Steve joined the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) in October 2020 and is responsible for ensuring the Inland Rail Program’s continuing commitment to health, safety and environment (HSE) – at work, in the community and at home. As a chartered HSE professional, Steve has held a range of diverse leadership roles and has more than 20 years’ rail infrastructure experience in the public and private sector, both within Australia and overseas. Before joining Inland Rail, Steve held executive positions in Transport for NSW, including responsibility for all operational readiness activities required to deliver Australia’s first driverless railway on the Sydney Metro project. As Executive Director – Safety, Steve provided expertise to help ensure the safe journey of 6 million NSW transport customers each day and had overall accountability for the health, safety and wellbeing of a 25,000-strong workforce. His leadership in developing and implementing all aspects of HSE policy and frameworks, and his passion for delivering global best practice outcomes, has seen him recognised with several peak industry awards.

Kirsty Baxter has over 22 years of experience in the rail industry across Australia and the UK. With a profound understanding of safety and risk management within transport and construction environments, coupled with her unwavering commitment to safety excellence and innovative solutions, Kirsty has spearheaded numerous risk-based safety strategies, initiatives, and systems throughout her career.

Her professional journey features pivotal roles at rail operators Network Rail and Yarra Trams, where she honed her skills in implementing best practice safety management systems. Kirsty's tenure as a regulator at PTSV/TSV/ONRSR and WorkSafe Victoria saw her overseeing the implementation of contemporary regulatory compliance approaches. Renowned for her fervent commitment to fostering a culture continuous improvement, Kirsty leveraged her passion for data analysis, systems thinking, and learning organization approaches to dissect complex problems and introduce innovative solutions for safer outcomes across the industry.

Most recently, Kirsty has demonstrated versatility and capability in challenging environments through pivotal roles in major rail construction projects with Lendlease and in her current position at McConnell Dowell.

Beyond her professional career, Kirsty is an avid traveler and photographer, with a keen interest in sports. However, her greatest joy lies in spending quality time with her beloved cavoodle, Coby.

Chadi is an executive leader with more than 20 years experience spanning international and domestic markets across aviation, healthcare, and rail sectors. He has enjoyed a diverse career having worked in consultancy, private, public and start-up companies and is currently the Executive Director of Safety, Environment, Quality and Risk for Sydney Trains at Transport for NSW. Chadi worked in the Airline Industry for 10 years before joining Rail industry, and held senior leadership roles which included Head of Offshore Airport Operations across Qantas’ 20 offshore destinations. In the safety space Chadi was Head of Regulatory Compliance, Safety, Health & Environment for Qantas. Chadi holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Science from the University of Sydney, an Executive Master’s degree in Business from the University of NSW and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is equally passionate about innovation and safety and sees the two as co-dependent, complimentary partners in organisational success

Adrian Rowland is General Manager Safety Operations, for Metro Trains Melbourne. Adrian provides MTM with leadership in the areas of safety management and risk, fields in which he has extensive experience. He has specialist knowledge in system safety, risk management,human factors and the integration of safety management systems. His current area of research is creating effective safety change in organisations. Prior to MTM, Adrian was Director of Safety at Yarra Trams, Director of Safety at Tigerair with Virgin Australia and ED Safety Improvement with the Independent Transport Safety Regulator in NSW. From 2006-2012, Adrian was with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), where he was responsible for introducing the ICAO Safety Management Systems approach and requirements into the Australian Aviation Industry. Adrian also has considerable experience as a system safety and human factors consultant. He has developed human factors programs including the Australian Defence Force initial CRM Program and Threat and Error Management training for GAPAN and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Adrian has also worked as an aviation safety manager in the Middle East and previous to that he served in both the RAAF and RAF flying and instructing on aircraft such as the Buccaneer, F-111 and Tornado. Adrian has three children and loves living in Australia and Melbourne. He enjoys mountaineering, cycling and flying, not necessarily at the same time. In his own words, he is not as old as he looks and not as green as he is ‘cabbage looking’.