Todd Alder is the CEO and Managing Director of Orbital UAV (ASX:OEC), a propulsion systems developer for military tactical drones, particularly those that undertakes surveillance and intelligence work, built to the size of a typical car.

What’s your journey in becoming a CEO?
From start to now: Chartered accounting, commercial and sales support for overseas start-ups, business process re-engineering for global consulting firm, leadership of large outsourced business processing teams, CFO for Australian listed companies, CEO Orbital UAV.

Tell us a bit about your business and how you are commercializing?
Orbital UAV (ASX:OEC) is a world leader in the design and manufacturer of integrated engine systems for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). We have a long term agreement to supply a range of propulsion systems to Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc., for application across their entire fleet of UAVs. These are predominantly used by US and allied defence forces. In 2020 we were designated Primary Supplier status for all Insitu’s engines requirements.

As we continue to build our reputation in the global defence industry, we have recently expanded our customer base, signing new contracts with leading aerospace company Northrop Grumman, and one of Singapore’s largest defence companies. These contracts have the potential to lead to additional commercial production opportunities for Orbital UAV.

How are you managing with the current COVID-19 pandemic on both business and personal front?
As an advanced aerospace manufacturer supplying global defence prime contractors, we are fortunate that our product demand remains unaffected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Our facilities in Perth, Australia and Oregon, USA have continued to operate. All employees who do not touch product have been working remotely, while our build teams have continued at our production facilities where we have implemented the appropriate measures and strict health and hygiene measures to mitigate the risk posed by COVID-19. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of all our people, our production has not been impacted and we have continued to meet our customers’ demands.

From a personal perspective, a lot of my time is usually spent travelling between our Australia and USA operations. Not being able to travel and following the ‘stay home, stay safe’ directive has meant I’ve had the opportunity to spend a good deal more time with my family, which has been great.

What’s the most exciting thing about running your business?
One of our core values at Orbital UAV is ‘challenge’ – having courage, challenging the status quo and coming up with creative new ideas. For me, that is the most exciting part of our business. I love to see our people embrace that ethos in order to achieve personal objectives and development, move our Company forwards, and deliver on our ambition to be recognised as the world’s leading supplier in our field.

How do you measure success?
Success for us is measured by three groups: employees; customers, and, as a listed company, shareholders.

The success of our business is dependent on the performance of our people. If people have belief and trust in what you are trying to achieve as a Company and how you are going about it, feel valued and rewarded fairly, and see opportunities to develop and grow in their role, I believe that combination creates a strong culture for company success.

For our customers, first, it’s about delivery – doing what we say we’re going to do and doing it to the best of our ability. Second, it’s about partnership. Our customers want us to challenge them, push boundaries, and ultimately deliver the best possible product. Our customers are at the forefront of the UAV industry and they expect us to help them shape its future.

Finally, for our shareholders who own the business, we must demonstrate our ability to deliver on our commitments and drive shareholder value.

What do you think is the most important quality of being a CEO of a listed company?
It doesn’t matter whether it is a listed company or a private company, you have to be authentic and you have to be able to communicate. Every stakeholder – employee, customer, supplier, or shareholder – as CEO, it’s my job to ensure people see, understand and connect with the vision of our business.

What is your favourite book?
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, by Jon Gertner

What message do you want to send to our readership in Asia?
I conducted my first investor roadshow in Singapore earlier this year and I was delighted with the reception I and the Orbital UAV story received. It was also an opportunity for me to meet with our recently announced new customer in Singapore. As we continue to progress that contract, I’m looking forward to spending more time in the region and getting to know our growing investor community there. 

How can people connect with you?
Email:
Website: https://orbitaluav.com/

Whitney Million is the CEO of Aquabotix (ASX:UUV), a  commercial/industrial-grade unmanned underwater vehicles company which design and develop micro-sized, swarming autonomous products for a range of defense applications where urgent requirements exist. We provide cutting edge, flexible use man-machine teaming solutions to counter persistent, growing, and developing security threats.

What’s your journey in becoming a CEO?
I joined Aquabotix as the company’s CEO in 2018, as part of a management restructuring. Prior to this, I spent nine years working with BAE Systems, a multinational defence and security company. Rising through the ranks in a variety of roles related to commercial activities, market development, and new business capture, my last position was focused on industrial strategy, with particular interest in the identification and development of export opportunities for small and medium-sized Australian enterprises. The combination of my defence and export markets development expertise made the transition into Aquabotix fluid.

