Invited Guest Speakers 

Day 1 – Health and safety – Mental Health and Wellbeing

Wayne Schwass will provide a keynote address outlining how normalising mental health and acknowledging emotional wellbeing have become paramount in today’s fast paced world. Wayne will also outline how having these difficult conversations can and do positively change lives, and in some situations, these conversations have saved lives.

Wayne Schwass  – After a celebrated 14-year AFL playing career,Wayne Schwass went on to establish himself as a respected sports media broadcaster a position he held until 2019.In addition to his work in the AFL industry, Wayne has become a wellbeing champion since first talking about his own mental health experiences in 2006. He has taken on several important roles in the community including being the lead witness in the 2019 Royal Commission into the Victorian Mental Health System, serving as a panel member for the review of the Victorian Mental Health Act 1986 as well as being a leading voice for mental health and emotional wellbeing. His personal experiences with mental health conditions throughout the majority of his sporting career combined with his passion to help others, led Wayne to create the Sunrise Foundation, a Not-for-Profit organisation that delivered preventative education programs to more than 5,000 secondary school students between 2006 and 2010. The Sunrise Foundation laid the foundations for PukaUp, an organisation Wayne founded in 2017. PukaUp is a social enterprise passionately committed to normalisingmental health and emotional wellbeing and giving people the opportunity to start their own wellbeing journey’s. The PukaUp vision is to end suicide and its mission is to create the environments that allow every person to have authentic and genuine conversations about mental health and emotional wellbeing. For the past 16 years, Wayne has delivered his entertaining, engaging and inspiring presentations to more than 800 organisations, businesses and community groups across the country. Wayne’s powerful story-telling ability, humour, authenticity and vulnerability coupled with his practical and relatable delivery, allows him to consistently connect with and inspire audiences to take action. Wayne’s passion is both obvious and infectious. His ability to engage audiences from all walks of life and experiences combined with his unique story-telling ability is the reason why he is regarded as one of the country’s best mental health advocates. These, engaging and inspiring presentations continue to have an incredibly powerful and positive impact on audiences and these conversations have been lifechanging and in some cases life saving for many people. Wayne’s goal is to keep people healthy, empowering participants to take ownership of their mental health and start their wellbeing journey. The aim of these presentations, is to give people the environments and safe space to be able to talk openly and honestly about mental health, help audiences understand and start to develop the language and confidence to begin having their own conversations about wellbeing and to walk away with a range of practical strategies, techniques and tools that allow participants to looking after their mental health.

Gaylon Baumgardner (President, IBEF ) will provide an overview of international experience to improve the sustainability and safety of spray sealing operations.

Gaylon L. Baumgardner – Executive Vice President, Paragon Technical Services, Inc./Technical Operations and Development, Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions, Inc., More than thirty-five plus (35) years experience in petroleum and petroleum related products, including asphalt related products and systems. Dr. Baumgardner holds a BS in Chemistry and PhD in Civil Engineering. He currently serves as Chair of the organizing committee for the International Symposium of Asphalt Emulsion Technology (ISAET) for the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturer’s Association (AEMA)/International Bitumen Emulsion Federation (IBEF). Dr. Baumgardner represents AEMA for the IBEF, serving as president of the IBEF Board of Directors and the IBEF Executive Committee.

Domenic Palumbo (Director Term Contracts, MRWA) – Engineer, with 34 year’s experience in the road building industry. Engineer, MBA, commercial law, management, project management and accounting tertiary qualifications. Historically, a specialist in urban signalised intersection reconstruction. Project managed numerous projects for a variety of road/highway improvements or reconstruction. Formerly, the director that headed up regional operations in the Perth Metropolitan Region. Currently lead a team of 15 that oversee the eight WA Regions of Main Roads, from a strategic perspective, particularly in providing maintenance and panel period contracts for the delivery of ongoing consultancy, maintenance and construction services. Planned maintenance project work (excluding routine maintenance) and construction services (other than large scale projects managed separately by others) total some $1.1billion in 2021/22.His presentation will discuss the Be Bitumen Safe card and the benefits as seen by Main Roads.

