Dr Michael Myers OAM
Founder & Chief Executive
Michael began his career as a Mechanical Engineer and over the past 30 years has been involved in implementing high-level engineering and business transformation technology in organisations across the Asia Pacific region. Clients included Toyota, BOEING, British Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Australia Aerospace, Department of Defence, Royal Australian Navy, Australian Submarine Corporation, Holden, GKN Aerospace, DMO, Bombardier, Tata Technologies, Chinese Air Force, Indian Navy and Proton Malaysia. With the goal of inspiring young Australians to pursue technical career paths, Michael founded the Re-Engineering Australia Foundation (REA) in 1998. In 2012 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to youth through the Re-Engineering Australia Foundation.
Dr Peter Farrell AM
An iconic Australian innovator and engineer who has impacted the whole world with his discoveries. Dr Peter Farrell is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of ResMed, the Australian manufacturer of respiratory medical devices for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing. ResMed has become the world leader in this field. Peter trained as a chemical and biomedical engineer and comes from a family of engineers.
Australia needs more highly skilled people who are willing to think and be creative. Consider any innovation and no doubt it has been developed by people who have a firm grasp of the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But how do you make these subjects challenging and desirable to our young people? You have to make them relevant and exciting… and that is exactly what Re-Engineering Australia Foundation is doing. Their programs combine world-best technology with applied learning and collaboration with industry. They are causing maths and science classes to fill up and students are asking for after-school classes and being able to go to school during their holidays.
Alan Jones MBE
Alan Jones MBE was the first driver to win the Formula One world championship for the Williams team in 1980 and is the only Australian apart from Sir Jack Brabham to become a world champion. He is the son of motor racing legend and Australian Grand Prix winner, Stan Jones. Alan began open wheeler racing in Europe in Formula 3 then the British Formula Atlantic Championship. He began Formula One with Harry Stiller Racing, Embassy Racing, Surtees and Shadow before joining Williams. He was dominant for a number of years finishing 3rd in 1979, 1st in 1980 and 3rd in ’81. He also raced for Arrows and Team Haas. Alan won 12 Grands Prix overseas. He was the last Australian to win the Australian Grand Prix (1980). He also won the Australian GT Championship. Before retiring to become a Motorsport media personality Alan competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, the Australian Touring Car Championship and events in the United States.
Sam Michael
Since 1993 Australian Sam Michael held senior technical roles with a number of Formula One teams – Lotus, Jordan, Williams and McLaren – and he has since become a highly soughtafter international Engineering consultant. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of New South Wales with a thesis on data acquisition systems for racing cars. He started his motor sport career in rallying before moving to open wheel race cars. Sam established the Jordan team’s research and development department, responsible for the seven post vibration rig, active differentials, power steering and brake balance systems. He was promoted to race engineer and then became Chief Engineer then Technical Director for Williams.
Molly Taylor
Molly has achieved more in her few years than most rally drivers do in a lifetime. From humble beginnings working at her father’s rally school in the holidays, Molly won the F16 class of the Australian Rally Championship in 2006 and ‘07 then headed overseas to pursue her dream of becoming a professional rally driver. She became the British Ladies Rally Champion of 2009 and ‘10 and the following year was selected for the Pirelli Star Driver Program in the World Rally Championship. Molly won the 2013 European Ladies Championship and became the highest ranked international female rally driver in the world. In 2014 she became the first female to score a podium result in the Junior World Rally Championship. Molly joined the Subaru do Motorsport team in 2015 and became the first female to win a round of the Australian Rally Championship and finished second outright. In 2016 she became Australia’s first ARC champion and was awarded the prestigious Peter Brock Medal.
Harry Bates
The son of a four times Australian Rally Champion, Harry Bates began racing in motorkhanas and hillclimbs from the age of 12. He entered his first rally at 19 and in 2015 competed in the Australian Rally Championship where he scored a podium finish on debut. The following year he finished third outright against a field of more experienced drivers. In 2017 Harry tasted victory at two rounds of the ARC including his home event in the ACT. Harry is very involved in the development and set-up of his Toyota rally car. He says it is important to provide the engineers and service crew with detailed feedback and he conducts thousands of kilometres of testing each season.