Tell us a bit about your business and how you are commercializing?
Currently, many shallow water military operations require the support of divers. For example, even basic tasks like pulling a vessel ashore can require hours or days of a dive team’s time to collect oceanographic data. Aquabotix’s mission is to keep these men and women out of harm’s way by designing, developing, and providing micro-sized, reconfigurable swarming autonomous solutions to support safer and more effective operations in shallow water areas, including the notoriously challenging surf zone. Multiple vehicle swarms have an inherent redundancy and increase the speed, efficiency, and probability of mission success in many operational scenarios.

We leverage our agility as a small company to quickly pivot as necessary to address emerging customer needs, keeping the focus on delivering capability to the front lines at the operational time of need. This enables the company to support its customers while keeping competition limited and potentially gaining access to funds designated for urgent and emerging requirements.

How are you managing with the current COVID-19 pandemic on both business and personal front?
The company is fortunate in that its core business is navy development and hardware sales. As military support and supply are generally considered to be essential activities, there is a notable trend of governments to allow continued manufacturing for these purposes and also to provide assistance for small and medium sized businesses. While most of our relevant trade shows are being delayed or cancelled, we are seeing customers continuing to report to work and hold meetings remotely. We are a small company with a multinational presence, operating in a global marketplace, so the team is accustomed to progressing projects forward making use of tools like video conferencing. This means we aren’t experiencing any notable disruption internally, and more importantly we are noticing that solicitations are still being posted and contracting activities are continuing in our core markets.

Personally, in the absence of a commute I am finding new routines for my day, and I am keeping up with my yoga and meditation practices. I’m also feeling thankful for the temporary pause in travel as I typically spend a considerable portion of my time on the road, and I am looking forward to finally seeing our customers and teammates as restrictions are lifted.

What’s the most exciting thing about running your business?
I’m so incredibly fortunate to work for a company as agile and innovative as Aquabotix. The constant evolution in product capabilities and expanded understanding of use cases for our products keeps me constantly learning, and as a person full of curiosity this is essential for me. Also, it is not lost on me that the products we sell have the ability to save lives. I start each day knowing that what we do matters, and seeing this ability to impact our world through what we do keeps me energized as a leader for this business.

How do you measure success?
On the most basic level, I see success as delivering value to both our customers and our shareholders through our business activities. It’s not just what we do to deliver this value, it’s how we do it. Success is creating strong value propositions with integrity, reliability, and honour.

What do you think is the most important quality of being a CEO of a listed company?
The most important qualities for being a successful CEO from my perspective are adaptability, resiliency, and agility. While each of these qualities are important, none of them are sufficient on a standalone basis to be an effective leader. Being aware of our dynamic environments and flexible in our approaches is not enough. We must be resilient enough to weather the storm and keep trying despite the setbacks that all companies experience through the very nature of their existence. At the same time, having grit is key, but an inability or unwillingness to meet the emerging needs of the business and swiftly move into implementation would render this resiliency futile. Falling in love with one set way of doing things is a recipe for disaster in our quickly evolving world.

What is your favourite book?
I’m an avid reader and generally run through at least one book a week, so my favourite changes regularly. Lately I keep coming back to Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication. This book outlines a way of conscious relating that I’ve found to be immensely helpful in conflict resolution and negotiations. This style of communication can bring awareness to needs and motivations, helping people to find strategies that support interests of all parties involved.

What message do you want to send to our readership in Asia?
Last year, Aquabotix accepted its first international military sale of its SwarmDiver EDGETM product to an Asian government customer for test and evaluation purposes. If these tests and evaluation activities prove successful for operational use, this could lead to additional and potentially much higher value hardware sales. We are continuing to pursue opportunities in the region and view this as a key market for export expansion in the future. We are looking forward to the easing of travel restrictions and are eager to begin demonstrating in Asia again soon.

How can people connect with you?
Email:
Aquabotix Website: https://www.aquabotix.com/

Matthew Logan is the Executive Director of Baumart Holdings (ASX:BMH), a supplier of building products to the residential and commercial construction industries. The Company has invested in automated glass-processing equipment that is capable of producing a range of custom-made glass products for supply to the building construction industry. 

