Now we have all heard about energy transition, the distribution infrastructure, consumes Australia as we are investing heavily. Richard Amato as CEO of Enerven is a pivotal leader right in the middle of this transition. Great learning podcast. Thank you, Richard, and to Cassandra for organising.

Richard Amato- Chief Executive Officer of Enerven is a dynamic and strategic leader with over 30 years’ experience across the construction, wine, manufacturing, and energy industries, both in Australia and internationally. As the CEO ofEnerven, Richard has successfully transformed the company into a market leader in electrical, renewable, and telecommunications services, driving growth.

With a strong focus on building a commercial andcustomer-centric culture, Richard is known for his ability to solve complex challenges and foster meaningful relationships both within and outside the organization. His leadership style is defined by authenticity, empowerment, and a deep commitment to the safety and wellbeing of his team. Under his leadership, Enerven continues to play a pivotal role in some of the most significant energy transition and telecommunications projects in Australia, operating with world-class technology and innovation.

Richard’s career spans large national and international companies, where he has honed his skills in corporate planning, growth strategy, and business transformation. He is proficient in navigating both commercial and regulated environments and has a proven track record in financial management, risk management, and operational excellence.

Fellow Certified Practising Accountant (FCPA) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company, Directors (GAICD), Richard holds a Bachelor of Accountancy and a Master ofBusiness Administration. He also completed the prestigious Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Richard’s leadership is rooted in his personalvalues of respect, family, and authenticity. He is passionate about ensuring his people feel informed, connected, and aligned with Enerven’s mission and culture. Whether guiding the company through major growth or overseeing critical projects, Richard leads with a "people first" philosophy,always making decisions that prioritise the long-term success of the business.

Richard also actively contributes to the communitythrough several board and committee roles, including:

His involvement in these roles highlights his commitment to making a positive impact beyond the business world, supporting causes that align with his values of community, health, and giving back.

Beyond his professional achievements, Richard is aproud first-generation Australian with Italian heritage, married to a Hungarian wife, and a devoted father of two. A true family man, his passions include waterskiing, horse racing, and cheering on Carlton and Liverpool FC.

Enerven- who are we?

Enerven was founded right here in SouthAustralia and today operates right across the country, helping power homes and businesses with reliable energy.

With a growing team of more than 700 people across the country, Enerven designs, builds, and maintains some of the most complex electrical and telecommunication systems in Australia. The company’s growth has been rapid, and it continues to expand its footprint nationwide.

Enerven delivers electrical infrastructure and telecommunications solutions that connect communities. Our design, construction, and maintenance services ensure reliable power generation, transmission, and distribution to homes and businesses nationwide – and our commitment to renewable energy and resilient grid infrastructure sets us apart in the industry.

Tom Koutsantonnis MP for west Torrens, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Minister for Energy and Mining our first Ministerial podcast with @Tough Talk with Jody rowe podcast did not disappoint.

Well, how frank do you want it? Gas is hear to stay, its not Coal, Narrabri NSW has to go ahead just move forward and Gas prices with drop, recent bail outs, why? and it just goes on.

What was refreshing there was limited blaming going on, just this is how it is, projects, the excitement of what South Australia has in store is amazing, get the projects and the people will come....

At times the CEO of Gas companies stray from podcast, well their PR people are nervous but this is a great example where listeners can here a good story but also the complete position not j just a few moment from the news.

Toms story, born in 1971, the son of Greek migrants, Tom has lived his entire life in the western suburbs of Adelaide. Having completed his secondary education at Adelaide High School and going on to study at the University of Adelaide, Tom worked several jobs to support his studies including driving a taxi and working in his family’s small business.

Now living in Torrensville with his wife Anthea and their two daughters Tia and Helena, Tom is passionate about his local community and truly believes “West is Best.” However, politics, a sense of community and a passion to help people have always been central to his life, ever since he first volunteered in the office of Labor stalwart, the late Jack Wright from the age of 14.

