The Substation33 Team
Tony
Our Founder and Manager, Tony has spent the last 12 years with his “just get it
done” attitude developing Substation33 into what it is today - a thriving social enterprise that reflexively adapts to meet changing needs both environmentally and socially.
Tony is a connector and collaborator - he maintains many roles and directorships in various organisations and loves connecting people that seek to have positive impacts from Logan City into the world.
Tony also enjoys getting up before dawn to ride his bike and spends as much time as possible with his grandchildren. His primary goal could probably be summed up as “making the world a better place for Teddy” (his first grandchild).
Simon
Simon's role is Lead Innovator and he worked on our unique lithium-ion battery management system, which has become a key part of our innovative product development. Simon’s focus is on electronics, engineering and other “sciency stuff”!
If you have an idea that you don’t know how to bring to life, Simon is the one to see. He’ll tell you what’s within the realm of possibility and he works to bring innovative dreams to reality.
Simon is a passionate environmentalist, loves repurposing e-waste and enjoys riding his e-bike to work (which he, of course, built!).
James
Looking for a career shift out of the corporate world, James came to volunteer at Substation33 with extensive experience in software engineering.
Fast forward to today and you’ll find James doing server programming and administration, firmware programming and software engineering on all our products.
James is also interested in electronics and works alongside Simon in helping bring innovative products to life.
James is passionate about gardening and works with the Beelarong Community Farm. He also speaks French … “barely” but continues to learn since his wife is French.
Emma
Emma’s role centres around helping people Transition to Employment. She
works tirelessly in assisting our volunteers to find suitable training or employment opportunities.
From helping with resumes to arranging driving lessons and forklift tickets to everything in between, Emma uses her wealth of knowledge to liaise with training providers, prospective employers, help people feel confident, and get people started (or re-started) on their employment journey.
When not at Substation33, Emma can probably be found mowing and whipper snipping her yard (yep, she loves it!), and caring for her family, dogs, and sheep.
Tai
Tai was a long-term volunteer at Substation33 when the role of Floor Manager became available. He jumped into this huge role and has made his mark as one of the best we’ve ever had.
He manages the daily drop-offs and deliveries, inducts all our volunteers, oversees all aspects of e-waste processing, cleans, organises, re-stocks and cooks a mean Friday BBQ amongst many, many other things.
He is looked up to as a mentor by many and is the go-to man when there are questions from those on the work floor.
In his spare time Tai enjoys fishing, especially deep sea fishing if he can wrangle a boat to take him out.
Tiffany
Tiff came to Substation33 for a student placement while studying Social Work and loved it so much that she stayed on when offered the opportunity.
Her role is varied and can range from working one-on-one with people to help them in their journey to employment, training staff and volunteers, and writing proposals, programs and content for Substation33 initiatives.
Tiff’s other job is also people-focused as a psychotherapist/social worker and in her spare time she loves to read, spend time in nature hiking and camping, and can't wait to do more travelling.
Jackson
Jackson started at Substation33 through our Work for the Dole program and his unique and diverse skill set was soon put to use making our flooded road signs and performing on and off site maintenance on them.
He assists in the fabrication of many of our products and is a great problem solver who can think outside of the box.
Jackson loves “making things out of beautiful old broken things”, and making music, furniture, jewellery, food and more in his spare time.
Lochy
Lochy came to Substation33 via involvement with PowerWells, met Tony at a workshop, and offered his assistance to Substation33.
Within seconds he was taken up on his offer and since then has been learning the ropes.All of the ropes, so many ropes in fact, that he is now the Operations Manager at Substation33.
Lochy was offered the position of Operations Manager after spearheading our Containers for Change partnership and initiatives - which has been a complex undertaking.
In his spare time, Lochy enjoys reading, permaculture gardening and writing science fiction which he can't wait to share with the world in 2047 - keep your eyes open!
Adam
Adam is a Front End Web & Graphic Designer with a keen interest in UX/UI Design, who after a substantial injury found himself out of work.
After some time and a lot of surgery, Adam tried to get back into the industry, this was very hard to do.Fortuitously, Adam found Substation33 that was in desperate need of a website revamp so offered to help.
Adam worked with other staff to build this new Substation33 website. He now helps on a part time basis as the Substation33 webmaster, and uses his design skills to make sure Substation33 web and print branding is top notch.
Adam is an avid gamer and sci fi nerd and is going to ask Lochy to make him a character in his sci-fi book, which has a tentative 2047 release date.
Crystal
Crystal’s role has changed many times since she started volunteering at
Substation33.
Dismantling e-waste led to soldering, testing circuit boards, and cleaning duties, which then led to managing the office. Crystal is a valuable team member, willing to learn and grow as her role demands.
She is also great at teaching, and has taught many volunteers how to solder and test circuit boards.
Crystal also has a love for nature and takes gorgeous photos of flowers whenever she spots them and enjoys snuggling with her cat, Shadow.
Ricky
Ricky has a long and storied history as a Audio Engineer. After 30 years of touring with various australian acts, Ricky is now semi retired, but has a kick ass audio studio at home and is still making tunes in his spare time.
He has been a long time volunteer at Substation33, usually helping out with the flooded road signs project where his electrical knowledge comes in very handy.
He has been a big help to the Flooded Road Sign team as they work to produce the next big contract of Signs for the Brisbane City Council.
Hayden
In a past life Hayden was a Diesel Fitter, Computer Technician and IT Project Manager.
Since joining Substation33 as our IT Manager, Hayden wears many hats - he teaches trainees and works with volunteers to manage inventory and the retail sale of laptops, computers and other refurbished IT that comes through our doors.
Hayden is a tinkerer at heart. Outside of work you might find him building custom computers at home, building furniture, or collecting old gaming consoles, iPods and cameras.
NIck
For people like Nick, having a large SPER (State Penalties Enforcement Registry) debt was like dragging a ball and chain around.
When Nick found out about Substation33, and that volunteering with us can count towards paying off a SPER debt, he jumped at the chance and threw himself into doing as many hours as possible.
Nick ended up gaining a lot more than he expected out of the experience. He learned new skills while putting his old skills to good use, found new confidence, made new friends, and landed a job in Substation33’s new container processing facility. (Canstation)
Subee
After seeing little paw prints on the toilet seat, some Substation33 staff went hunting and found a scared, starving kitten hiding under “The Hub”.
The cat-lovers sprang into action and took the little kitten under their wing.After taking care of her veterinary requirements and fattening her up, we all voted to keep Subee around and she now believes she is the sole owner of Substation33 and presides over all activities.
Subee shares her calm, content nature with anyone who needs to chill with her for a while.