What’s your journey in becoming an Executive Director?
I started my career in 2006 providing corporate and accounting services for 10 years to various ASX listed clients in the mining, energy, industrial and technology industries. I co-founded Eco Pallets in March 2009 and having been exposed to a variety of companies, I had a very clear idea on how I wanted to grow the business. Eco Pallets was eventually acquired by BauMart Holdings in May 2016 and I was appointed as an Executive Director shortly after.

Tell us a bit about your business and how you are commercializing?
BauMart started its journey in 2014 investing in automated glass processing equipment which is leased to an experienced operator in Sydney. Since then, the business has diversified and now spans across equipment rental, end to end procurement, product distribution and managed services.

Since our first lodgement of accounts in FY15, our growth has seen a near tenfold increase in sales to $4.5m as of FY19.

Baumart has established a far-reaching distribution presence in the key regions of Australia. With a Head Office in Perth, we manage operations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and overseas in Auckland, New Zealand.

This expansive distribution platform ensures we optimise our capabilities with a robust network of infrastructure that has great potential for other suppliers to utilise. We have sustained consistent organic growth with no capital raising since June 2017.

This is further complemented by a very structured approach to investing in the right people. I believe our people are our biggest asset and I am committed to appointing only the highest quality teams.

How are you managing with the current COVID-19 pandemic on both business and personal front?
The COVID-19 interruption to our supply chain was minimal with our China based goods being shipped out in December 2019, well before the lockdown, with consignments delivered to Australia and West Africa. Manufacturing in China has resumed in late February 2020 and our next orders have already started arriving into Australia.

Our other key supplier, of plastic pallets and crates, based in Malaysia, has been granted approval for the factory to operate, for reasons relating to their link to essential services.

As for the effect on our business, Eco Pallets, our key revenue generating division, supplies products that are necessities within the supply chain, ensuring essential services are able to reach supermarkets, hospitals and pharmacies. As such, we have seen minimal interruption to date with our Australian based operations, though this is being closely monitored.

We are an agile, cloud-based business with full digital capabilities and as a result of this, our transition to working from home was seamless with little to no interruption. We have been operating remotely since 23rd March 2020 and I have been averaging at least 15 – 20 voice and video calls per day.

Personally, I am adapting quite well to the changes but do have some frustration with not being able to play tennis on a regular basis like before. The game meets the definition of physical distancing so I was very surprised that it was shutdown. I still run, walk or hike on a regular basis to keep fit.

What’s the most exciting thing about running your business?
Challenges. In a growing business there is not a day that goes by where you feel bored. If running a business was easy then everyone would be rich. No project is without its challenges and that is what keeps me motivated.

How do you measure success?
The easy answer would be to say measures such as revenue growth, profitability or customer retention. Personally, I measure success by how much work-life balance is present in my life. I have spent the last 4 years building a strong team and investing time into my staff so they have the opportunity to develop their skills and progress. As a result of this, I have been able to enjoy a more balanced life and contribute equally to the demands on my professional and personal life.

What do you think is the most important quality of being an Executive Director of a listed company?
Consistency balanced with timely adaptation. Being consistent in everything you do makes your staff, shareholders, suppliers and customers know they are associated with a strong company with a clear vision. Additionally, if you are not trying new things, new ways, new methods, trial and error, then your competition will leave you behind.

What is your favourite book?
Andre Agassi’s autobiography. I was never a really big fan of him as a tennis player but his autobiography was so captivating. I read the entire book on a red eye flight from Perth to Sydney back in 2010. It was such a raw account with an important lesson for everyone to understand. It taught me that no matter what your situation is, it is up to you to take ownership of your life.

What message do you want to send to our readership in Asia?
BauMart has manufacturing partners in China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. We have had partnerships with some of these spanning 10 years. This is BauMart’s key strength, securing distributorships and pursuing strategic investment. Being a diversified distributor with a robust Australia wide footprint, this presents significant opportunities for complementary or synergistic manufacturers seeking expansion into Australia.

How can people connect with you?
Email:
Baumart Holdings Website: http://baumart.com.au/