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!).
Brendan
Brendan started on the trucks at Substation33 and quickly became a valuable and competent member of the team.
After a few months he came on board to help out with the day to day running of Substation33 / Canstation, and various other operational processes behind the scenes.
Brendan has become adept at juggling all the tasks that need to happen to keep Substation33 operating, which is why he now wears the Operations Manager hat.
Outside of Substation33 Brendan is a devoted husband and father, and prioritises (and loves), spending time with his family
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.
Ang
Ang came to Substation33 to volunteer and give back to the community. After a few years of consistent commitment to volunteering we finally convinced Ang to work for us! She understands Substation33’s ethos and is deeply committed to helping people become better versions of themselves.
Ang works with our participants to help them get the most out of their time at Substation33/Canstation. She onboards new staff and trainees, finds out their needs and how we can help, works to provide and coordinate wrap-around supports, and gets people prepared to move on to new work when they are ready.
In her spare time Ang loves her cats, pop culture, music tattoos, dying her hair green and decorating her yard for Halloween and Christmas for her neighbourhood to enjoy.
Asha
Asha came to Substation33 on WorkCover, quickly grew to adore the work we do, and found herself feeling like part of the family.
When offered the opportunity of employment, it was an immediate yes.
Her role as Employment Development Coach encompasses many different aspects of Substation33 - from communicating with Employment Service Providers to getting to know volunteers and employees one-on-one, and supporting their progression to further employment.
Asha has come from an education background and loves teaching, so incorporating that mindset into her “people” work comes naturally.
Asha has a young family and loves being at home with her daughter. She also loves the beach, snow, reading and 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.
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.
Sarai
Sarai has just joined our team at substation33 as our new Business Development Manager to manage and oversee substation33 as we continues to grow.
Although new to Subtsation33 Sarai has worked with us in the past as a director of Social Enterprise Network Logan and National Social Enterprises Manager.
Sarai will be leveraging over 10 years of leadership experience in social enterprise structures and extensive work in community and program development to help Substation to delevop better business stratagies and processess to ensure not only our growth but the growth of all the people who Work with Substation33
What does sarai like to do?
Deanne
Deanne's Bio is on the way (pic and txt requested)
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.
James Taylor
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.
James Hogg
James is a part of our software development crew upstairs in the Innovation Hub. He has a degree in electronic engineering and, curiously, previously worked at the same company that James Taylor (our lead software engineer) worked at before coming to Substation33.
James has worked on CRM systems and inventory management and has a somewhat of a flare for front end coding. That means he can do some funky stuff on website front ends. He is currently working on the Flooded Road Warning Sign team and doing all sorts of overflow coding work. He also made our volunteer sign in system among other things.
If there is a problem with the internet you can be sure James already knows about it and is trying to get to the bottom of it …
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)
Craig
Craig is the manager of canstation, bio coming soon.
James Hart
James had been a volunteer at Substation33 and during that time he was recycling e-waste, learning more about IT, and working with our See IT Be IT trainees. Before long James became a valuable member of our IT team and now works to help keep the IT department running smoothly.
James was introduced to us through ABI-TRS (Acquired Brain Injury Transitional Rehabilitation Service) after a traumatic brain injury which created some barriers to his ability to find work. Substation33 has been pivotal in his work rehabilitation, and helped him find purpose and a path to a meaningful job.
When James isn’t at work he enjoys skateboarding and hanging out with his son.
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 fiction dweeb.
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.
Subbee
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.