Senior Australian infrastructure leaders, Glenn Thornton and Paul Brown, have joined Port of Newcastle’s (PON) executive team, as of 9 June, as the organisation enters a major growth phase.
Glenn Thornton – who joins the Port from global engineering professional services consulting firm WSP, where he was the NSW Region Director and Project Director Advisory for Australia – has been appointed PON’s Executive Manager Projects.
Paul Brown, appointed the port’s Executive Manager Business Development, was formerly General Manager of Growth and Business Development at freight rail operator Aurizon.
He was most recently based in New York with one of the world’s most innovative companies, General Electric, as Sales Director for GE Renewable Energy and, before that, GE Transportation (Rail, Mining and Marine).
Port of Newcastle CEO, Craig Carmody, said the two executive appointments came at a critical time for the port’s diversification plans.
“Both Glenn and Paul have extensive leadership experience involving significant assets and projects worth billions of dollars – this will be critical as the port pursues projects designed to directly contribute to the Hunter’s economic recovery from COVID-19 and secure the region’s long term prosperity,” Craig said.
“Port of Newcastle is building the foundations of a broader plan to ensure the Hunter, NSW and Australian economies have the future infrastructure they will need – that involves investments in a range of trade opportunities, including the proposed $1.8 billion Multi-purpose Deepwater Terminal (MDT) project.
“In both cases, we have appointed senior leaders with a deep understanding of, and first-hand experience in, all commercial aspects of the large-scale projects Port of Newcastle is now pursuing.”
Glenn is a former Hunter Business Chamber CEO who has forged strong relationships with senior leaders within business and government.
With more than 30 years’ experience in the delivery of major infrastructure, including advisory, planning, design, governance and project management, Glenn said he was pleased to be helping future proof the Hunter region.
“The investment that is planned for the Port of Newcastle will not only create thousands of jobs during construction, it will also have huge ongoing employment and business growth implications for this city and the Hunter region for the years to come,” he said.
Paul said he was pleased to use his mix of experience in infrastructure, asset optimisation and innovative technology in rail, mining, and energy to drive new forms of trade through the largest port on Australia’s east coast.
“The port is a key asset for the Hunter and NSW more broadly – we need to diversify the product and customer base, and grow and develop the asset sustainably, if we are to succeed in future-proofing both the local economy and the port,” he concluded.
IMAGE | Glenn Thornton (left) and Paul Brown (right) acquire executive positions as part of Port of Newcastle leadership team.