Relegen News: RAN Commendation For Engineer John Gardner For Contribution to Safety, Sustainment and Seaworthiness

Relegen would like to recognise and congratulate long-term team member Mr John Gardner on receiving a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Commendation from the Commander Surface Force for outstanding performance and contribution to the Amphibious and Afloat Support Group (AASGRP). The award states John’s diligence and application of knowledge within the Amphibious and Afloat Support Group has been central to the successful delivery of Seaworthy Afloat Support Platforms. Not only has John consistently provided significant improvements to electrical safety on-board HMAS Success, but he has also produced excellent work in developing ARC flash awareness which has benefited all RAN personnel and entire fleet.

John is a degree-qualified electrical engineer with more than 30 years’ experience with Defence and asset-intensive organisations in engineering, design, safety and risk management. He is also a highly-regarded subject matter expert in engineering design, and recently completed seven years as subject coordinator and lecturer at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in the core subjects of ‘Engineering Innovation and Design’ and ‘Value Chain Management’ where he developed project-based learning materials and taught engineering design, systems engineering, safety engineering, and strategic innovation.

His most recent project work through Relegen has been with Surface Force (SURFOR) performing critical engineering reviews and making recommendations for HMAS Success given the limited remaining external maintenance periods before the vessel’s planned decommissioning and replacement after 33 years of service. As part of this role, John developed a new prioritisation decision tool and process in order to drive better decisions around engineering, resourcing, and scheduling, and which has since been adopted by all ships in the AASGRP.

Paul Bennett, Relegen’s Managing Director, commented “We send John our most sincere congratulations. It speaks highly of how well your work is regarded at SURFOR. We are proud to have you as a valued member of our team. As the award attests, your diligence, work ethic and professionalism directly reflects, and are in keeping with, the core values of both the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Defence Force.”