordinator, Taronga Zoo
  • Sally Busch, Asset Strategy and Performance Lead, Ausgrid
  • Gavin Cavanagh, Systems Engineering SME

 

Click here to register

 

Maddison King graduated from UTS in 2020 with a Bachelor of Construction Project Management and a Diploma of Innovation. During her studies, she gained industry experience working with BHP on the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia before moving into a role as a Quality Engineer on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 tunnels project. Wanting to return to Sydney, Maddison joined John Holland as a Site Engineer, where she spent three years working on large-scale infrastructure projects including the Rozelle Interchange and the M7/M12 Integration Project. Recently, she transitioned to the client side by joining the Assets team at Taronga Zoo, where she manages projects under $2 million. This role provides a unique perspective compared with contractor-side delivery of multi-billion-dollar projects, requiring Maddison to carefully balance asset replacement and maintenance while prioritising safety, quality, cost, time, and the welfare of both guests and animals.

Sally Busch has extensive experience across the aviation, defence, and energy sectors, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to asset management. At Ausgrid, she shapes asset strategies that balance cost, risk and performance to guide decisions supporting a rapidly evolving electricity network. Her background includes technical leadership in asset strategy and performance, climate resilience, modelling, reliability, and strategic engineering support across the asset lifecycle.

Gavin Cavanagh has held a number of Systems Engineering positions at TfNSW, Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink over the past nine years, along with Asset Resilience roles more recently. Prior to the transport sector, Gavin worked in the defence and aerospace sector for 20 years in Australia, including 16 years as a uniformed Air Force Officer and four years in the defence industry, again in Systems Engineering and Life Cycle Management. His experience in Asset Resilience stems from his military background with the Defence-in-Depth approach and is an extension of his Systems Engineering knowledge and expertise. Gavin has a Master of Engineering (Systems Engineering) and is currently undertaking a PhD, researching the application of Systems Engineering to transport projects in NSW.

 

Perth – Smart Assets, Smarter Careers: AI Insights for Emerging Professionals

by | Aug 26, 2025

This event is designed to give young students and emerging professionals a clear understanding of our profession while exploring how Artificial Intelligence is shaping asset management. Open to all students across engineering and STEM disciplines – with special value for those nearing graduation – it’s an opportunity to connect, learn, and build your career pathway.

This event is now full. Please email accounts@amcouncil.com.au to go on the waiting list.

Agenda Highlights

Welcome and Introduction

Adam Rotapel, AMCouncil Perth Chapter Chair

Lessons Learnt in Asset Management over a 35 year career - Mark Mackenzie

Mark will present a number of aspects of engineering and particularly asset management that will help improve your professional standing. These tips and trips will be illustrated with examples from his experience.

Industrial AI for Asset Management – Dr Yvonne Power, Director, IMPower Technologies

This presentation will outline how organisations can create a more human-centred, sustainable, and resilient future for industrial asset management with Generative Artificial Intelligence at the core of maintenance and asset management. The presentation will also discuss how incorporating new skillsets, such as prompt engineering into the daily operational workflows of reliability engineers and maintenance planners increases productivity and enables improved asset management and maintenance decision-making. Key learning outcomes: What is industry 5.0 and what does it mean for maintenance & asset management? How can advanced technologies including generative AI be used to improve maintenance & asset management. What skills do I need to stay ensure I remain relevant given the fast pace of development of AI?

Speed Networking Session

Facilitated by Roy Choudhury.

AI in Logistics & Supply Chain – Dr S Zaung Nau, Lecturer, Curtin University

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept—it is actively transforming supply chains into smarter, more resilient, and sustainable networks. This presentation will explore cutting-edge AI applications in supply chain management, from predictive demand forecasting and inventory optimization to smart asset maintenance, logistics planning, and supplier risk monitoring. We will also discuss the role of AI in enabling sustainable supply chains and how generative AI is reshaping decision-making and scenario planning. For emerging professionals, understanding these technologies is not only essential for career readiness but also for driving innovation in a rapidly evolving global economy. By linking smart asset management with AI-enabled supply chain practices, this session will highlight both the opportunities and challenges in harnessing AI for a smarter, greener, and more resilient future.

AI & Machine Learning Strategy – Sarada Lee, Co-Founder, Perth Machine Learning Group

Let’s welcome your newest office teammate—your agentic AI colleague who never drinks coffee but sometimes like hallucinates in the conversation. In this fun yet insightful evening session, we’ll get a sneak-peek at what it’s like working side-by-side with an AI. We’ll share the highlights, the head-scratchers, and the surprising insights—plus, not too-distant future of AI in asset management.

Closing Remarks

Karina MacHado, AMCouncil Perth Chapter Vice Chair

Don’t miss this chance to hear from experts, network with peers, and explore how smart technologies are opening smarter career pathways in asset management.  

Mark is a highly qualified and experienced engineer with over thirty five years’ experience in maintenance, reliability and asset management. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Engineer and a Certified Fellow of Asset Management who is also a Fellow of Engineers Australia and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia. Mark has worked extensively in Australia and overseas in a variety of roles and industries. He has worked in multinational companies, as well as specialist consulting companies where his technical and leadership advice is keenly sought and received. He is an experienced facilitator and a sought-after speaker who regularly presents technical papers and tutorials at national and international conferences. He also delivers university lectures to undergraduates and post graduates and provides training on behalf of the Asset Management Council of Australia.
With over twenty years’ experience in pioneering advanced solutions within the energy and natural resources sector, Yvonne is dedicated to integrating intelligent systems into industrial operations to improve safety, compliance, efficiency, and operational practices. Her interest in these technologies began during her PhD, where she applied intelligent agents to optimise and manage a minerals processing operation with minimal human intervention. Since then, Yvonne has successfully delivered innovative solutions to major resource companies globally, holding senior roles in mining and technology firms and working through IMPOWER TECHNOLOGIES®, a company she founded in 2009. As of April 2025, she also serves as a non-executive director on the Asset Management Council of Australia Board.
Dr. S Zaung Nau is a Senior Lecturer in Project and Supply Chain Management at Curtin University, where she leads teaching and research in sustainable supply chains, project management, and the integration of emerging technologies. With a background in IT and a PhD in public transport demand modelling, she combines technical expertise with industry engagement to prepare students for the evolving world of work. Her work focuses on applied learning and authentic industry projects, enabling students to gain hands-on experience in areas such as data analytics, optimization, and simulation. Dr. Nau is actively involved in research on supply chain resilience, AI applications in logistics, and traffic flow efficiency, with a strong interest in industry collaboration and community engagement. Dr. Nau is passionate about equipping the next generation of professionals with the skills to thrive in a rapidly changing environment where sustainability, digital transformation, and AI are shaping the future of supply chain management.
Sarada Lee is a leading AI/ML specialist with over eight years of experience in deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision, driving strategic innovation. As Co-Founder of the 3.4K member Perth Machine Learning Group, she mentors global talent and advances ethical AI through governance training. Her experience ranges from multinationals, utilities, public health, biotech and finance and accounting, including deployment of AI in critical infrastructure. With a Master’s in Professional Accounting and board experience at The King’s College, Sarada bridges AI and business strategy. A WiTWA Tech [+] Award winner, she speaks to accounting bodies, academia, and tech communities, inspiring AI-driven transformation.