From there Tom went on to be the Secretary of South Australian Young Labor, a personal assistant to the Honorable Michael Atkinson, and representing worker as an Industrial Advocate for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association.

Elected as the Member for Peake (now West Torrens) in 1997, some 26 years and a bit years later, Tom has now become SA Labor’s longest serving MP.

Tom first joined the Cabinet in 2009 where he remained until the defeat of the Weatherill Labor Government in 2018. During that time Tom held the Portfolios of Minister for Corrections; Youth and Volunteers; Gambling; Small Business; Transport, Planning, and Infrastructure; Mining and Energy, State Development and as Treasurer. 

Some of Tom’s proudest achievements have been returning the State Budget into surplus, abolishing stamp duty on all commercial transactions, and helping transition South Australia’s economy following the closure of Holden.

Following the election of a Malinauskas Labor Government in March 2022, Tom was appointed Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and Minister for Energy and Mining.

Enjoy and please send feedback

Meeting Simon was an absolute pleasure, we need strong executives to support the Energy sector and Simon is certainly that.

Simon is a long-term Executive with more than 30 years of experience within the Australian energy industry. He is a dynamic, results oriented, corporate leader with extensive knowledge across a range of infrastructure portfolios, including Network Operations, Maintenance, and new Major Projects.

In his previous role of Group Executive, Network Services, Simon managed a Capex budget of more than $300 million per year, and an annual Opex budget of approximately $50 million. Simon has been responsible for the successful delivery of major transmission lines to Oz Minerals’ Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines, synchronous condensers located on Yorke Peninsula and Robertstown, and the positive progress seen on the Eyre Peninsula Link (EP Link) and Project Energy Connect (PEC) transmission lines.

Simon has successfully navigated ElectraNet during a time of extensive industry change, predominantly brought about by the uptake of renewable energy technologies and he has successfully led the delivery of over $3 billion worth of substation and other transmission lines projects. He was appointed to the role of Incident Manager during the South Australian 2016 state-wide blackout and is an accomplished business negotiator, with a proven ability in resolving complex issues among many customer, industry and government stakeholders.

Simon holds an Honours Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Above all, Simon’s passion is coaching the next generation of energy industry professionals, inspiring them to reach their full potential.

There is a lot of knowledge passed on from Simon in this Tough Talk episode. Enjoy!

Sandy Verschoor is incredibly impressive. As part of the diversity series, I invited Sandy to Tough Talk with Jody Rowe.

For me it's important to learn from experienced people who have carved excellent careers from other industries. Sandy is one of those people, you will read a bio that has many successes, and I believe the glass ceiling was broken along time ago by people like Sandy.

Sandy is an experienced Board Director with extensive professional capability and significant executive leadership accomplishments in business, government and arts and culture.

She was Lord Mayor for the City of Adelaide from 2018-2022, leading the best economic recovery of any Australian capital city. She served as Deputy Lord Mayor, councillorand general manager for the City of Adelaide deliveringseveral multi-million dollar projects and programs. This included Ten Gigabit Adelaide Australia’s first city-wide fibre optic network, Market Square development a landmark project giving city new residential and business amenity, 88 O’Connell Street, the City Library, and numerous Public Art installations.

Prior to that Sandy worked for more than 25 years in executive leadership roles, largely focused on Australia’s Arts and Culture scene, as a successful activation and culturalstrategist and has fostered, promoted and developed some of Adelaide’s richest cultural experiences.

A Churchill Fellow, a Bloomberg Harvard alumnus and anadjunct at the University of South Australia, she has served on many boards and is the current Chair of the Art Gallery of South Australia and the SA Heritage Council. Sandy has worked interstate and overseas and taught Strategic Marketing for the Master of Communications for UniSA in Adelaide, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Sandy is proud South Australian and passionate about Adelaide’s ongoing journey to become a creative city where arts and culture, innovation and a pioneering spirit are celebrated. 

