Future Leaders Committee
In 2016, the RA Board appointed its first Future Leaders Committee (previously known as the Fellowship Council).
Members are elected for two years, with Committee supporting the Chair and Deputy Chair in guiding the activities of the Future Leaders Program.
In 2024, following a changeover in Committee structure and recognising the period of renewal in the Committee’s membership, an additional resource for the Committee was allocated through the creation of Fellowship Alumni Chapter Leads, supporting the Program and Committee’s activities in their home states.
Chair
Verity Turner
Verity Turner Environment & Planning Director, Transurban
Verity is a specialist in environment and planning approval management, sustainability and stakeholder engagement with a proven track record in the delivery of environmental project management across a range of disciplines. Verity has over 20 years’ experience in the delivery of major transport and infrastructure projects across the private and public sectors, including managing the environmental planning approvals, procurement and construction of the WestConnex M4 Widening, M4 East and M4-M8 Link projects, the M7-M12 Integration Project and the Logan West Upgrade Project.
Deputy Chairs
Ly Galanos
Principal, Transport – Aurecon
Alex Berry
Director – Clients and Growth, WSP
Committee Members
Clarissa Ahlberg
Senior Civil Engineer - HDR
Clarissa is a senior civil engineer with over 10 years’ experience in the planning, development, and design of road infrastructure projects.
She has worked within local governments in Queensland as well as consulting providing services to local and state government and construction clients.
Clarissa’s background is in stormwater and drainage design, hydraulic modelling, road and highway design, transport planning, and asset management. She has been involved in all stages of the project life-cycle.
Matthew Burns
Matthew Burns Director Statewide Maintenance & Delivery - Transport for NSW
Matthew Burns is a new member of RA’s Future Leaders Committee.
Matthew currently leads a portfolio of frontline asset maintenance and operations functions at Transport for New South Wales to deliver road maintenance and safety programs. A qualified civil engineer with more than 18 years’ experience in leading, developing, managing and delivering infrastructure projects and programs, he is a courageous and empowering people leader and has successfully established teams and delivered customer-focused outcomes across all project life-cycle phases.
Throughout Matthew’s roles, he has developed and honed an extensive set of both broad and specific transferable skills and experience to successfully meet client and customer needs at all project life-cycle stages.
He continually pursues new and exciting challenges in the civil infrastructure and construction industry, seeking to implement and strengthen his project management, leadership and civil engineering expertise.
David Li
Principal Design Manager - SMEC
David has joined the Roads Australia Emerging Leaders Program as a member of the Future Leaders Committee in October 2024.
As a highly qualified Professional Engineer and a Fellow of Engineers Australia, David has a strong track record in leading the delivery of major infrastructure project and driving high-performing business and teams.
He was accepted as one of Roads Australia 2024 Fellows in recognition of his excellent technical and leadership skills.
David brings substantial expertise in delivering engineering design consultancy services of integrated transport solutions and major infrastructure projects in Australia, Singapore and wider Asia Pacific region. Through his various key project roles in providing technical advice and design leadership for a wider variety of projects, David has transformed to be one of the up-and-coming industry forerunners in driving innovative, sustainable and high-quality delivery of engineering design solutions for the projects that make a positive difference.
With strong focus on people, David exhibits solid technical expertise, excellent work ethic, genuine emphasis to drive a collaborative, inclusive and dedicated team culture
Fellowship Alumni Chapter Leads
Stuart Cook
Regional Manager, Gold Coast / Transport Lead, QLD – BG&E
Jen Robertson
Project Manager - John Holland
Jen Robertson joins RA’s Emerging Leaders Program as Fellowship Alumni Chapter Lead for Victoria.
With over two decades of expertise in live road and rail environments, Jen thrives on the critical nature of operating in sensitive, public-facing settings.
Her dedication to cultivating high-performing teams ensures meticulously planned and executed outcomes.
She is currently a Project Manager with John Holland.
Ana Guzman
Reginal Director South Australia, Regional Executive Transport & Geotechnical, South Australia - WSP
Ana Guzman joins the Emerging Leaders Program as Fellowship Alumni Chapter Lead for South Australia.
With over 22 years in the Engineering Industry, including 20 years at WSP, Ana has developed a deep passion for team collaboration, problem-solving, and continuous growth. Her leadership approach is rooted in fostering empowered, transparent, and respectful relationships, which has been the cornerstone of her success.
As the current Regional Executive for Transport & Geotechnical in South Australia, Ana provides leadership and governance across various disciplines. Her strength lies in bringing people together and empowering them to achieve their goals. Ana thrives on the energy from working with great people, engaging in interesting projects, and tackling challenging work.
Thilanka Silva
Associate | Highways Business Leader WA, Arup
Thilanka is an Associate and the Highways Business Leader in Western Australia for Arup. He brings passion for working with clients on complex projects regarding infrastructure, procurement and community impacts. A natural leader, Thilanka is highly sought after by both staff and clients to inject his collaborative approach towards getting people engaged and enjoying collective success. Not afraid to roll up his sleeves and do the work, Thilanka has a proud history of achievements that gives him a unique perspective of the roads industry and the challenges that lay ahead. Thilanka is also a RA Fellow from 2021, who led the fellows team of WA and SA for the winning project on reducing job stressors experienced by white collar professionals through a work redesign trial.
Donny Yap
GM Pre-Contracts - Ventia | NSW
Donny Yap has joined RA’s Emerging Leaders Program as Fellowship Alumni Chapter Lead for NSW.
An engineer by training, Donny has been with Ventia for over 10 years, during which time he has held the transport sector portfolios for strategy, sustainability, innovation, business development and (currently) pre-contracts. Donny advocates for better asset management and whole-of-life outcomes across industry.
He has contributed to RA’s policy papers in the past and was a volunteer on RA’s Customer Experience policy stream experts panel.
