Our People
Our team of around 30 staff and specialist subcontractors are well known and respected by many local councils, private contractors, and various state government agencies across NSW.
Dion Killiby
Managing Director – FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER APEC Engineer IntPE (Aus)
Dion is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and is a member of the college of Leadership and Management holding the level of EngExec. He is a practicing civil engineer with over 20 years’ experience in project and program management, principally in road and bridge development and construction. His experience includes managing major projects throughout the project lifecycle, as well as infrastructure program management, including the management of capital and operational budgets for TfNSW, local government, and private sector businesses. He leads a team of around 30 dedicated professionals across Regional NSW.
Kylie Delaat
Office Manager
Based in our Bathurst office, Kylie provides the glue for our day-to-day operations. From timesheets to invoicing, HR to fleet management – if you want to know how to do something, or where to find something, Kylie is your key contact. Over many years her professionalism and attention to detail has underpinned our back-office operations. Kylie is also the welcoming front-office point of contact for our clients and colleagues when attending head office in Bathurst.
Renee Elliott
Team Lead Roads / Risk / Audits – CompIEAust CQP MCQI
Renee is an experienced and trusted quality assurance and risk manager who is recognised as a leader in construction quality in Australia. Before joining Western Project Services, Renee was part of the delivery team for Australia’s largest regional infrastructure project, the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade. Her prior experience includes over 19 years in delivering construction projects across Australia in the road, water and mining sectors. She has achieved Chartered status with the Chartered Quality Institute UK / Wales and in 2020 awarded Companion Grade by Engineers Australia for her contribution in construction quality on major projects in Australia. She is an experienced Quality Auditor, achieving and maintaining the grade of Lead Auditor with Exemplar Global. Renee has extensive experience leading teams, identifying and delivering lessons learnt and business improvement opportunities related to quality on construction projects.
Ron de Rooy
Senior Project Manager – BE Civil (Hons) / CPEng / NER
Ron (CPEng) came to WPS after completing the successful delivery of the Foxground to Berry Bypass on the Princes Highway. With over 40 years’ experience in various roles in the DMR, RTA, RMS and Transport for NSW, Ron has overseen many major contracts across all project phases. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our team including but not limited to tender preparation and assessment, claims assessment, contract review, stakeholder management, project management, document preparation and design review. Ron is also a CPEng and mentor to younger members of the WPS team.
Steve Houston
Senior Project Manager – BE Civil (Hons) / CPEng / NER
Steve (CPEng/NER) is an experienced and results driven engineer and project manager, with a demonstrated ability to drive successful project outcomes from the staff and subcontractors under his care and control. Steve possesses a wide range of skills including construction programming, project management, estimating, managing projects to TfNSW specifications, contract management to GC21 and AS2124, and personnel management of large groups and teams. Having worked in various roles for QLD Department of Transport and Main Roads, Transport for NSW, and local government, he brings a wealth of experience and understanding of all levels of government operations to the WPS team, especially in regional environments.
Luke McDermott
Senior Project Engineer – BE Civil / Dip Eng Practice (Hons)
Luke is an experienced and results driven project engineer with excellent people skills. He has demonstrated the ability to lead and manage staff and subcontractors to deliver successful project outcomes. Luke’s background includes construction programming, project management, contract management to GC21 and AS2124, and personnel management of large groups and teams. Luke has a strong grasp of local government processes including application of Roads Act 1993 and lifecycle asset management processes. He is currently leading the Great Western Highway upgrade near Bathurst, managing an embedded WPS/TfNSW site management team with much success.
Ahmed Terra
Project Manager – BE Civil
Ahmed joined WPS in 2020 and has quickly become an important part of the delivery team. He is an accomplished civil project engineer with a proven record of over 15 years in construction and delivery of roads, bridges and civil structures. He has experience in greenfield and brownfield projects with special interest in structures and roads construction. Some of his key skills include cost control and analysis, preparation and review of budgets, planning and scheduling, liaison and planning traffic switches, and quality assurance management. He is a problem solver with a can-do attitude and adds considerable depth and skill to the team.
James Byrne
Senior Project Engineer – BE Civil
Before joining Western Project Services, James was part of the delivery team for Australia’s largest regional infrastructure project, the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade. James’ background combined with experience working on various projects and teams of differing delivery models has provided him with the skillset to be an effective and dependable team player who communicates well with subcontractors, colleagues, project verifiers, clients and stakeholders alike. His analytical approach and practical thinking combined with a thirst for improving his knowledge and that of those around him, mean that he is constantly searching for new and innovative methods to apply day-to-day.
Mark Ward
Site Superintendent
Mark has over 25 years’ experience in site works and supervision. He also has extensive experience in contractor management, the day-to-day management of site works, report writing and quality assurance requirements. Mark has amassed a wealth of experience with TfNSW bridge design and construction, pavement construction, service installation, drainage and bulk earthworks. Mark also has extensive knowledge of environmental systems and controls and brings years of aggregated wisdom and learnings to any site he leads.
