Dr Lianne Lefsrud

P.Eng

Keynote Speaker

Dr Lianne Lefsrud, P.Eng., is a Professor; Risk, Innovation, and Sustainability Chair (RISC); and Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Engineering at the ⁠University of Alberta, Canada. Her pioneering interdisciplinary research addresses the critical challenge of long-term infrastructure resilience, blending technical civil engineering with data analytics and organisational sociology to prevent catastrophic failures. An authority on systems safety, Dr Lefsrud’s frameworks like ‘Understanding Your Dam as a System’ look past static engineering checklists to model how physical assets, operational surveillance, and institutional-organisational-human factors interact to form a truly resilient system. Grounded by over two decades of heavy industry and regulatory experience with organisations including APEGA, CN Rail, and PCL Construction, Dr Lefsrud focuses on operationalising resilience from front-line monitoring to executive boardrooms. She holds a B.Sc. in Civil/Environmental Engineering, an interdisciplinary M.Sc., and a PhD in Strategic Management and Organisation. As the CEO of ⁠Insight Risk Systems, she actively deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to transform unstructured industrial incident data into predictive risk intelligence, empowering global operators to build resilient, future-proof infrastructure portfolios.

Chris Topham

Technical Director – Dams & Risk Management

BE (Hons), MEngSci, Grad Cert Mgt, MIEAust

Day 2 Keynote Speaker

Chris Topham is a professional engineer with over 29 years of experience in infrastructure engineering, asset management, risk management, insurance, and organisational resilience. Following 21 years practising as an engineer in asset owner organisations, he transitioned into more strategic roles and now leverages his extensive technical and operational experience to deliver compelling, pragmatic asset strategy, risk, resilience, and assurance functions for dam owners. As Technical Director – Dams and Risk Management at GHD, Chris is based in Hobart Tasmania, and assists asset owners in the water, power, and mining sectors in Australia, New Zealand and North America with surveillance and risk management of their structures, Engineer of Record services, quantitative and qualitative risk assessment, failure modes analysis, dam safety reviews, emergency preparedness, dam safety program reviews, governance advice for dam owners, and dam safety training for operational staff.

Alasdair Mawdsley

Operations Manager

Waimea Water Limited

Alasdair is the Operations Manager at Waimea Water Limited, with over 15 years’ experience in environmental and infrastructure management across major New Zealand projects. His experience includes the construction, first filling and commissioning of the Waimea Community Dam, and its first years of long-term operation, following earlier environmental and sustainability roles on projects including the City Rail Link and the Te Mihi geothermal power station.

Alexi Duque

Senior Dam Engineer

Tiaki Wai

Alexi Duque is a Senior Dam Engineer at Tiaki Wai with over 20 years of international experience in dam safety, structural and seismic engineering, and the management of complex water and hydropower infrastructure. Her career spans New Zealand and Latin America, where she has contributed to the investigation, design, construction, rehabilitation, instrumentation and safety assessment of major dams in highly seismic environments. A career highlight was her leadership of the instrumentation and monitoring programme for Colombia’s 225-metre-high Ituango Dam, coordinating a multidisciplinary team and overseeing more than 2,500 instruments. Alexi holds master’s degrees in Earthquake-Resistant Engineering and in Dam and Reservoir Operation and Safety. She is currently leading the dam safety programme at Tiaki Wai, driving regulatory compliance and risk management across a diverse portfolio of critical water infrastructure assets in the Wellington region

Andrew Kilby

Principal Engineer

Damwatch

Andrew is a Principal Engineer with Damwatch Engineering with over 25 years international experience specialising in dam engineering and dam safety. His experience includes feasibility studies through to detailed design, construction supervision of new dams and repair/rehabilitation works, dam safety monitoring including instrument design and first impoundments, and dam safety reviews.

Bede Geoghegan

Owners Project Manager

Mercury

Bede is a mechanical engineer and senior project manager who has been involved in the power industry for over 40 years with experience on both hydro and geothermal projects. He has recently been involved with the Ohakuri diversion gate refurbishment and Karapiro gate replacement projects as well as the Karapiro spillway and Ataimuri intake gate options studies.

