Volunteer Spotlight: Craig Cowper

1. I understand your current role is with Alliance as their Technical Director for environment. Can you share a bit about your current role and any interesting projects/works you’ve had the opportunity to work on at Alliance?

I’m lucky that my role doesn’t have a ‘typical day’. Each day is different, each project is different. A healthy mix of acting as project director on a lot of our projects, doing tech reviews of reports before they get issued to clients, providing tech support and training to our environment team (and to some of our clients if they have a bit of an extra tricky problem that needs solving). I find every project interesting … different clients, different sites, different risks, different stakeholders … the variety definitely keep me interested and motivated. I enjoy firing up the grey matter on some of Alliance’s more complex projects involving soil vapour and groundwater, as well as being able to do third party peer reviews and expert witness stuff too.

2. You have been very generous with your time as a volunteer with ALGA over the (many) years, including having held numerous senior positions such as Board Director, Chair of the Board and even Interim CEO for a period. Can you share with us a bit of history on your involvement with ALGA and what motivates you to continue to support the association and industry as a volunteer?

My ALGA volunteering started about 15 years ago, when I was working with Tony Scott at Coffey at the time, and he suggested I get involved. Next minute, I was on the Sydney Branch committee, then Branch Chair, then trying to get a NSW regional branch up and running. Then I found myself on the Board as a Director, eventually moving into the Board Chair role. And after stepping down from the Board, I’m now in my third ALGA conference organising committee.

I think there are two key motivators in all that.

The first is that unlike a few other industry associations, ALGA has an open door policy to anyone and everyone that’s associated with land contamination. The industry exists because of consultants, contractors, labs, regulatory agencies, land owners and the community, and they are all encouraged to be involved.

The second is a desire to give back … the environmental industry has supported my career for nearly 30 years, and I reckon its on all of us to return the favour and hopefully leave some kind of legacy that the next generation can build their careers on.

3. What has been the highlight of your volunteering experience at ALGA?

I’m struggling to narrow it down to just one highlight. I think it’s been a mix of seeing growth in engagement between industry and ALGA, seeing how companies like Alliance support staff in volunteer roles with ALGA, opportunities to be a part of events like ecoforum, and finally that moment in 2022 I got told an ALGA honorary lifetime membership award was coming my way – that one left me speechless!

4. In this edition of e-cronicle, our theme is focused on how innovation and technology supports our sector. Given the time you have invested in the sector, when thinking about the changes you’ve seen, are there any innovative initiatives or technological advances that have stood out to you as having a significant impact on how we detect or remediate contaminated sites?

Speed and data access really stands out to me ... not so much an innovation, perhaps more a by-product of changes in technology. Gone are the days of waiting a week for your fieldwork photos to be developed at the chemist, or checking the mailbox for site documents to arrive via snail mail, or doing site research on microfiche records, not being able to see readings until you were back in the office and connected the logger to a clunky desktop computer.

These days, we get data on almost anything in real time, make split second decisions in the field with video support from a PM that’s in an office hundreds of kilometres away … its only simple stuff, but its astounding at how quick projects can move these days.

I wonder about what technology changes, that we haven’t even thought of yet, might exist in 30 year’s time.

5. Thinking about the future of ALGA and the role it plays in the sector, what excites you the most about continuing to be part of ALGA and our volunteer community?

Seeing ALGA grow, seeing the less obvious sectors becoming more engaged in this industry, watching so much enthusiasm from our emerging professionals, getting the opportunity to keep being involved, and encouraging others to throw their hat in the ALGA volunteer ring.

6. One final question: If you could hop in a time machine and chat with your 21-year-old self about their future career working in our sector, what advice would you offer?

Find great mentors, keep asking questions, learn at least one new thing each day, try everything at least once, and make a difference. And find someone offering great odds for a bet on whether an unsuspecting chemical in non-stick pans, rain jackets and pizza boxes, will dominate this industry in about 25-30 years time.

Article Published on 31/05/2024

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