Terry James
Site Supervisor
Terry has over 25 years’ experience in road maintenance and construction. He came to WPS after roles on the Australia’s largest regional infrastructure project, the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade. Terry has experience in all aspects of civil construction, in particular safety, environmental and quality systems, earthworks, bridgeworks and all types of pavement, concrete, drainage, signage and finishing works. His many years of experience ensure he is able to handle with ease the pressure involved with major projects. Terry has a knack for being able to identify and defuse situations or issues before they arise.
Samuel Schodel
Project Engineer – BE Civil
Sam is part of our Queensland connection. He is an experienced and results driven project engineer with a wide range of civil infrastructure experience in road embankments, drainage, reinforced and post tensioned concrete, pavements, earthworks and development works. In addition to physical delivery of projects, Sam also has a broad range of exposure to and experience in construction project management, tendering and estimating, construction and procurement contracts, drafting and presenting. Sam is a central part of our traffic management and site delivery offering to our regional clients.
Joel Cowling
Project Engineer – BE Civil (Hons)
Based in the Central West of NSW, before joining WPS Joel cut his teeth in local government where he oversaw many rural and urban projects. He has demonstrated strong team leadership and mentoring skills in roles in road safety, design and project development. Joel has a passion for project management and uses LEAN methodology to improve processes and increase productivity. Joel understands and can communicate the specific needs of regional and rural communities. He is well suited to developing and leading regional infrastructure projects.
Aaron Hollier
Project Engineer – BTech/ME (Civil) – In progress
Aaron is an enthusiastic and dedicated project engineer with a passion for construction, project management and people management. He has worked extensively throughout regional NSW, conducting ground investigations, pavement investigations, site classifications, gravel pit investigations and producing the associated factual reports. His broader skill set encompasses engineering geology, site engineering and civil earthworks. With a background in teaching, music and small business, Aaron is truly one of our all-rounders.
David Ghrayche
Project Engineer – BTech/ME (Civil) – In progress
David manages the tech behind much of our road safety program, crash analysis and curve analysis. His high-level skills in data analysis, macro creation and manipulation, and mastery of hardware and software, keeps our office humming. His creative thinking and effective planning help us to meet our clients’ needs. David is leading the charge with our curve analysis work underpinning a niche section of our rapidly expanding road safety initiatives.
Venessa Green
Environmental Officer – GradCert EnvEngMngt / DipEnv Health and Building Surveying / DipAppSc Env Science
Venessa recently joined the WPS team in Bathurst after developing her skills within a wide range of roles across Australia and Papua New Guinea, in local and state government as well as private firms in the mining industry. As a result, Venessa has high level skills in managing and liaising with clients, stakeholders and community groups. Venessa works closely with all internal and external team members to build and maintain strong working relationships, to ensure best-for-project outcomes across our business.
Jonathon McEvoy
Project Officer – Adv Dip Civil Eng Design
Jono thrives in being part of a team of highly motivated professionals, where he is constantly able to build upon his technical knowledge with the objective of adding value for Western Project Services and our core clients such as TfNSW and local government agencies. Previously having held senior roles in the hospitality industry, he brings to his current roles those important skills honed through years of interactions with clients and customers, now translated to suit engineers, draftsmen, architects and site representatives.
Praful Vijay
Project Officer – MSc (Structural), BTech (Civil)
Praful is actively challenging Aaron for WPS all-rounder status. In addition to being a Civil Project Engineer with experience in construction materials and special interest in road and bridge construction, he is also a gifted photographer, dancer and MC. Praful has a pragmatic approach to all tasks and demonstrate high attention to detail in all he undertakes. He has worked in the field of construction materials and has acquired expertise with state-of- the-art technology and 3D printing in construction. He is well-travelled and possess the ability to absorb and apply specific knowledge from a variety of formal and informal learning experiences, and adds breadth and depth to our team.
Jack Baron
Undergraduate Engineer – BTech/ME (Civil) – In progress
Jack joined us on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) student engineer program. His first-year placement was such a success we asked him to stay on for a second year. He is smart, positive and willing to try his hand at any support role to develop a wide range of skills and abilities as quickly and effectively as possible. Jack has already added real and tangible value to many projects and programs for which WPS is responsible and has demonstrated himself to be an asset to any team of which he is a part.
Kahala Dwyer
Administration
Kahala is based in our Bathurst office and is currently undertaking a traineeship in Business Administration. She is a fast learner with the proven ability to user her initiative and problem-solving skills to successfully deal with challenges and effectively handle difficult situations when they arise. Her positive can-do attitude has been embraced by the team. She is part of the very necessary support team that keeps all at WPS on track.
In addition to these core staff, WPS has a number of specialist subcontractors with whom we work on a regular basis. Each brings to our team broad ranging experience across multiple dicplines and project life cycle phases, as and when required.
Bathurst (Head Office)
1/233 Stewart Street
Bathurst NSW 2795
Parkes
6/344 Clarinda Street
Parkes NSW 2870
Coffs Harbour
1/32 Moonee Street
Coffs Harbour NSW 2450
