Tom Burley, PMP®

Fortescue: Project Manager - Digital Energy

As part of Fortescues Integrated Technology Team, I lead strategic technology projects that supports Fortescue's Energy Investments. So far these projects have included, a Queensland Hydrogen Production Plant, a Manufacturing facility in China, establishment of green Hydrogen R&D facilities, corporate offices in New York, Norway and Namibia.

I facilitated cross-domain collaboration between business units, process specialists, manufacturing teams, and IT SME's and architects, in order to identify and deliver technology outcomes that would support production objectives, security, and infrastructure standards.

Key Achievements: Set up global office for Fortescue Capital in NY. Delivered technology infrastructure and services that supported manufactuing operations in China (a first for Fortescue).

What I Learned: Challenging existing methodologies and technical patterns can improve outcomes for the bottom line.

Why I'm Open to New Opportunities: With project certainty at Fortescue limited beyond June 2025, I'm proactively exploring senior or cybersecurity-focused roles that align with my long-term career direction and leadership aspirations.

Mineral Resources: IT Project Manager

Led multiple IT workfronts across the Onslow Iron program, supporting both construction and business operations. Delivered integrated solutions that included technologies ranging from GPON-based entertainment to SD-WAN, LTE, compute and storage, fibre builds, and bespoke comms systems.

Interesting parts of the program included: rolling out corporate IT and marine technologies across a fleet of 5 transhipper vessels; IT for an airport terminal and an enormous truck maintenance facility. Creative solutions had to be found and implemented to logistic and procurement plans in order to meet tight deadlines and shifting workfront priorities.

Key Achievements: Delivered the IT and communications scope for the newly created Marine division, including corporate IT, marine specific technology, and a range of communication systems (LTE / HF / VHF / Sat) for the Transhipper fleet and shore-side support.

What I Learned: How to align diverse infrastructure needs under aggressive timelines through vendor collaboration and adaptive logistics.

Why I Left: While the role was rewarding, the lack of flexible or hybrid work arrangements prompted me to consider better-aligned opportunities. Fortescue offered a similar scope of responsibilities with improved work-life balance.

Tronox: IT Project Manager

Managed infrastructure and application projects nationally, aligning delivery with strategic business goals. Focused on corporate IT with extensions into OT environments where required, maintaining project controls and stakeholder alignment.

Key projects under my stewardship included a cybersecurity perimeter project that delivered logical separation of IT and OT networks, onboarding a stakeholder management platform for use by the community engagement team in Australia and South Africa, and deploying IT services and Infrastucture to a new greenfield mine in Victoria.

Key Achievements: Delivered a cybersecurity perimeter project - a 3.5 level DMZ at all Australian sites; implemented early engagement model for new greenfield mining operation.

What I Learned: The power of early stakeholder engagement to drive proactive planning and improve operational readiness.

Why I Left: A global downturn in the Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) market led to widespread project suspensions at Tronox. With limited work available, I chose to explore new opportunities where I could continue delivering impact.

Kinetic IT / Water Corporation: Project Manager

Engaged by Kinetic to lead project delivery at Western Australias Water Corporation. I delivered many minor projects that included critical infrastructure, desktop virtualisation, and security solutions across corporate and SCADA domains. Worked across cross-functional teams to lead projects from concept to close while ensuring alignment with Water Corporation's cybersecurity standards.

Projects needed to be accurately scoped and estimated, with controls put in place to ensure adherence to agreed costs and schedules, and project billing could be completed without isse.

Key Achievements: Delivered a 4000-endpoint Windows upgrade across the corporate fleet on time and budget. Implemented trial cybersecurity device between IT & OT ready for assessemnt by technical teams.

What I Learned: How to manage large-scale technical change across diverse business units with minimal disruption.

Why I Left: With Kinetic's contract at Water Corporation concluding and future roles uncertain, I proactively transitioned to Tronox after an opportunity was flagged by former Kinetic colleagues who had recently made the move.

Aqura Technologies: Project Manager

Led end-to-end delivery of industrial wireless and camp connectivity projects, including private LTE, GPON, managed WiFi, and microwave systems. Took full accountability for commercial outcomes, resourcing, and technical execution across customer environments. Delivered successful projects for major mining clients including Rio, FMG, South32, and more - consistently acheiving and exceeding margin targets and deployment milestones.

Key Achievements: Managed a small consultancy engagement with FMG successfully which then led to a full LTE deployment project many times the initial value. Creativly managed procurement and costs to protect cashflow and avoid negative margins during execution.

What I Learned: Juggling complex technical deliveries while building trust with both internal teams and external stakeholders.

Why I Left: Sought a shift from telecommunications into enterprise IT to align with my evolving interests and strengths. I was drawn to the opportunity at Kinetic IT, which offered stronger foundational support to enable successful project delivery.

iiNet: Project Manager

At iiNet (now part of the TPG Group), I played a central role in the WiFi team, helping to deliver national connectivity initiatives and support corporate strategy of bringing mobility to customers. I worked closely across networks, dev ops, sales, and legal to drive smart city deployments in major CBDs including Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Bendigo, and Ballarat.

