NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR IMarEST ANZSPAC DIVISION
Maritime expert, Greg Bondar, has been appointed Executive Director of the Australia New Zealand and South Pacific Division (ANZSPAC) of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) with responsibility for this rapidly expanding Division with its twelve branches.
Greg Bondar has been CEO of the Australian Chamber of Shipping (ACOS) and the Long Distance Road Transport Association of Australia (LDRTA), and was the senior Maritime Adviser to the Australian government’s Minister for Transport and Regional Development in Canberra from 1996-1998. As the maritime adviser he was involved in port, shipping and marine issues. He also worked closely with various government agencies including Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and has been a member of numerous Australian government delegations to the IMO and APEC.
“With my maritime-marine background, I feel I am really ‘coming home’ in my new post,” he explains. “I am excited by the IMarEST international network – the Institute has 15,000 members in 49 branches around the world – and the opportunities for actively growing membership and activities here in the ANZSPAC Division are really appealing. Add to that my enjoyment of working with membership and professional-learned bodies and I am already feeling like a round peg in the proverbial round hole, and looking forward to meeting branch officials and members throughout the region as rapidly as I can.”
Greg Bondar holds an MBA (majoring in Association Management, Marketing, Communications and Legal Studies) and a Bachelor of Economics (majoring in Commercial Law, Government, Accounting and Economics). He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (AIM), and is also a Justice of the Peace. He is married with three children and enjoys (and played) soccer, rugby and cricket and tennis. His main hobby is oenology.
“We are delighted to welcome Greg to the post of Executive Director,” says IMarEST’s chief executive Keith Read CBE. “His background fits the bill superbly and his enthusiasm is infectious. He has a hard act to follow. Norm Farmer, who is off to pastures new has done a magnificent job for IMarEST in the ANZSPAC region and we wish him well in his new post.”
Looking back
As Norm Farmer explains: “I started work with the IMarEST ANZSPAC Division on 28 October 2005. In a little over two years I believe I have realised some key achievements working with, and alongside, a passionate team of IMarEST members and staff; and am proud that these could be achieved by someone who is not a marine engineer, marine scientist or a marine technologist.
“I am pleased I have been able to develop a rapport with and engage the volunteers who comprise the 12 branches of the Division to an extent that we have arrested the decline in an ageing membership through the recruitment of a range of members from all marine disciplines across the membership spectrum from Student to Fellow.
“I have enjoyed my short time with the IMarEST, a great organisation with people that care about the marine environment, and who have identified the benefits and opportunities offered by the Institute that embraces and embodies the broader marine engineering, marine science and marine technology sectors individually and collectively.
“I extend my best wishes to all for future success in an ever changing world.”
Further information on the ANZSPAC Division and its branches - Canberra, Newcastle, Queensland, North Queensland, South Australia, Sydney, Victoria / Tasmania, Western Australia, Auckland, South Island, Wellington and Fiji – is available from Greg Bondar at PO Box 51, Blakehurst, NSW 2221, Australia. Tel: +61 (0) 2 9546 4757; Fax: +61 (0)2 9546 8852; Email: < execdirector.anzspac [at] imarest [dot] net ; and from www.imarest.org.
ENDS
About IMarEST
- Photograph of Greg Bondar available from judithpatten [at] wwmail [dot] co [dot] uk
- Voucher copies/tear sheets with coverage are always welcome, as is a simple notification of use of the release to judithpatten [at] wwmail [dot] co [dot] uk
- The IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology) is the leading membership body and learned society for marine professionals, industry, research and education, with 49 branches and over 15,000 members worldwide
- Professional Recognition: qualifications for membership are based on the educational background and/or multi-disciplinary experience ensuring that high professional standards are maintained
- The only membership body that can award Chartered Marine Scientist and Technologist, Chartered, Incorporated and Engineering Technician status to their professional engineering counterparts
