On March 6, over 200 people from defence and industry gathered in Canberra for the inaugural ADM 30 Under 30 Awards, recognising thirty of Australia’s best and brightest young people working in Defence and industry.
We were pleased to see plenty of partners, friends and family members joining the event to help celebrate their finalists, and there were several proud companies in attendance with multiple nominees and winners.
The Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP Assistant Minister for Defence, Veterans Affairs and the Republic, patron of the ADM 30 under 30 Awards, was present to meet the future leaders of Australia and present the winners with their awards. Check out what he had to say at the event, as well as some photo and video highlights from the night, below.
It was also great to see the event supported by a number of high-ranking Defence personnel including Air Commodore James Badgery Royal Australian Air Force - Chief of Staff RAAF HQ, Rear Admiral Rachel Durbin, RAN - Head Navy Engineering, Captain Amanda Ramassini - United States Coast Guard Attache, and Major General Greg Novak - Commander Defence Space Command.
The finalist standees were a huge hit, with the 30 under 30 shortlist posing alongside their pictures, carting them around the venue to show everyone from their company or social circle, cutting their sections off to take home, and carefully cramming them into cars at the closing of the evening.
We hope all of our finalists and winners were able to successfully fit them into their transport home, especially those who had to bring it through airport security!
All of the well-deserved winners were treated to excited rounds of cheering and applause while collecting their awards, with so many supporters present at the event. After the presentations were over, the room buzzed with a tangible atmosphere of joy, the sounds of so many people celebrating with their colleagues and loved ones, socialising, and making connections. Make sure to check out all the photos from the night here.
A huge thank you to all of our sponsors for supporting this inaugural event: Headline Sponsor Babcock, Gold Sponsor Coras, Silver Sponsor McKay, and Bronze Sponsors Toll and Viasat.
Programs like these would not be possible without this support, and we are so pleased that companies like these are ready to celebrate and demonstrate the importance of the under-30 demographic in Defence and defence industry.
Without further ado, we once again present ADM's 2024 30 under 30:
Mark Acebo, Deputy Director, JC4 Strategy and Policy in the Joint Capabilities Group.
Matilda Austin, Senior Project Engineer at WSP and a Project Engineer and Captain in the Army at 12 CE Wks.
Chloe Burns, Operations Coordinator at The Decisive Point.
Sophee Clark, Production Manager at Babcock.
Jake Dell-O'Sullivan, FISRSPO MQ-4C Triton Avionics Team Leader in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Tom Gash, Maintenance Officer of the RQ-7B Shadow 200 in the Australian Army.
Adrienne Goode, Senior Marketing & Communications Coordinator at Babcock.
Zi Huang, Product Development Lead at Revolution Aerospace.
Daniel Hutchinson, Commercial Director at Aquaterro.
Jimmy Jing, Technical Professional Systems Engineer at KBR.
Matthew Keech, Acting Director of Logistics for Joint Project 9102 in CASG.
Dr Emily Kibble, Project Manager and Analyst in Health Security Systems Australia.
Peter Le, Lead Systems Engineer for the Applied AI business unit at Penten.
Emily Lucas, Project Officer – Defence for Marand Precision Engineering.
Annalyse McDougall, 3 Wing Deputy Air Force Liaison Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Allison Murphy, Senior Contracts Advisor at Jet Aviation Defence.
Siobhan Murphy, Design Engineer at Rosebank Engineering.
Christopher Olorenshaw, Senior Systems Engineer at The Australian Missile Corporation.
Brenda Palmer, Manager at Downer Professional Services.
Nicholas Paske, Associate Manager - Defence and National Security at Accenture Australia.
Nikhil Ramanathan, PDS Portfolio Lead at Aurecon.
Mallory Rice, Deputy Support Manager at CEA Technologies.
Michael Scott, Research Engineer in the Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aerospace Centre at RMIT University.
Digby Sever, Technician in QMS NDT & NACE.
Liana Taylor, Senior Combat Systems Integration Engineer at Navantia Australia.
Matilda Thomas-Smith, Construction Portfolio Lead at Aurecon.
Rebecca Wakerman Powell, Project Manager at Coras.
Christopher Walsh, Project Manager at Coras.
Jack Walters, MQ-4C Triton Airworthiness Manager in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Claire Woodwell, UAS Industry Engineering Work Experience Coordinator in the Royal Australian Air Force.
We can’t wait to share the plans that are already in motion for a bigger and better event next year. Make sure to keep an eye out for any worthy young people in Defence and industry this calendar year in preparation for our second round of the 30 under 30 Awards.
We once again congratulate all of our winners on their awards, and hope that they continue on their incredible upwards trajectory in both their career and personal lives.