Day 2 – Sustainability & Circular Economy – Embedding sustainability in the procurement of roads

Dr Heather Dylla will provide a keynote address under the general keynote theme of “Embedding sustainability in the procurement of roads”.Based on the FHWA activities Heather will share the FHWA’s Sustainable Pavements Program with a particular focus on embedding circular economy principles in the tools and support material provided through the Administration for use in procurement of highways.

Dr. Heather Dylla (Sustainable Pavement Engineer, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA))  is a Sustainable Pavement Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, where she manages the FHWA Sustainable Pavements Program and the Pavement Policy. In this role, she is leading an effort to incorporate principles of life cycle thinking into the design and decision-making process that include the three pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social impacts. Prior to joining FHWA, Heather was the Director of Sustainable Engineering for the National Asphalt Pavement Association where she managed programs that assisted producers, contractors, and designers in improving the sustainability of pavement construction. In this role, she led an industry effort to develop an Environmental Product Declarations Program for asphalt mixtures.
Heather obtained her doctorate from the Louisiana State University where she focused on quantifying the environmental impacts of photocatalytic concrete pavements.

Mike Southern (Senior Technical Advisor, Eurobitume) is a chemistry graduate of the Royal Holloway College, London University, who has dedicated over 30 years to the technical support of bitumen and its downstream products.
Following seven years with Colas Roads, working on polymer modified binder rheology, emulsion development and ISO 9000 Quality Assurance Systems, Mike joined Shell Bitumen UK as Senior Development Engineer. Here, he provided technical support for the UK bitumen business, binder quality and R&D project management.
In 1994, he moved over to the Bitumen Marketing Division at Shell International Oil Products, where for over nine years his main responsibilities included manufacturing liaison, R&D project management and product HSE support. During this time he also chaired the Eurobitume HSE Committee.
Mike joined Eurobitume as Technical Director in 2005 and he is now the Senior Technical Advisor. His main focus is on Technical and HSE, and among other activities he acts as Secretary of the HSE Committee and is a member of the Technical Committee.

Joseph Shacat (Director, Sustainable Pavements) serves as the director of Sustainable Pavements, NAPA’s Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program for asphalt mixtures and also directs research projects related to asphalt pavement sustainability and resilience, educates the asphalt industry about sustainability and how to incorporate it into their organizations, and works with external stakeholders such as government agencies and green rating systems.
Prior to joining NAPA, Joseph worked for a vertically integrated construction materials and paving firm for nearly 10 years as their environmental compliance manager. In a previous position as an environmental consultant, he managed diesel emission reduction grants for construction equipment and municipal fleets and developed environmental management systems for industrial facilities. He is the past chair of the Hawaii Environmental Council and has served on the board of several nonprofit organizations.

Evert Schut (Senior Advisor, Rijkswaterstaat) – Ever since studying biology in the 1970’s he has been fascinated by circularity in nature and the lack of it in society. In his working life he was involved in many ways in changing the linear economy to a more circular one. He did so in different settings, pioneering in the separate collection of waste streams, representing the recycling industry, and the last 18 years working for the Dutch government agency Rijkswaterstaat. Rijkswaterstaat is the largest contracting agency in the Dutch construction sector responsible for the national roads and waterways, as well as national water security. He is the leading expert of the Rijkswaterstaat ‘Impulse program circular economy in the Infra sector. From this capacity, He participate in several national and international commissions on circular construction, including ISO TC 323 and CEN TC 350/ Sc1.

