Management Team

Michael Bannister, BSc, BE, PhD

Program Manager - Operations and Sustainment

Dr Michael Bannister has over 22 years of research experience in the field of composite materials. He joined the (then called) Cooperative Research Centre for Aerospace Structures in 1992 and has spent the subsequent 18 years gaining significant expertise in a wide range of composite technologies, including advanced Non-destructive Inspection (NDI) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), resin development, nanocomposites and advanced textile reinforcements.

Michael is currently a Program Manager at ACS Australia, managing contract R&D activities with major international companies, simultaneously leading the research activity within the CRC-ACS program in Operations and Sustainment. He also manages the Education Program at CRC-ACS and holds the position of Professorial Fellow at RMIT University. Michael has over 100 journal and conference publications, has co-authored a book on 3-D fibre reinforced composites and was a section editor for the “Encyclopaedia of Structural Health Monitoring” (Wiley 2009).

Andrew Beehag, BE (Mech), PhD

Operations Manager

Dr Andrew Beehag has been involved in an array of technical, business development and commercialisation activities for CRC-ACS and ACS Australia since 1996. Areas of composites technology development include the manufacture and assembly of thermoplastic composites, pultrusion, surface coatings and wear mechanics. Andrew is a co-inventor of Thermoset Composite Welding (TCW), which allows rapid assembly of carbon-epoxy composites through the integration of a functional thermoplastic layer (currently two granted patents and six provisional patents). He has more recently established and led research programs into plant fibre biocomposites.

Simultaneously Andrew was directly responsible for IP and patent management until 2008, including the drafting of patents and licensing of composites technology, as well as development of research valuation methodology. As New Program Coordinator in 2008/09 he led a successful team to secure $14 million Australian Govt funding for the continued operation of CRC-ACS. He led the marketing and business plan establishment of ACS Australia, and continues development of new ACS Australia business.

Andrew leads the Sydney office of ACS Australia.

Denise Bennett

Administration Manager

Denise Bennett started with CRC-ACS on a part-time basis in April 1993 and then full time in September 1993 as an Administration Assistant. Denise was appointed to the role of Company Accountant on the 1 August 1999, and the role of Administration Coordinator on the 11 June 2007.

Denise has attended various professional development courses on company administration, including specific seminars on FBT and Salary Packaging, to assist her in the role of Company Accountant. She has also participated in advanced Excel spreadsheet courses to better improve the monthly reporting process. Denise has also attended a Supervisors course to assist her in the role of Administration Coordinator.

Denise most recently took on additional responsibilty with the resignation of the Administration Manager in August 2009. Since this time she has taken on the role of Public Office and Company Secretary. The result of this additional responsiblity is reflected in the ability of the Administration team to function effectively.

Paul Falzon, BEng (Aero), PhD

Business Manager

Dr Paul Falzon has over 18 years of research and development experience in the field of advanced composite materials and manufacturing. In that time, he has been responsible for leading and managing research projects focussed primarily in manufacturing and joining of composites with the principal aim of reducing process cost and improving quality. These projects involved the research, development and demonstration of manufacturing technologies for aerospace, maritime, oil and gas and general composites sectors.

A highlight was the development of a liquid moulding technology which has been successfully adopted by Australian industry and used to produce aerospace components for business valued at AUD 4 billion.

As Business Manager, Paul is responsible for formulating and managing research activities for commercial clients who have a need to develop and/or evaluate a composite material related product. Clients have included Boeing, Bombardier and PETRONAS and a large number of Australian SMEs.

Paul has also published over 40 journal articles and conference papers in composites manufacturing related topics.

Martin Jones, BSc (Physics), PhD (Elec Eng)

Intellectual Property and Quality Manager

Martin has been involved in materials/composites research for ten years. In 2008 Martin joined CRC-ACS as Intellectual Property & Membership Coordinator. He is now the Intellectual Property and Quality Manager for ACS Australia. This role involves the management of the Intellectual Property portfolio, including Patent applications and commercialisation agreements.

Martin gained his PhD in 1990 from University College, London in the field of microwave antenna arrays. In parallel, his work career in the 1980s focussed on aircraft radar technology and electronic warfare, working for GEC Avionics and Thorn-EMI.

In 1991, Martin left the UK and joined the Williamstown shipyard in Melbourne as a systems engineer. He was part of a team responsible for the delivery of the internal and external communication systems for the ANZAC Ship Project, considered to be the most successful major defence project in Australian history. Martin then became Research and Development Manager for Tenix, where he was responsibly for Intellectual Property management and product development (including materials research) that contributed to major defence and maritime tender successes.

Rowan Paton, BE (Mat'ls Eng), MESci

Program Manager - Materials and Manufacture

Rowan joined the CRC-ACS just after its formation, and soon became responsible for all manufacturing research projects. Later Rowan also established the role of IP Manager, developing the IP management systems for CRC-ACS. He led CRC‑ACS involvement in the EU 6^th Framework Program “MOJO” which won a JEC Innovation prize for joining methods for composite structures. Other technical achievements include development of forming methods for prepreg stacks and dry fibre preforms; maturation of the Thermoset Composite Welding (TCW) joining process and invention of related technologies; and development of many liquid moulding methods for composites.

Rowan has more than 25 years of experience with composites, beginning with the construction of three kayaks as an engineering student. He began his formal career as Materials and Process Engineer at Government Aircraft Factories, including a secondment to Boeing in Seattle. Later he joined two small start-up aircraft manufacturers, Ligeti Aeronautical and Sky-High Promotions.

Rodney Thomson, BEng (Aero), PhD

Program Manager - Design and Analysis

Dr Rodney Thomson has over 18 years of research and development experience in the design and analysis of composite structures for aerospace, maritime, automotive and oil & gas applications. In that time, he led and managed research and commercial projects in low and high energy impact, helicopter crashworthiness testing and simulation, bird-strike simulation, optimisation algorithms for composites, low-cost composites for automotive applications and improved computational methods for predicting failure of composite structures. He led long-standing research collaborations with Airbus, the German Aerospace Centre and the US Naval Research Laboratories, as well as the CRC‑ACS contribution to the European Union 6^th Framework Program COCOMAT. He has over 70 journal and conference publications and has contributed two book chapters.

Rodney is currently a Program Manager at ACS Australia, managing contract R&D activities with major international companies. He is also Program Leader for Simulation and Systems Development at the CRC-ACS.