President
John Drake
Managing Director, The Drake Group
Vice President
Miles Crawford
General Manager, CMV Group
Directors
Heather Bone
Director ESG, Team Global Express
Shay Chalmers
Chief Executive Officer, GLT Trailers
Tony Clark
Managing Director , NTI
Rod Cunningham
Executive Consultant, Cunningham Consulting
Craig Lee
Executive General Manager, On-Highway, Penske Australia
Roy Lombardi
Chief Executive Officer, Howard Porter & Steelbro Trailers
Rob Smedley
Managing Director, Smedley’s Engineers
Daniel Whitehead
President & CEO, Daimler Truck Australia Pacific
Team
Todd Hacking
Chief Executive Officer
Todd holds a double degree in Arts (Politics) and Law from the University of Adelaide and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
He has forged a successful career advocating public policy solutions for a range of industries, including infrastructure, transport, land use planning, environment, safety, construction, and logistics.
As CEO of Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia, the peak body for truck, trailer, component, equipment and technology manufacturers and suppliers, as well as being the custodian of the largest B2B event in Queensland, the Brisbane Truck Show, Todd is delving into the policy areas affecting the heavy vehicle industry.
On weekends, he moonlights as a marriage celebrant, is an avid AFL fan, a horse racing enthusiast and is at his most comfortable cooking in the kitchen.
Vanessa Finnerty
Marketing Manager
Vanessa boasts over 15 years’ experience in event management including administration, planning, staffing, negotiation, budgets, logistics, scheduling, time management, travel, marketing and OH&S
Prior to joining HVIA she worked at Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia and The Tax Institute.
At HVIA she is responsible for co-ordinating communications and marketing activities around key events including the Brisbane Truck Show, TruckShowX, HVIA National Awards, The Executive Club and Member Forums.
Vanessa also has responsibility for management and coordination of our industry training arm, HVIA Training.
Graham Gardiner
National Communications Manager
Editor – ROADBOSS Magazine
Graham Gardiner boasts more than three decades’ experience in business journalism.
With a family background in transport, he started out as a young cub reporter on weekly business newspaper Business Queensland before working his way up to the role of publisher of a suite of leading B2B titles, including Australasian Bus & Coach, Australasian Transport News, Owner//Driver, Deals on Wheels, Earthmovers & Excavators and Farms & Farm Machinery.
Under his leadership, the group dramatically expanded audience reach and engagement across its six key platforms: print, web, email, social, events, and TV and video.
In 2023 Graham joined HVIA to launch ROADBOSS magazine as well as take on the dual role of National Communications Manager.
Harrison Hunkin
National Manager – Partnerships & Member Engagement
Harrison Hunkin grew up in and around trucks at the family transport business. Deciding to take a different path, he fell into journalism, where he ultimately found his way back into the world of trucks and machinery, writing for some of Australia’s premier farming and transport publications.
Harrison was the driving force behind the highly successful Mighty Machines TV show, which he co-hosted for two series on Channel 10 in 2019-21.
He now holds the dual roles of National Manager – Partnerships & Member Engagement and Deputy Editor of HVIA’s quarterly ROADBOSS Magazine.
Aaron Johnstone
Chief Advocacy Officer
Aaron brings more than 30 years’ experience to HVIA as a strategic public policy and industry association leader shaping economic, regulatory and industry outcomes across government, business and peak industry groups.
This includes experience in manufacturing, renewable energy, construction materials, vocational education and training, and resources sectors.
From 2010 to 2023 he was Queensland Director of Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia (CCAA), the peak national industry association for Australia’s heavy construction materials sector, including pre-mixed concrete, quarries and cement facilities. Prior to that, Aaron was Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Australian Industry Group’s Queensland division.
Aaron has undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications in public administration and politics.
Kay Marco
National Events Manager
Kay is the National Events Manager at HVIA. She is responsible for overseeing HVIA’s flagship event, the Brisbane Truck Show as well as sister show TruckShowX. Kay joined HVIA in 2021 as the National Events Coordinator, bringing over a decade of experience from her previous role at Moreton Hire, where she and Noelene worked closely, as well as 15 years spent running her own personal concierge business.
Kay’s journey with HVIA began when she was contracted to run the first South Bank Truck Festival in 2019. Her expertise and dedication quickly earned her a permanent position within the organization. In her current role, Kay is committed to enhancing the Brisbane Truck Show and ensuring its continued success as the premier event in the industry. She also loves doing jigsaw puzzles!
Rachel Michaud
Chief Engineer
Rachel has been in the Transport Industry for over 15years, with much of this time spent specialising in Heavy Vehicle Electronic Braking, Roll Stability and Driver Assistance Systems. She has been fortunate enough to travel to New Zealand and Europe to attend multiple electronic braking workshops held by global experts, and apply this knowledge to the design and improvement of Australian braking systems and standards.
Rachel holds her Multi-Combination drivers’ licence for Heavy Vehicles from her time at Knorr-Bremse. A highlight of her career was doing rollover test driving with Kenworth’s, Mack’s, Isuzu’s, and other vehicles on the Skid Pan in Shepparton. This testing validated a reduction in the vehicle and/or combinations likelihood to roll when the safety systems were fitted and operational.
At HVIA, Rachel advocates for positive change in the industry, supports members with technical enquiries and contributes to improvements in diversity, education, efficiency, and innovation within our industry.
Adam Ritzinger
Chief Technical Officer
Adam is an experienced and accomplished mechanical engineer embedded in Australia’s heavy vehicle transport industry.
He is a passionate trucking and transport enthusiast who understands trucks, the regulations they operate under, and the stakeholders that influence the transport industry at all levels.
Adam maintains a strong involvement with many stakeholder groups, and regularly meets with national regulatory and road authority staff to keep abreast of new developments in heavy vehicle policy, regulations, and compliance and enforcement activities.
Steve Power
National Manager – Strategic Projects & Business Improvement
Steve has been an advocate for the heavy vehicle industry since the mid-2000s. At the ATA, he created the Trucking Australia conference model, redefined the Technical and Maintenance Conference, led the Safety Truck program, and managed national partnerships.
Since joining HVIA in 2016, Steve has driven the growth of HVIA’s communication channels and the marketing strategy for four Brisbane Truck Shows. He is now focused on developing projects and processes to deliver even greater outcomes for HVIA’s growing national membership and team.
Yolande Smith
Administration & Membership Assistant
Yolande comes from a Marketing Admin Specialist background with over 4 years of experience in association land.
She joins HVIA in the membership space.
Jenny wilson
National Events Coordinator
Jenny is new to HVIA, however not to event management, having worked with both Noelene and Kay at Moreton Hire for over 10 years some time ago. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Recreation management (community leisure, facility management, and event planning) from Griffith University.
Before joining HVIA, she worked for over ten years with an accredited training organisation specialising in best practice training in an administrator role responsible for promoting, scheduling, and coordinating training, managing participants, and organising trainers and venues. Multi-tasking, attention to detail and working to deadlines are all proving transferable skills for the organisation of the Brisbane Truck Show and other smaller events. Other positions held include for public relations and a marketing company. Jenny enjoys building relationships with stakeholders with the aim to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, and looks forward to attending her first Truck Show. She is also addicted to pickleball.