Brendan Sheehan

Mt Arum Engineering

Brendan is a highly experienced dam engineering professional with more than 30 years of expertise spanning the entire lifecycle of dam infrastructure, including the planning, design, construction, assessment, rehabilitation, and upgrade of both new and ageing assets. Throughout his career, Brendan has provided trusted independent engineering advice to dams owned by smaller operators, helping them meet regulatory obligations. Combining strong technical expertise with a practical understanding of environmental, operational, and regulatory considerations, Brendan delivers balanced, risk-informed solutions that support the long-term safety, reliability, and resilience of dam infrastructure. His work is focused on ensuring that both existing and future assets remain fit for purpose and capable of meeting the evolving needs of owners, communities, and regulators.

Cameron Paintin

Senior Water Resources Engineer | Client Manager – Meridian Energy

Senior BE(Hons) Natural Resources, CPEng, CMEngNZ

Tonkin + Taylor

Cameron is a senior water resources and dam engineer at Tonkin + Taylor, and a member of the NZSOLD Management Committee. During his 13-year career, he has been drawn to the hydraulic aspects of dam engineering, dam break and flood modelling, and the importance that stopbanks play in protecting communities and property. With family ties to Hawke’s Bay, Cameron has appreciated the opportunity to work with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council on several projects in the region looking at the flood hazard and the protection offered by the flood protection stopbank scheme, especially after the devastation by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Chris Bonner

Principal Controls Systems Engineer

BEng(Hons) CEng FIET FInstMC CPEng(NZ) IntPE(NZ) FSExpert (TÜV SÜD)

Mercury

Chris is a senior engineering leader and Principal Control Systems Engineer with more than 25 years of international experience providing technical authority, strategic direction, and assurance across major energy and infrastructure programmes globally. He holds a First Class BEng(Hons), with a dissertation focused on advanced process control. A TÜV Certified Functional Safety Expert, Chartered Engineer (CEng), Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng), Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Fellow of the Institute of Measurement and Control, Chris brings deep expertise in functional safety, automation, and high-consequence system integrity.

He is the named inventor on several patents applied within the energy industry and is recognised for applying systematic safety integrity methodologies to complex operational assets. His leadership interests include strengthening lifecycle assurance, enabling digital transformation through advanced modelling and simulation, and improving the resilience, safety, and performance of new and ageing infrastructure.

Christopher Davy

Senior Instrumentation Specialist / Engineering Geologist

Damwatch

Christopher Davy is a Senior Instrumentation Specialist / Engineering Geologist with more than 16 years of experience in instrumentation, dam safety, geological investigations, and monitoring systems across New Zealand, Europe and Australia. He specialises in the design, installation, and management of dam instrumentation, with particular expertise in hydraulic piezometers, monitoring networks, and dam safety surveillance programmes. Throughout his career, Christopher has contributed to a wide range of major infrastructure and water resource projects, supporting owners and operators in assessing performance and managing risk. He combines practical field experience with strong technical knowledge in instrumentation, engineering geology, asset investigations and data interpretation. Christopher is passionate about advancing monitoring practices and sharing lessons learned from real-world dam safety and instrumentation projects.

Dave Heard

Senior Geotechnical Engineer

MEng (Civil) (Hons), CMEngNZ

Riley Consultants

Dave is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer at Riley Consultants with more than 10 years’ experience delivering geotechnical projects, with a particular focus on dam safety assessments. Before moving to New Zealand, he spent eight years in the UK as a lead design engineer on flood resilience and dam engineering projects for a range of clients. His technical experience includes geotechnical risk assessments, seepage and stability analysis, ground investigation scoping and interpretation, construction supervision, earthworks design, and geotechnical reporting. Dave has worked across the full project lifecycle, from feasibility and options assessment through to detailed design, construction support, and asset management, bringing a practical and risk-informed approach to the assessment and delivery of geotechnical infrastructure projects.

