Board Members

Neil Findlay owned and operated Australian transport and logistics businesses for over 30 years until their sale in 2007.

These businesses won multiple, often repeat State & National awards in the government & private sectors in fields such as training, industry excellence & quarantine. Confidant of the Chairman – and other directors; provider of guidance in directorial duties & responsibilities

He has been a director of the Australian Trucking  Association, NatRoad and Chair of TruckSafe.
Neil, an active speaker and writer has travelled extensively in third world countries undertaking relief & support work, and remains heavily involved in Not-For Profit fields spanning youth rehabilitation through to aged care.

He is currently:

• A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport.
• Deputy Chair of the Performance Based Standards Review Panel.
• An active residential property investor.
• Director of Circadian Australia, Used Trailers and Yukana Retirement Village.

Andrew Rankine is employed by the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd as the Logistics Manager. He has broad and varied experience in the transport and logistics industry, having held senior positions in the trucking, rail and port industries over the last 20 years, including roles in the McIver Corporation Pty Ltd, McIver Transport Pty Ltd, the Australian Trucking Association, and Queensland Rail.

He is Chairman of the Port of Brisbane Landside Logistics Forum, and until recently, Chairman of the Ports Australia Logistics Working group.

Andrew also has considerable experience in the development and operation of innovative high productivity vehicles.

Prior to 1992, Andrew served for 23 years in the Regular Army as an artillery officer.

Andrew is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Army Command and Staff College, Queenscliff, Victoria. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Military) from the University of New South Wales, and a Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting from the University of Canberra.

Andrew is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, based in Brisbane with core skills in operations research and transport optimisation. Andrew worked closely with various Australian agriculture industries (including sugar, beef) for over 15 years, improving seasonal and operational planning across all segments between farming and marketing.

He recently led the development of TRAnsport Network Strategic Investment Tool (TRANSIT), which is a spatial model for simulating transport cost benefits from infrastructure investments (road upgrades, use of rail versus road, processing and storage facilities) and policy interventions in agriculture logistics. It holistically estimates the transport benefits across the freight network, by analysing every possible vehicle and rail trip, and optimising routes between all enterprises in the supply network.

His broader science interests include:

• Modelling and optimising complex industry and infrastructure systems, particularly with rail transport planning and logistics, agriculture supply chains, and intermodal transport. 
• Extending the concepts in value chains and its associated analysis methodologies to address broader sustainability and resilience issues. 
• Developing innovative decision support tools for land use planning
• Developing new solution techniques for very large scale and complex industry/logistics planning problems not previously solved.

As Director-General of Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Neil has an annual budget of almost $10 billion, including capital expenditure of $3.5 billion and managed assets worth in excess of $80 billion.

Neil joined the Queensland Public Service in March 2012 as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TransLink where he was responsible for the public transport network across Queensland. He was appointed Director-General of TMR in March 2013.

In September 2014, Neil became Commissioner for the National Transport Commission (NTC) and joined the Roads Australia Board in November 2014. Neil is Chair of Austroads and Deputy Chair of the Australian Road Research Board. He is also a board member of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Roads Australia and the Australian Centre for Rail Innovation and Police-Citizens Youth Clubs (PCYC) Queensland.

In September 2014, Neil became Government Champion for the Woorabinda Indigenous community. From 2015–2017, Neil was the Queensland Public Sector’s CEO Champion against domestic and family violence. In 2017, Neil won the Australia’s CEO Challenge Race, a fundraising initiative that raises money and awareness for domestic and family violence prevention.

Prior to joining TransLink, Neil was one of the United Kingdom’s (UK) most senior public transport executives. He was Chief Executive and Director-General of Merseytravel, the transport authority for Merseyside in the north of England.

Paul Kahlert started his transport career as a 19 year old working for a freight forwarder at Expo 88.

A conversation at Expo 88 with the owner of All Purpose Transport (APT) led to a job offer helping to set up a new computer system whilst completing his university degree.

Paul is still at APT and has now held the role of General Manager for 20 years after working his way through the business in various roles including finance, operations and sales. Under Paul’s leadership, APT introduced the first electric delivery truck into Queensland and now has ten zero emission vehicles performing last mile services in Brisbane.

Paul specialises in strategic planning, project management, workforce development and now a new skill in pandemic crisis management . In 2015 Paul undertook a formal study fellowship awarded by the ISS Institute where he reported on best practice on workforce development within logistics companies in the US.

In 2012 APT was the first transport company to skill its entire workforce in a Certificate III or higher nationally recognised qualification. 11 years on over 500 workers have received formal qualifications in their field of expertise through this program.

APT has operated in the Queensland market for more than 48 years and has its headquarters in an 18,000m2 facility in Berrinba (Logan). Its customer base includes IKEA, Rheem, Castrol ,Fantastic Furniture, Goodyear and Cotton-On.

Lauren has demonstrated ability to liaise, interpret and mediate between parties facing critical environmental challenges. This has included work in project development for Queensland’s energy producers as well as GM Policy of Queensland’s peak agricultural body, AgForce.

In 2015, Lauren was awarded Queensland Rural Woman of the Year. Lauren applies her skills considering and improving the efficiency and footprint of the freight sector as CEO of the Queensland Transport and Logistics Council.

The activities of the QTLC and the advice the Council provides to Government are shaped and supported by the contributions of key freight and industry stakeholders through their membership and participation in QTLC Working Groups.

The Working Groups are convened as needed in response to critical issues related to Access and Regulation; Infrastructure and Planning; and Intermodal matters.

Industry are invited to to join the QTLC as members and participate in the Working Groups. As a member of the Working Group Register, you will be called upon from time to time to provide advice and expertise on issues relevant to your industry and/or organisation.

Your contribution will help shape the QTLC’s advice as we work with TMR to address current and emerging issues impacting the efficient and productive movement of freight.

Please direct any membership enquiries to admin@qtlc.com.au