I also led rollout activities for iiNet’s small business managed WiFi product, contributed to tender responses, supported sales on wireless opportunities, and explored emerging IoT use cases in smart city environments. Toward the end of my tenure, I helped launch the TPG LTE project by defining and managing SAED activities for new mobile sites.

Key Achievements: Contributed to early TPG LTE network design and large-scale WiFi rollouts - including the construction of TPG's first mobile site in ACT.

What I Learned: Navigating strategic change during corporate mergers while ensuring service continuity.

Why I Left: Sadly my role was made redundant following an internal reorganisation at TPG.

VisionStream: Project Manager

Led deployment of 3G/4G mobile infrastructure for Optus across WA. Oversaw engineering teams and construction partners to deliver complex sites safely, on time, and on budget. Actively managed milestones, vendor performance, and risk to align with program goals.

Key Achievements: Delivered significant LTE rollout milestones under compressed timeframes.

What I Learned: Delivering carrier-grade infrastructure under contract requires meticulous planning, especially with equipment forecasting.

Telstra: Project Manager

Managed mobile network projects across new builds, upgrades, and enterprise rollouts. Delivered full-site lifecycle from acquisition through integration, including sensitive community cases and Defence/Resource sector LTE deployments.

Project lifecycle for LTE infrastructure included lease and legal agreements, local authority and AMTA compliance activities, design of infrastructure to Telstra and Australian Standards. Once these items were approved through a rigorous approval process, I would then manage the construction and commissioning phases, ensuring costs are managed and sites constructed as per agreed design and to quality standards.

Key Achievements: Delivered LTE services through new build to many enterprise customers such as BHP, RIO and DoD. These sites were to support site operations and as such had many challenges in terms of physical locations.

What I Learned: Regulatory navigation and inter-team alignment are crucial for state-wide rollouts.

Huawei Technologies: Deployment Manager

Directed a fast-tracked mobile swap-out for VHA, replacing legacy gear with Huawei’s SRAN equipment. Adapted quickly to an accelerated rollout schedule while coordinating integration, logistics, and field operations.

Key Achievements: Completed record numbers of swaps meeting extremely challenging deadlines.

What I Learned: Surround yourself with a great team, to acheive exceptional results.

Nokia Siemens Networks: Project Manager

National lead for Radio upgrades across Optus/VHA’s joint mobile network. Managed end-to-end delivery from survey through acceptance, coordinating RF, logistics, and delivery teams under aggressive timelines.

Key Achievements: Delivered upgrades to approx 1600 sites, balancing multiple customers with their own (often competing) priorities.

What I Learned: National deployments require both consistency and regional adaptation.

Singtel Optus: Project Manager

Drove a high-priority transmission program supporting nationwide rollout targets. Worked cross-functionally to identify blockers, expedite workstreams, and maintain momentum across core and field teams.

Key Achievements: Delivered transmission upgrades on-time, avoiding network capacity shortfalls.

What I Learned: Defining a good process is key to delivering consistently.

John Holland: Project Coordinator

Built and led the field engineering team delivering Telstra’s national 3G program (Project Jersey). Later joined the estimating team for Transgrid, costing a communications system that included fibre-over-powerline (OPGW) and SDH radio.

Key Achievements: Delivered hundreds of 3G sites, exceeding expectations.

What I Learned: The importance of keeping good project records - they may be needed by legal teams.

Alan Dick Australia: Senior Project Engineer

Managed integration and troubleshooting of 3G base stations in single and multi-operator environments. Delivered technical commissioning work across the Optus/Vodafone rollout.

Key Achievements: Completed integration targets on schedule, maintaining high quality assurance.

What I Learned: Quality control is key to high customer satisfaction.

GP Communications: Contract Engineer

Delivered Ericsson RBS upgrades for Vodafone under short-term contract. Supported capacity expansion projects across NSW and general technology support to operations and dployment.

Key Achievements: Rapid on-site troubleshooting and live network support.

What I Learned: Practical field experience is invaluable for managing delivery expectations.

Travelling Australia

Took a year off to travel and sail. Became a certified Yachting Australia Inshore Skipper Instructor — and decided to call Australia home.

Key Achievements: Recharged and gained new appreciation for work-life balance.

What I Learned: Personal growth supports professional clarity and motivation.

Orange PCS (London): Senior Engineer

Led regional mobile ops team through rollout and scale-up of the Orange network. Managed site upgrades, network performance, and national-level improvement initiatives across one of the UK’s busiest networks.

Key Achievements: Supported critical infrastructure in one of the world’s busiest mobile networks.

What I Learned: How to lead teams through continuous evolution of telecom standards and systems.

Metropolitan Police (London): Communications Officer

Provided 24/7 technical support to critical police systems — radio, CCTV, alarms, and secure data networks — using a wide range of comms technologies from ISDN to IP/MPLS.

Key Achievements: Maintained uptime of vital communication infrastructure under high-stakes conditions.

What I Learned: Mission-critical support requires absolute reliability and calm under pressure.