Don Tate

Riley Consultants

Don Tate has been involved in dam engineering throughout his career. His experience includes design of new dams and evaluation of existing dams, with an emphasis on dam safety.

Don has served on the NZSOLD committee and also on the Competency Assessment Board of Engineering New Zealand, covering geotechnical engineering and dam engineering.

Specific work on Cobb Dam has encompassed a technical overview of the safety assessment with a focus on internal erosion failure modes

Eli Maynard

Riley Consultants

Eli is a chartered engineer specialising in the design of large civil water infrastructure including bridges, flood protection and dams. His unique expertise in both geotechnical and water resources engineering makes him highly suited to tailoring designs to some of the harshest and most geologically complex sites across New Zealand. He leads design teams performing geotechnical and hydraulic analyses for bridges, stopbanks, dams and buildings on sites subject to flooding, coastal inundation, land instability, liquefaction, artesian groundwater, soft soils, and scour. He has provided emergency response to sites affected by earthquakes, storms and floods across NZ; and acted as peer reviewer and expert witness at resource consent hearings, environment court, and construction arbitration.

Etaoin Friel

Principal Geotechnical Engineer

Damwatch

Etaoin Friel is a Principal Engineer and the Geotechnical Team Leader within Damwatch. She has extensive experience in dam safety and dam engineering in New Zealand and internationally. More recently, Etaoin’s focus has been as the Design Manager and Dam Safety Specialist for the Arapuni Dam left abutment enhancement project.

Dr Govinda Niroula

Geotechnical Engineer

Damwatch

Dr Govinda Niroula is a Geotechnical Engineer with Damwatch Engineering Ltd, specialising in seismic hazard assessment, earthquake engineering, and geotechnical design for dam and infrastructure projects. He holds a PhD in Earthquake Science from the University of Otago, where his research focused on earthquake rupture simulation and seismic hazard modelling in New Zealand and Himalayan region. Prior to joining Damwatch, Govinda worked extensively in the hydropower and infrastructure sectors in Nepal, undertaking probabilistic and deterministic seismic hazard analyses, site-specific seismic response assessments, liquefaction analysis, and geotechnical investigations for dams, bridges, and building projects.

Imteaz Bhuiyan

CPEng (NZ & AU) MASc PEng (Canada)

Principal Engineer, Dam Safety

Mercury NZ Limited

Imteaz Bhuiyan is Principal Engineer, Dam Safety at Mercury, where he provides technical oversight of dam safety management and regulatory compliance across the Waikato hydro scheme. A Chartered Professional Engineer with over 18 years of international experience across Canada, Australia and New Zealand, his work spans dam safety reviews, geotechnical assessment, and asset lifecycle management.

Prior to his work in Australasia, he held technical leadership roles for a large dam owner and a major city council in Canada. He spent a decade at Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency, latterly as Manager Geotechnical Engineering – Dam Safety and Major Structures, overseeing a portfolio of 72 dams, before managing construction and design delivery of an annual capital programme of $250 million at the City of Regina. He holds a Masters in Geotechnical Engineering, is a registered professional engineer in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and a member of NZSOLD, ANCOLD and CDA.

Jayesh Solanki

Manager Regional Operations

Auckland Council

Jayesh Solanki is currently Manager Regional Operations in Healthy Waters & Flood Resilience Department of Auckland Council. Jayesh is a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineers Australia. He has combined experience of over 30 years in public sector from design, operations and construction of road network to three waters assets.

Current portfolio includes management of regional programmes including small water and wastewater, incident management, operational contracts, procurement and flood detention dams.

Jayesh is passionate about the public sector and believes it is where engineers can make the greatest impact by working together to shape sustainable infrastructure outcomes for future communities. As an active member of Water Services Managers Group of WaterNZ and a member of NZSOLD, Jayesh believes that the engineering sector can learn a lot and innovate from sharing of the knowledge and experiences from its members.