Enjoy this podcast.

Jenni Screen is an inspiration, an Olympian, World champion, Wife, Mother and a leader in her field.

Over twenty years ago I met this woman in Adelaide, very impressive, resilient, hungry and driven. And when you read all the success and the medal, remember Jenni was dropped three months prior to the 2006 World championship win. Hard work pays off, every time!

But don't think this is solely about being a successful basketballer. Jenni has a Degree in Sport Science and a Masters in Exercise Science, Strength and Conditioning.

Jenni is a leader at the Hawthorn Football Club in her role as ALF/AFLW Lead and Player Development Manager.

She is smart, used all her skills to create a career and leverage this amazing sporting career.

Media, coaching, mentoring and a Deputy Chairperson for the FIBA Players’ Commission.

Jenni Screen was named on the Australian Opals in 2005, co-captained for a period, won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 World Championships in Brazil, a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, 2012 at London a bronze medal and won the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championships.

Some of Jenni's history and success.

As a junior player, Jennifer Screen represented Toowoomba, participating in the Queensland Classics in all age groups. Her performance at these state competitions earned her selection in the 1997 South Queensland Girls Representative team, as well as selection to Queensland teams participating in the under 16 and under 18 Australian Junior Championships from 1997 to 1999 and admission to the Queensland Academy of Sport national intensive training program.

Jenni was a basketball scholarship athlete at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for two years, in 1999 and 2000, representing the AIS in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons.

During her final year at the Australian Institute of Sport, Jenni was recruited by the Adelaide Lightning, becoming a valued team member from 2001-2005 and being awarded the WNBL's Good Hands Award in 2005.From 2006 to 2009 Jenni played professionally for Parma in Italy before returning to the Adelaide Lightning for the 2011-2012 season. Jenni ended her celebrated WNBL career spanning 178 games in 2014, averaging 9.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

Jenni Screen played 19 games as part of Australian Junior team and 11 games for the Young Australian team, and as a member of the Australian Gems won gold medals at both the World Championships in the Czech Republic, and in the World Qualification Series in 2002. Jenni also won a bronze medal with the Australian team at the 2005 World University Games in Turkey, scoring 30 points in the 81-72 victory against Russia.

This is much listen podcast, more women need to tell their stories, it is possible, you can do it, just work hard and smart.

In 2023 I was at the APGA conference, listening to two remarkable people presenting a paper, the audience mostly male listened intently as what I heard shocked me. Both Engineers and both extremely successful at their sport.

The paper is a collection of stories of real experiences that have happened to employees in the Australian oil, gas and pipeline industry relating to gender bias and discrimination. The paper explores issues for both men and women, with key recommendations for individuals, companies and the industry at large. 

The vulnerability displayed by both incredible with the podcast and reels very powerful as you really do start to question if times have changed.

Carina Nixon is a world champion in white water rafting (2014)   And a runner up world champion (2nd place) for white water rafting (2017). 

Carina Nixon

Carina is a young, passionate leader who champions

Her mission? Inspire a diverse new generation of STEM leaders and prove that collaboration across cultures, genders, ages and types of people isn't just nice – it's necessary for our future.

 Margaret Gayen

Margaret is a passionate advocate for women in industry and continues to educate and spread awareness on workplace gender equality.

 Margaret a 6-time Australian representative in athletics,

A long time ago I met Joanne Farrell with my friend and collegue Rozey Abbott. Joanne always afforded me the time to chat although I admired and respected her position at Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto Group executive Joanne Farrell has decided to retire after nearly 32 years with Rio Tinto and left the company at the end of September 2019. Coal, Iron Ore, Diamonds, US, UK, Australia there is a lot to understand how Joanne progressed successfully at one of the largest global miners in what is always referred to as a male industry.