Tony Aloisio (Director, Ecologiq) is an infrastructure industry leader and passionate advocate for a purposefully greener future. He leads a dynamic team that aims to optimise the use of recycled and reused materials on Victorian transport projects, change the approach to technical standards and specifications and build market capacity and capability.
Before joining Ecologiq, Tony held senior roles at Fulton Hogan Australia and Boral Asphalt. Tony completed the University of Cambridge’s sustainability leadership program in 2018.
His presentation will cover the Victorian Government’s Recycled First Policy which is turning waste into vital resources for our state’s biggest road and rail projects, as it requires contractors to optimise their use of reused and recycled materials.
The policy is driving a significant and ongoing increase in the use of recyclables, assisted by the Ecologiq program’s efforts to help Victoria innovate, grow its domestic recycling capabilities and build local markets.

Ainsley Simpson (Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Sustainability Council) – As CEO of Infrastructure Sustainability Council, Ainsley fosters partnerships to advance sustainability; enabling industry to deliver infrastructure for our all communities.
She has worked in an executive level at ASX listed organisations, with operational roles in the public sector. Her journey with ISCA has included the deployment and continuous development of IS Rating Scheme, as well as actively investing in building capacity in the ANZ infrastructure industry.
Prior to migrating to Australia, she actively participated in multi-scale housing and civil infrastructure projects in Southern Africa. Project involvement spans environmental assessment and management for transport infrastructure as well as utilities, including transmission assets, water networks, waste facilities and telecommunications. With a keen interest in building capacity and accelerating approvals processes, she specialised in the development of local and state government decision-support tools for sustainable planning and management.
Ainsley has academic credentials in business management and environmental science. Ainsley will give us an update on the Infrastructure Sustainability Council

Brook Hall (Principal Transport Economist, ARRB) – Brook is the Principal Transport Economist within in the Sustainability and Resilience Team at ARRB, an Infrastructure Sustainability Accredited Professional (ISAP) with ISCA and Australia’s representative on the World Road Association’s (PIARC’s) Environmental Sustainability in Road Infrastructure and Transport Technical Committee.
Across senior roles at the ARRB, the National Transport Commission (NTC), and in the Victorian government, Brook has led and delivered:

• Applied economic modelling and research analysis, including pavement lifecycle assessment, value creation and capture, valuing non-market transport impacts, working with economists, engineers and sustainability professionals
• Economic and strategic policy advice on national regulatory reforms, including road pricing and automated vehicle safety
• Governance and performance monitoring systems, including the Victorian Governments’ response to the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, reform policy development best practice guidelines and performance auditing of transport infrastructure procurement and operations.
  Brook is passionate about environmental sustainability and delivering outcomes that maximise public benefits.

His presentation will provide an overview of the sustainability assessment tool – a new lifecycle assessment tool designed specifically for the agencies and the pavement industry. The SAT calculates lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and other environmental impacts and lifecycle cost benefits of innovative road pavements designs and rehabilitation treatments. A key focus of the new tool is to enable the emissions quantification of pavements using innovative materials (i.e. recycled), innovative designs (e.g. crumb rubber asphalt), and innovative processes (e.g. warm-mixes and in-situ stabilisation).

Marta Yugo (Science Executive- Economics and Modelling, Concawe) – Marta Yugo is the Concawe Science Executive for Economics & Modelling in the fields of CO2 and Energy. Her responsibilities include to provide governance and supervision of Concawe’s activities in assessing the economic and GHG emissions impact of emerging technologies, roadmaps and legislation affecting the EU refining sector, the vehicle fleet and the low-carbon economy.

Marta has over 10 years of experience in the Oil&Gas industry. First involved in R&D activities within the REPSOL Technology Center aiming to improve efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions at refinery level and then as a senior Energy and Carbon Analyst at corporate level. She joined Concawe in 2017 and as part of her current role, she is actively involved in the Well-To-Wheels and Alternative Fuels analysis within the JEC consortium (JRC, EUCAR and Concawe) and leads the new Low Carbon Pathways bridging project within Concawe exploring the concept of the Refinery 2050.

Marta’s holds a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering specialized in environment for the Complutense University of Madrid and a MSc degree in Refining, Gas and Marketing.