Jessan Revalde

Senior Healthy Waters Specialist

Auckland Council

Jessan Revalde is a Senior Healthy Waters Specialist at Auckland Council with more than 15 years of experience in dam safety, water infrastructure, and asset management. He began his career as an Instrumentation Technician before moving into dam safety, where he spent seven years overseeing critical water supply dam assets. He later worked in consultancy, designing water and wastewater pipelines and delivering infrastructure solutions across Auckland.

In his current role, Jessan manages and implements Auckland Council’s Dam Safety Management System and supports the safe, long-term management of council-owned dams. He works closely with Council Operations teams and specialist engineering consultants to assess dam safety risks, plan improvement works, and support informed decision-making. Jessan brings a practical dam owner perspective shaped by experience across dam operations, engineering, and infrastructure management.

Joanna Lea Petheram

Senior Associate – Engineering Geologist

CMEngNZ (PEngGeol)

Beca

Joanna is a Senior Associate at Beca and a Professional Engineering Geologist (CMEngNZ, PEngGeol) with 20 years of experience in geotechnical engineering across New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Her work in the dam sector began with geotechnical investigation, slope stability assessment and surveillance of tailings dams, stormwater retention structures and other earth embankments as part of her wider geotechnical role. While working in Canada, Joanna contributed to the performance-based design, assessment and mitigation of static liquefaction risks, and management of tailings dam projects including client liaison, coordination of technical teams and project delivery. More recently, she has supported dam safety projects in New South Wales, Australia, including surveillance inspections, monitoring data reviews, and technical input to emergency preparedness exercises. Joanna has led dam risk assessments, managing multidisciplinary teams across New Zealand and Australia. Her technical contribution includes failure mode identification, slope stability and internal erosion assessment.

Joe Wheeler

Civil Dam Safety Engineer

Joe Wheeler is a Civil Dam Safety Engineer with 20 years New Zealand experience. Primarily, managing large South Island dams, he is beginning to test the waters at North Island structures. Joe is currently involved in managing the Clutha River landslides, with a particular interest in modern approaches to landslide hazard assessment and performance monitoring

Joselito Villena

Senior Project Engineer – Mechanical

Mercury

Joselito Villena works as a Senior Project Engineer for Mercury NZ Ltd for 18 years now. He is a chartered professional engineer working in the power generation industry for over 30 years with experience on both hydro and geothermal power station projects. He has been involved with the Karapiro Intake Gate project from the early testing and identification of the issues through to the installation and commissioning of the replacement equipment.

Josh Colley

Principal Dam Safety Engineer

Riley Consultants

Josh is a Principal Dam Safety Engineer at Riley Consultants with more than 12 years of experience delivering dam safety and waste containment projects, primarily for clients in the power sector. Prior to joining Riley, he worked in the United States as both a consultant and regulator. Josh previously served as the State Dam Safety Engineer for North Carolina, where he was responsible for a regulatory portfolio of more than 6,000 dams. He brings an international perspective and extensive experience working within robust dam safety regulatory frameworks.

Judith Robertson

Drinking Water Manager

Gisborne District Council

A career in local government regulatory and compliance functions, now in 3-Waters Operations. Combining risk assessment, asset management, systems improvement and team building for delivering councils’ drinking water services and associated compliance responsibilities from source to connections.

Dr Kaley Crawford-Flett

Dr Kaley Crawford-Flett is a civil (geotechnical) engineering specialist with over 20 years’ experience. Kaley’s career spans research, consulting, and technical leadership across dam safety, geotechnical engineering, seismic resilience, and risk assessment. Her experience also includes leadership as a Past Chair of the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD). She presently serves as the New Zealand representative on ICOLD Technical Committee E – Embankment Dams.

Kurt Davies

Civil Designer & Project Manager

Engineering Geology Limited

Kurt is a Civil Designer and Project Manager with Engineering Geology Limited, where he has spent the past two and a half years working on water storage dam projects across New Zealand. Through these projects, he has had the opportunity to work alongside experienced engineers and multidisciplinary teams, developing his technical skills while gaining a deeper appreciation for the complexities of dam engineering.

