As chairman between 1999 and 2002, John Phillips led GHD as it took key steps towards global expansion, building up its presence in New Zealand, the Philippines, Chile, UAE and Qatar. This strategic vision paid off as GHD grew from $130 million turnover and 1,100 employees in 1999 to 11,000 people and annual revenue of $2.3 billion in 2022.
John began his career as a structural engineer with the Australian Government, working on rocket launching facilities at Woomera, the design of foundations for several Reserve Bank buildings and the international terminals at Tullamarine and Mascot. John felt that the most challenging aspect of his work was foundation engineering, so he returned to university to complete a master’s degree in soil mechanics. This expertise would carry through to the rest of his career.
Joining GHD in 1967 in Melbourne, John worked on the largest dam project GHD had completed at the time, the Bungal Dam in Victoria, and then on a number of other projects in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.
In 1979 John relocated to Perth with his family to work on five dams for the Worsley Alumina Refinery near Collie. At the time, relatively few tailings dams had been built in Australia, so John set out on a study tour to Germany and the United States to learn more. He brought back key learnings that informed the successful delivery of this project and resulted in GHD taking out two patents in dam building. The Worley Alumina project would go on to win two prestigious engineering awards and John became a technical authority in tailings and dams.
Over a 40-year career, John worked in 11 countries covering almost 100 major tailings dams, more than 20 major water dams and three dams built into the sea. He was sought out as an expert to advise on dam collapses around the world, including the Opuha Dam in New Zealand. He was an Honorary Life Member of the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) in recognition of his contribution to the industry, and also represented Australia on the International Commission on Large Dams in Paris.
Thanks to his outstanding leadership, John quickly rose to be GHD’s WA Regional Manager and was appointed Chairman in 1999, the first Perth-based chairman in the company’s history. Speaking at Engineering Week in Perth that year, John predicted the globalisation of just about every market, including professional services. “Globalisation will have an impact either on the nature of engineering services, or a changed attitude from engineers, or an alternate method of evaluating the worth of engineering products,” he said. GHD was determined to compete globally while remaining employee-owned – a business model that continues today.
John was also an early adopter of what today would be known as ESG. “It seems self-evident that our use of resources should not diminish the opportunities for our children and grandchildren,” he commented in 2000. “GHD has committed itself to both pursue projects with strong sustainability components and to assist our clients by demonstrating viable sustainability concepts in our design and operations.”
After stepping down as Chairman, John continued working in GHD’s Dams & Tailings team in Western Australia until shortly before his passing.
In addition to his roles at GHD, John was a member of the National Board for the Centre of Engineering Leadership and Management. He was a past President of the WA Division of Engineers Australia and a past Chairman of the Association of Consulting Engineers in WA (now Consult Australia).
“John leaves an incredibly rich legacy at GHD, having contributed to so many trailblazing projects and guided so many people in their careers,” says Sheldon Krahe, GHD’s Regional General Manager – WA.
John will be fondly remembered across Australia and internationally by family, friends, clients, work colleagues and those he helped though his volunteer activities.