James Stuart

Background

About James Stuart

I am a business founder, executive and engineer. My career experience has included working in asset integrity, major projects and community safety in the private and public sectors, and as a consultant working across the private, government and listed sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom. I am a strategic leader and problem solver with extensive capabilities leading multidisciplinary teams at both functional and enterprise levels for asset management, assurance, water planning, compliance, and optimisation for critical infrastructure within large, complex organisations with state wide assets. At board level, I have industry experience as a director and am Chair of an international climate change committee. Safety forms a part of every decision I make. My leadership outcomes include organisational transformation, strategy delivery through aligned and cascading annual plans, driving cultural change, and providing decisive leadership during high-pressure natural hazard incidents and operations that require sound and trusted judgment. I have successfully led risk management for state significant major projects, including Paradise Dam essential works, working with the Board to establish a balanced enterprise risk position between safety and water security alongside guiding stakeholder engagement to prepare for a potential major civil incident. I have championed innovation within my teams, such as the Burdekin Falls Dam upgrade initiative that delivered a $300 million reduction as part of an overhaul of the $1.3 billion capital planning process. I have also led multiple dam safety major projects to resolve legacy issues and provided internal review and recommendations to improve functioning of the Rookwood Weir alliance. My senior roles required extensive stakeholder engagement, from Premier briefings to community education with tailored communication to diverse audiences, including Ministers, Boards and radio and television for outlets such as ABC and The Sydney Morning Herald, in addition to keynote speaking. Combining technical depth with the executive breadth of commercial acumen, risk management, and innovation leadership, I deliver evidence-based, value outcomes in the engineering sector. I am a Fellow of Engineers Australia, an Engineering Executive, CPEng and Non-Executive Director.