Kurt has always been fascinated by large dams and the challenge of understanding not just how they work, but how they are brought to life. He enjoys seeing how ideas evolve from investigations and designs into real structures, and how complex challenges are solved through collaboration, practical thinking, and persistence.

As an early-career engineer, Kurt is passionate about learning and values every opportunity to gain knowledge from those around him. He is excited to share insights from his involvement in this project, including the lessons learned, challenges encountered, and questions it has raised along the way.

Margela Andrews

Associate Principal

Damwatch Engineering

Margela is an Associate Principal at Damwatch Engineering with 15 years’ experience in geotechnical engineering and geophysics. She worked as an independent consultant and in the public and private sectors and is familiar with guidelines and practices in the United States and New Zealand. Her experience includes peer reviews, internal erosion assessments, potential failure mode analyses, semi-quantitative risk assessments, stopbank design, and dam remediation design.

Miguel Rocha

Principal Dam Safety Engineer

Damsafety Intelligence

Miguel joined Dam Safety Intelligence in 2025 after nearly 30 years with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, where he held senior leadership roles in dam safety and infrastructure risk management. He is a civil engineer and certified project management professional with extensive experience overseeing dam safety programs, managing a portfolio of over 360 dams, and leading national policy development. His expertise includes risk-informed decision-making, asset management, and program execution for dams that could lead to life loss. Miguel values collaborative partnerships and brings a strategic, systems-level perspective to dam safety reviews, risk assessments, and performance monitoring and assessment.

Mojtaba Farrokh

Senior Principal Structural Engineer

ABuild Consulting Engineers Limited

Dr Mojtaba Farrokh is a Senior Principal Structural Engineer with over two decades of experience in the analysis, design, and safety assessment of complex civil infrastructure, with a particular focus on concrete dams and associated structures. He has contributed to the design and analysis of several major concrete dam projects, including dams over 200 metres high, and to ICOLD International Benchmark Workshops on the Numerical Analysis of Dams. His expertise includes advanced numerical modelling, seismic assessment, optimisation of concrete dam construction, and the development of specialised computational tools for dam analysis and design.

Peter Fox

Dam Safety & Civil Engineering Team Leader

Meridian Energy New Zealand

Peter is the Dam Safety and Civil Engineering Team Leader with Meridian Energy New Zealand. Peter is an Engineer with 8 years’ experience across New Zealand and Australia in the Dams industry. After 7 years in consulting Peter moved into the asset owner space to focus on managing the safety of some of New Zealand’s most critical and iconic hydropower and renewable energy assets.

Dr Rajika Jayaratne

Chief Engineer

Greater Wellington Regional Council

Dr Rajika Jayaratne is Chief Engineer at Greater Wellington Regional Council, providing technical leadership and assurance for major flood-protection, catchment management and river-resilience programmes. She is a water resources engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in hydrology, hydraulics, hydropower engineering and flood-risk management, gained through senior consulting roles in New Zealand and internationally. Rajika holds a PhD in Water and Environmental Engineering and is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, Chartered Professional Engineer and International Professional Engineer.

Rebecca Polvere

Principal Engineer – Dam Safety

Damwatch

Rebecca Polvere is a Principal Engineer – Dam Safety at Damwatch Engineering. Rebecca has extensive dam safety management experience gained as both a dam owner and technical practitioner in New Zealand and overseas. Rebecca has been involved in all aspects of dam safety and asset management for dams and their auxiliary structures, including inspections and assessments of dams, reservoirs, gates, tunnels, and related infrastructure. Since being back in New Zealand, she been involved in the delivery of large heavy civil projects, including preliminary design, procurement, detailed design, and construction. As a Recognised Engineer (Dam Safety) for both Dam Safety Assurance Programme and Potential Impact Classification, Rebecca is current supporting Clients to become compliant with the Dam Safety regulations.

