View All Speakers

11:25

12:05

August 6, 2026

From Apprentice to CEO: 40 Years of Maintenance & Reliability Lessons

Perspective
Main Stage
Day 01

What does a reliability problem look like from the workshop floor? From the control room? From the boardroom? The answer - after 40 years - is that it looks like a completely different problem. Same failure. Different stakes, different language, different consequences.

Brian traces a journey from apprentice to CEO, using that shift in perspective as a lens on everything that has, and hasn't, changed in maintenance and reliability. The technology has transformed. Safety expectations have risen. Data is everywhere. And yet the fundamentals that actually determine whether organisations succeed, like disciplined routines, frontline ownership, and learning loops that stop repeat failures, remain as rare and as hard-won as ever.

For technical professionals with an eye on leadership, this session goes beyond the engineering. It addresses the hidden curriculum of reliability leadership: how to communicate risk without losing credibility, how to navigate competing stakeholder priorities, and how to advance without compromising the standards that got you here.

Real experiences. Real mistakes. Real recoveries.

Topics:

Strategic Misalignment and the Language Barrier

Speakers

Brian Ropitini
Brian Ropitini

Chief Executive

ETEL Transformers

Related Sessions

Justina Stromnes

Organisation Psych and Leadership Coach

Leading Reliability: The Human Side of Maintenance Excellence

Jane Bydder

Genesis Energy

Yolanda Babnik

Transurban

Jason Apps

Accenture

Amir Saberi

AGL

PANEL: The AI Reality Check – From Hype to Operational Value

Erik Vandenberg

Verbrec

Luciano Beltrao

Santos

Reliability in Action: How Santos Reduced Downtime, Inventory Costs and Operational Risk

6-7 August 2026

CENTREPIECE at Melbourne Park

See you there!