Flashback: 2020 Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award

In honour of HVIA Past President and industry leader Peter Langworthy, the Future Leader Award is in recognition of Peter’s long-standing commitment to the mentoring of young people and supporting their development to leadership roles.

The award acknowledges young people who have recently graduated from an apprenticeship and/or who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within their organisation or the industry. 

The 2020 Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award was presented to John Jackson from Brimarco.

Nominations for the 2021 Awards are now open – closing Friday 27 August 2021.

Read the 2020 winners and finalists profiles below

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John Jackson’s own drive and initiative has underpinned his career progression with Brimarco.

Joining Brimarco in Ballarat at age sixteen, John graduated from his apprenticeship just three years later as a qualified boilermaker. By the age of twenty-one John was Leading Hand, overseeing the manufacture of widening drop deck trailers.

After a successful five-year stint with Jayco, John returned to Ballarat, initially returning to Brimarco’s factory floor as a welder. Before the year was out, however, he was offered the role of Leading Hand and the following year Operations Supervisor for the division. John drove significant process improvements, gaining production efficiencies, without compromising quality.

John is always encouraging his team to want more; whether that is finishing their apprenticeship, striving to be a leader or just to be the best employee they could be. John asks each of them what they want and then works on a plan with them to help them achieve the outcome.

Having engaged with customers at each new trailer delivery, John’s easy rapport was recognised however it was his own idea to step into sales.

Despite no previous sales experience John has matched the previous two years’ sales volume in his first year. Customers value his reliability and responsiveness. He has also developed new channels to market and new sources of lead generation.

John listens to customer’s ideas and recently brought the recommendation to management for a new model to complement the existing range. It has now been fully engineered and the prototype is currently in production, with a customer lined up to test it in the field.

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James’s transition from the Fabrication department to administration, has enabled him to apply his technical knowledge and understanding of the manufacturing processes, to refine and improve supporting systems, offering increased depth and purpose across purchasing, planning, sales, engineering and repairs departments.

James always seeks to understand, to ensure optimal outcomes and benefit to the organisation.

Confident and mature in his approach with key stakeholders across the business, he is fast tracking his knowledge, systems development and value add within his new role.

As an elected Health and Safety Representative, James shows leadership in his response and contribution to risk mitigation, incident management and safety culture. James is not one to walk past and except unsafe practice and will often provide feedback and solutions to management.

Over his employment journey, James has acted as a trainer and coach to new personnel, sharing his knowledge and trade practice.

He is a leader in quality output and will invest his time and knowledge with others to ensure alignment and commitment.

James is open minded and treats all those he works alongside with respect and fairness, in the way that he expects of others.

James is an outstanding example of someone who lives and breathes our company values. He is a team player, who always has a positive attitude and solution focused mindset.

James is passionate about the product, the people and the process and collaborates with others to take them on the journey.

Since his promotion, James has been able to expand the knowledge and awareness of colleagues, bringing valuable insights from his experience on the shop floor.

James regularly brings back recently learnt welding practices to the workplace and shown his fellow colleagues new and improved ways to do the process, often producing a quicker, better quality result.

James attempts to use knowledge and skills gained at trade school to improve the work practices within his area and support greater productivity and ongoing improvement.

He has been a great advocate for the industry in the community, speaking face to face with school leavers about opportunities in a trade career.

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Jarrod Kaye has transformed a team of 30 service personnel in CMV’s Wodonga dealership to be an extremely cohesive, safety focussed, customer centric team.

Jarrod Kaye is an outstanding young Diesel Technician whom since commencing his employment with CMV in 2015 has progressed to leading hand and then to foreman, all within the space of 5 years.

Jarrod’s first foray into mechanics started with a part time job at a performance motorcycle business. Originally employed as a TA, he quickly progressed into a rebuild specialist for both road and trail bikes.

Jarrod’s outstanding work ethic and attitude has earnt him the respect and admiration of people many years older, and with many more years’ experience in the industry,

Jarrod actively mentors and manages a large pool of apprentices ensuring that, along with CMV’s intensive in house training program, they are able to get enough in-depth on-the-job training that they are able to be signed off in 3 years, rather than the standard 4 year Heavy Vehicle apprenticeship.

Jarrod has also put himself through additional auxiliary training components, both within CMV and externally, to further his skills and cement his commitment to our organisation and industry.

Jarrod personally assists customers that require a delicate touch. One example of this was when recently a long-term customer bought 2 new highly specified vehicles, that due to the operation and location they operated in, suffered with a harsh ride issue.

Jarrod actively sought out a solution when one wasn’t easily forthcoming from the manufacturer, fitted the additional hardware himself and then followed through with the customer on a regular basis to confirm that the issue had been rectified to his exacting standards.

This customer will now speak very highly of Jarrod and our entire organisation to anyone who will listen as the above and beyond approach that Jarrod has shown has eliminated what could very easily have been a souring of a very long term relationship, and instead has solidified that relationship even further, once again demonstrating his leadership from the front.