Santh Gunasena

Chartered Civil Engineer

Eng. Sanath Gunasena, a Chartered Civil Engineer (IESL) and Consulting Engineer (OSE), has over 20 years’ experience in dam engineering, dam safety, flood management and construction project management across Sri Lanka and Oman. His recent career includes leading construction of the Lower Malwathu Oya multipurpose dam project as Project Director and delivering Oman’s Al Jufainah flood-protection dam as Resident Engineer (Engineer’s Representative). He currently rehabilitates Wadi Dayqah Dam, Oman’s largest water-storage dam, covering intake-structure steel-pipework rehabilitation, sealing the leaking intake structure–RCC dam joint, concrete repairs, and mineral/sediment removal. He holds a Master of Construction with Distinction in Construction Project Management from Massey University, New Zealand, a Master of Disaster Management focused on floods, hydraulics and hydrology from GRIPS, Japan, and a BSc in Civil Engineering, and is a Member of Engineering New Zealand and NZSOLD. His Senanayake Samudraya experience provides practical insight into ageing-dam surveillance, rehabilitation, verification and residual-risk management.

Steve O’Dea

Partner

Anderson Lloyd

Steve is a construction and infrastructure partner at law firm Anderson Lloyd with a particular interest in dams and water projects. Across England, Singapore, and New Zealand, Steve has advised Principals, Contractors, and Engineers on a wide range of projects, from conception through to completion, including troubleshooting along the way.

He co-authored the Construction and Commissioning chapter of the updated NZSOLD guidelines, and Steve’s recent water projects include the Waimea Dam, the Arnold Dam, various stopbanks, the Rangitata Diversion Race, and the Kaipapa, Matawii and Otawere reservoirs.

Thomas Wallace

Water Resources Engineer

BE(hons), ME, PhD

Tonkin + Taylor

Thomas is a water resources engineer at Tonkin and Tonkin with a focus on flood modelling and stopbank breaches. Before joining Tonkin and Taylor, he completed his PhD exploring levee breaching, dam operation, and their cascading consequences for flooding and community risk. This research, alongside his master’s determining the flood effects of undocumented stopbanks, sparked a deep interest in flooding, flood protection, dam operation and how they can be used to reduce the risk our communities face.

Tom Newson

Programme Manager

Mercury

Tom Newson is Programme Manager – Major Civil at Mercury, leading the delivery of major dam safety and civil infrastructure projects. With extensive experience in project governance, technical assurance, risk management and alliance delivery, he works with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders to achieve safe, sustainable and value-driven outcomes for New Zealand’s renewable energy infrastructure.

Tung Hoang

Senior Dam Engineer

Tonkin + Taylor

Tung Hoang is a Principal Dam Engineer based in Wellington with Tonkin & Taylor. He is a Recognised Engineer PIC & DSAP. His experience has developed through working on multiple aspects of dam engineering, including dam design, investigation, risk assessment, dam safety and surveillance reviews. Tung is passionate about integrating lessons learned from other disciplines into dam engineering practice. He has worked on dam and stopbank projects in Australia, New Zealand, as well as other countries.

Vis (Yuanzhi) Chen

Senior Geotechnical Engineer

BE(Hons), PhD, MEngNZ

Engineering Geology Limited

Vis is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer at Engineering Geology Limited, specialising in dam, tailings, and earthquake engineering. She is currently the Project Director for mining projects in Australia, the seismic assessment programme for Watercare, and multiple water storage dam projects across New Zealand.

Passionate about helping asset owners make informed decisions, Vis provides technical advice on tailings facilities, dams, and seismic hazards, supporting clients to better understand the risks within their portfolios and prioritise risk-reduction strategies. Her experience spans the entire lifecycle of dams and tailings storage facilities, from concept development and design to construction, operation, dam safety assurance, and risk management.

Before joining EGL, Vis completed a PhD in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering at the University of Auckland. She enjoys bridging complex technical challenges with practical solutions and is driven by the opportunity to improve the safety, resilience, and long-term performance of critical infrastructure.

Xavier Bradley

Dam Engineer

MEng

Tonkin + Taylor

Xavier brings five years of dam safety experience across the UK and New Zealand. He has designed and developed dam safety assurance programmes and management systems, leading their implementation and applying them to effectively manage and resolve dam safety issues across a diverse portfolio of sites.