Joanne joined Rio Tinto in 1987 and has worked in a variety of roles across human resources, health, safety, communities and environment, before joining the Rio Tinto Executive Committee as Group executive, Health, Safety & Environment and Managing Director, Australia in July 2016. (reporting to the Global CEO)

Joanne is currently Chair of Safe Work Australia and Chair of Brightwater Care Group. Her non-executive director roles also include Royal Flying Doctor Service (Western Operations) Senate of the University of Western Australia, and Deputy Chair of the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Trust.  She is a member of the AICD and Chief Executive Women.

Throughout her career Joanne has been active in supporting indigenous capacity building and reconciliation and has been active in many gender equity related organizations along with mentoring women in both the Mining Industry and Not-For-Profit organisations.  She was recognised for contributions to gender equity with awards from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia, Financial Review’s Women of Influence and Women in Mining International.

Joanne holds a qualification in Psychology, Economics and Executive Management from University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW) and London Business School.

Thanks to Joanne for affording the time in the Diversity series of podcasts.

A few years back I met Kevin Lester. He striked me as a grounded practical chap who has survived, excelled in what can only be described as a tough industry. What impresses me is he makes you feel very relaxed, confident but not arrogant which is refreshing. Coming from a farming background, this could be the reason but from my perspective very important.

A champion of diversity, I can encourage you to listen to Kevins story.

Kevin Lester is responsible for APA Group’s Infrastructure Delivery division, including the planning, approvals, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the company’s growth projects.

Kevin has over 35 years’ experience across the mining, resources and energy sectors managing the delivery of major infrastructure projects.

Kevin joined APA over 10 years ago and is responsible for supporting APA's $26 billion portfolio of assets, developing and delivering growth projects, and managing APA’s Pathfinder program, which pursues innovation, technology and new energy opportunities.

Kevin is a director and a past President of the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association.

This podcast just proves you can have a very successful career in the Energy sector, from a farming pedigree Kevin has demonstrated the resilience required.

Nicholas Mumford is an Energy expert, no doubt in my mind. Nicholas Mumford is a leading executive in the energy and resources industry, having led and delivered numerous successful projects in oil, gas and mining across

 Over three decades, underpinned by deep technical and operational experience, Nicholas held commercially focused leadership roles at Santos and Shell and

Nicholas's passion for renewable energy and sustainability led him to co-found Greenhill Energy in 2019, an integrated solution-based manufacturer, focused on upcycling sustainable biomass and landfill waste into low-cost clean hydrogen energy and high-value industrial products such as urea fertilizers and synthetic fuels.   

Leveraging his experience in renewable energy and the emerging hydrogen economy, in 2021 Nicholas co-founded South Australian Hydrogen Hubs Incorporated (SA-H2H™) to help build hydrogen supply chain scale in South Australia, with a master vision of positioning South Australia as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of the global hydrogen

All this experience is invaluable for our listeners, its frank and based on knowledge.

Well, I have always respected Peter Iancov from afar for a long time, highly respected business leader. It was an honor that Peter accepted my invitation to be a guest on Tough Talk with Jody Rowe.

Peter joined Jemena and Zinfra in April 2019 following an established career spanning many decades in leading project management, construction, maintenance and operation of gas and electricity infrastructure assets and major facilities for major businesses.

Prior to joining Zinfra, Peter held the role of founder and Managing Director of his own company, along with senior roles of Group Chief Executive Officer of a major Western Australian contractor, and General Manager of WestNet Energy, Alinta Asset Management West - an asset management and sustainment business.

Peter also has extensive Board experience in defense, utilities, ports, oil and gas contracting and Indigenous corporations currently being a non - executive director of Australian Naval Infrastructure, Tasmanian Development Board and aboriginal owned Yamatji Enterprises Ltd. 

Peter holds a Master of Engineering (Electrical and Mechanical) and a post-graduate Degree in Robotics and Automation. He is a Fellow Member of Engineers Australia.

Listen and learn from this informative podcast.