Managing Director, Lidco Architectural Framing Systems
BEc, DipEng (UTS), FIEAust, CPEng, FCPA

Marco Belgiorno-Zegna, AM, addressed graduates from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at Great Hall, City campus, Thursday 14 May, 10.30am.

About the speaker

Marco Belgiorno-Zegna is the Managing Director of Lidco Corporation and Avesta Corporation. Marco is an alumnus of UTS.

From 1976 to 1999, Marco worked in many senior positions with Transfield Holdings including:

  • General Manager, Transfield (Western Australia);
  • Associate Director and Finance Director, Transfield;
  • Chief Executive, Transfield Corporate
  • Group Managing Director and Managing Director, Transfield Holdings; and
  • Director, Transfield Holdings Pty Ltd.

In 1999, Marco became Managing Director of Avesta, the company responsible for the management of personal equity interests in the Transfield Group — a position that he holds today. He is also Managing Director of Lidco, a leading designer and supplier of aluminium architectural framing systems for windows in Australia and Asia.

Marco sits on several boards including the Centre for Independent Studies and the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Previously, he was a member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Graduate School of Management, and President of the Powerhouse Museum.

In 1996, Marco was awarded the Professional Engineer of the Year award (Sydney Division); and in 1998 he became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to engineering.

Speech

Pro-Chancellor, Brian Wilson; Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ross Milbourne; Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Associate Professor Tom Anderson; Distinguished Guests, UTS Staff and Neo-Graduates; Ladies and Gentlemen

First of all congratulations to the graduates on getting here! As a fellow engineer I know from first hand experience how much hard work and effort has gone into achieving this important milestone in your lives. My own journey in becoming an engineer was neither easy nor immediate and the opportunity to speak to you today has a very special meaning for me. I am the third of four generations of engineers in my family, so it could be said that it is an inherited trait with a dominant gene.

I am indebted to engineering for many reasons. It is the reason why I am an Australian. my father, an Italian engineer working in Milan for a specialist high-voltage power transmission firm, was given the opportunity to come to Sydney on a two-year contract to help engineer and build (in steel) the first high-voltage power line. This two-year stay became a life-time when he and my mother decided to settle in Sydney and I was born shortly thereafter.

Whilst working as an engineer in Western Australia I met my gorgeous wife who is here today with one of our two fabulous sons, who is the fourth-generation engineer.

Engineering was the basis of my award to membership of the Australian order and my role as President of the Powerhouse Museum.

However, in the process of becoming an engineer I quickly learnt one important value in life — pride in one's achievement often comes about through struggle and initial defeat. In my own case, my first attempts at engineering were lukewarm at best. I remember one of my university maths lecturers advising the class that of the two people sitting either side of us only one would be there at the end of the year. In that year I happened to be one of those unfortunate statistics!

I subsequently went on to complete a commerce degree at ANU, but after a year of working with engineers, I became motivated to try again, this time at UTS. I was already 25 years old and when all my friends were moving on in their chosen careers and some were even beginning to start a family I chose to enrol in a 6 year sandwich course at UTS. Frankly, I had to start virtually from scratch with only a rudimentary knowledge of the core areas of studies that civil engineering depends on, namely maths & physics. However, I threw myself into these studies with great gusto and completed the 6 year course in three.

Moreover, to my great pride I topped the graduation year. I loved every minute of it and have always been proud to call myself an engineer.

As President Roosevelt once said "far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing". Engineering is a worthy profession, one that is of immense importance to our developed world.

Great civilisations have at their core supreme competence in this field. The Roman Empire's foundations were built on great engineering skill expressed through military action and administration. That a city such as ancient rome could support one million people was only possible through the engineering feats of the Romans, from the aqueducts and sewers to the roads and the buildings. The Roman civilisation's equivalent today, America, also has at its base engineering and technological prowess.

The structures and buildings that you may be involved in throughout your careers will have a lasting impact on the environment, both visual and otherwise. No doubt the increasingly prescriptive requirements as to both form and function need to be accounted for. However, what makes the design of great works stand apart from the average is the desire to excel. This requires designing from first principles and not merely following tabular paths where processes are often seen as more important than outcomes. Here you will be called upon to inventively and courageously use your technical skills to do what is considered the impossible. The history of engineering is full of 'impossible' projects; just look at two magnificent Sydney engineering works of art that were considered impossible to build — the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the roof shells of Sydney Opera House. I don't know which of these two projects is of greater merit. On the one hand, there was the extensive use of computers to address the tricky forces resident in the beautifully resolved shells. On the other, I always marvel at the fact that the design of the bridge was all done by hand and slide-rule.

But then the Romans built the pantheon, by any objective analysis the greatest engineering feat of all time and there were no computers then.

All three projects have another factor in common — a strong desire to build a thing of beauty. The Sydney Opera House is an obvious expression in this regard, as is the pantheon once you get over its huge dome. However, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is more subtle in this regard. Although visually supportive, the four pylons serve little structural purpose. That great Australian engineer, Bradfield, passionately argued that without them the bridge would look weak. So of the 5 million pound budget to build the entire structure, 2 million pounds was allocated to build the pylons and clad both the pylons and supporting piers with granite.

It seems trite to say this but we do live in a world of constant change and that change seems to be accelerating with every day that passes. What you have mastered now is the beginning of a life-long journey, a journey with out end. You have mastered the art of learning and this will put you in a very good position to meet the challenges ahead in this changing world.

You may undergo many career changes as is often expected of you these days — look to each change as an opportunity to grow professionally, mentally and emotionally.

For those of you who desire success, however you define it, remember that it never comes easily and is born out of persistence and optimism. And don't worry about making mistakes; you will truly learn only when you make a few mistakes; the trick is to keep them to a minimum.

I'll never forget that chinese fortune cookie that said, "ability may take you to the top but it is character that will keep you there".

And never give up. Had I not taken on the challenge of engineering studies I would not be here today giving this speech and having the opportunity of sharing some of my thoughts with you.

I wish you all the best in what ever life presents you.