Day 3 – Maximising performance and durability

Dr Randy West (Director, National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT)) – Randy is the Director of the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University. He has worked as a pavement engineer for over 30 years, including the last 17 years at NCAT. Prior to NCAT, he led the technical services department of a major highway contractor and as a research engineer for a state department of transportation.

Ross Guppy (Program Manager, Austroads)  – Ross has over 35 years’ experience in the road and transport infrastructure sector, including 28 years with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. Ross currently chairs five Austroads Task Forces covering asset management and the more specific technical disciplines of bridges, tunnels, pavements, and project delivery.

Prof. Filippo Giustozzi (Associate Professor, RMIT University) – Associate Professor Giustozzi is an expert in road and airport pavement materials. He completed his second PhD at Virginia Tech University (USA) and is now the Chair of the Technical Committee on Sustainable and Resilient Pavements at the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in the US. He has participated in several major road and airport construction projects as a consultant since 2008. Dr. Giustozzi is the Lead Investigator for the national Austroads project APT6305 on Road-grade recycled plastics for sustainable asphalt pavements, approved by the Transport and Infrastructure Council that brings together Commonwealth, State, Territory and New Zealand Ministers. He also collaborates with the Australian Flexible Pavements Association on crumb rubber projects and with several national and international road contractors and bitumen suppliers on a variety of research and field projects, mainly in the field of polymer-modified bitumen and recycled materials for road applications.
At RMIT University, he is leading the Intelligent Materials for Road and Airport Pavements research group and has developed the only university-based fully equipped asphalt and bitumen laboratory in Australia, which currently employs more than 20 researchers.

Dr George Chang will give a keynote presentation under the general keynote of “Maximising performance and durability”

Dr George Chang (Director of Research, Transtec Group) recognized world expert on pavement smoothness and intelligent compaction/construction technologies will be one of the keynote speakers in the Engineering & Construction stream. His research, teaching, specification development, and software tools (such as ProVAL and Veta) have helped make significant technology advancements. Dr. Chang has been the principal investigator for numerous research projects in the US and world-wide that enhance pavement materials/structures, pavement surface characteristics.

Dr.Carsten Karcher (Secretary General, EAPA) graduated from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany the former University of Karlsruhe as a civil engineer. In 2004 he got his Doctors Degree at the same university. From 1999 on he was research assistant, head of the Testing Center according to German guidelines and at the end head of the department “Highway Construction Technology” at KIT. He has a strong bonding to asphalt material and a founded understanding of its technical, environmental and social issues. As head of the department, he acquired and conducted research projects mainly in the field of asphalt pavements. Dr. Karcher is familiar with European projects as well as with print media and TV.
Carsten Karcher started on July, 1st 2013 as the Director of EAPA and is dealing with Health, Safety and Environmental issues and Political items. On 1st January 2019 Dr. Karcher became Secretary General of EAPA.

Dr. Leslie McCarthy (Senior Asphalt Pavement Engineer, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)) is a Senior Asphalt Pavement Engineer in the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Preconstruction, Construction, and Pavements in Headquarters. She is leading the Mobile Asphalt Technology Center program. She originally joined the FHWA Office of Pavement Technology in HQ in 2002, as a Pavement Design Engineer and she managed the Mobile Asphalt Materials Testing Laboratory. She was also the Asphalt lead for the national Pavement Design Guide Implementation team from 2002-2006.
She served as the Operations Team Leader for the FHWA-Florida Division from 2006 to 2009, where she led the team of Area Engineers, Emergency Relief program, Local Public Agency program, and statewide construction and materials specification approval.
Dr. Myers McCarthy was an Associate Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Villanova University near Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and the Principal for Myers McCarthy Consulting Engineers, LLC, from 2009 to 2019.

Geir Lange (Leader Large Projects, Veidekke, Norway) – Geir has worked since 2010 in Veidekke, the largest Asphalt Contractor in Norway and has been involved in the development of the PCR and the LCA tool currently used in Norway

Claude Le Noan (Director for Industrial Projects, Eiffage Group – France)