May is the month when our business leaders look forward to gathering for our annual leadership forum. This year, the event was held at the beautiful RACV Noosa Resort from 21 – 24 May.
“Our 2026 Leadership Forum brought together our experienced and emerging leaders, alongside newly welcomed principals, to explore what sustainable growth and long-term success look like at ATCW.”
– Darren Watt, CEO
Forum Highlights
WELCOMING NEW LEADERS
Our principals play a vital role as influencers and role models, both individually and collectively. As leaders, they are actively involved in delivering projects, mentoring teams, and shaping the business direction.
This year, we welcomed three new Principals:
- Dayjil Buhle, Brisbane
- Dylan Rubinstein, Melbourne
- Nalin Subasinghe, Melbourne
WHY EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP MATTERS
As a proudly employee-owned company, 40% of our staff are shareholders. This matters in the following ways:
- We can make independent decisions based on the best outcomes
- As stakeholders, we think and act for long-term sustainability
- We protect and take stewardship of our values and culture
- We mutually share accountability and success
- Ownership embeds opportunity, purpose and belonging
CELEBRATING OUR HISTORY
“What an honour it is to be here at ATC Williams as we celebrate 45 years.”
– Darren Watt, CEO
We celebrated our 45th anniversary and enjoyed a presentation that reflected on our collective milestone moments since 1981.
45 Years – Thriving through the Decades
Darren Watt facilitated a conversation between Keith Seddon, former Technical Director and Board Chair, and Allan Watson, former CEO and Board Chair. Darren asked Keith and Allan to reflect on their time at ATC Williams, with the highlights captured in this complementary article.
Leadership Legacy: Keith Seddon & Allan Watson
SHAPING OUR FUTURE
In late 2025, ATC Williams commenced the next phase of strategy development to inform our growth towards 2030. The strategy has been developed collaboratively, with contributions from staff across the business, through vision and values workshops, strategic planning sessions and a strategy reference group.
A series of facilitated workshops was held on day two of the forum, with the final document expected to be completed in July.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2026 FORUM
- The role of ownership in culture to create shared accountability and long-term thinking. How a culture of collective leadership fosters greater alignment between individual and organisational success.
- How building a strategy collaboratively enables clear purpose and client focus. How organisational evolution will support long-term capability for targeted growth across geographies, clients and services.
- Investing in our people and capabilities to build leadership quality, strengthen technical depth and facilitate knowledge sharing. The need to embed structured programs to support career development.
- Listening to our clients’ feedback and insights on growth priorities and service evolution to further strengthen our strategy.
Thank you to all who contributed to a successful 2026 forum.
