The DESA Team
At DESA we value our staff and we are proud of the fact that several members of our team have now completed in excess of fifteen years service with the company. We believe that our employees are our most valuable asset and this is reflected in their enthusiasm and professionalism - it is our aim to ensure that every contact you have with a member of the DESA team will be a pleasant one.
Dennis Middleton - Chairman
Dennis is the founder of DESA Australia and it is his vision and business acumen that has provided the focus for the company to become a leader within the industry.
Dennis was born in Scotland in 1947 and left school at 15 to start an electrical apprenticeship with Lowdens in Arbroath. Having completed one and a half years with Lowdens, he then migrated to Melbourne where he completed his apprenticeship at 20 years old.
Dennis went on to manage service departments and divisions of successful companies specializing in power and data communication in the computer industry. With over 25 years experience and having actually supervised over 40,000 man hours on electrical and communication projects, both in Australia, the Middle East and New Guinea, Dennis is considered a leader in his field. Dennis has attended the prestigious Harvard Business School`s OPM Program and takes an active role in the development and growth of the industry.
In over 20 years of business, Dennis, together with his fellow Directors of DESA, has been contributed millions of $ to charitable organizations such as Open Family and the Variety Club. Dennis and DESA Australia are currently involved with an Indigenous employment program at DESA, in partnership with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and has officially become Essendon Football Club’s official Indigenous Community Programs Partner.
Gerard Whitely – Chief Executive Officer
Gerard joined DESA as Chief Financial Officer in September 2007 following a 19 year career with the BP Group. Gerard held senior positions with the BP group in Finance, Business Management, Sales and Strategic Planning roles both in Australia and the United Kingdom. Gerard brings to DESA the necessary experience in Corporate Governance & Processes required to underpin the position DESA has grown to as a leading contracting company.
Gerard holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Western Australia, is a Certified Practicing Accountant and in 2006 completed the Senior Executive Program at the London Business School. He has significant experience in guiding businesses through a transformation phase.
Gerard assumed the position of acting Chief Executive Officer in July 2009 and was confirmed in this position twelve months later when he was also appointed to the Board of Directors.
David Dewar RCDD - Director, Defence and New Operations
David has been with DESA since the company was formed in 1989 and has over 30 years experience in the electrical and data communication fields.
David is fully trained in twisted pair and optical fibre technology, including the design, installation, testing and commissioning of major projects. These include contracts for the Department of Defence as well as Federal and Local Government utilising CAT 5 & 6 UTP and STP twisted pair cabling with optical fibre backbone cable plants. A recent State Government contract involved the installation of communications cabling and networking for over 800 schools. Other typical projects managed by David include turnkey projects for large UPS systems, the Melbourne City Link Project (involving nearly 100 km of optical fibre and 72 km of copper wire to connect equipment and facilities), and digital mobile telephone installations in various shopping centres, high rise buildings and car park areas.
Stephen Scott RCDD - Director, Health, Safety and Quality
Stephen has been with DESA since the company was formed in 1989 and worked in the in the electrical and data communication fields for 32Years.
Stephen has gained his experience working in the computer industry supervising power and communications installations, including the largest private office in the Southern Hemisphere at Coles Myer in Melbourne. He has seen the many changes in the communication industry such as UTP/ STP cabling systems and fibre optic technology. Stephen has managed the design, installation, termination and commissioning of projects throughout Australia and New Zealand, including the Myer Distribution Centre in Scoresby. The Myer Distribution Centre was the winner of both the NECA 1995 Victorian Excellence Award in the `General Contracting` category and the 1995 National Excellence Award in the Projects less than $500,000 category.
Robert Baird RCDD/NTS Specialist - Director, Victoria Operations
Robert has worked predominantly within the computer support industry specialising in providing quality cabling and data centre solutions for some of Australia`s largest organisations. These organisations include corporate office fit outs, service and maintenance of the Finance, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Retail and Government sectors of the business market. Having worked through the industry on local and overseas projects, Robert is able to offer a diverse range of data/voice, electrical and computer room design methodologies in line with the latest world standards.
Robert has regularly been involved in delivering industry firsts within the Australian market from being involved with projects like the first UTP Structured Cabling installation in Australia back in 1987 through to the first actively (software) monitored and smart patched category 6 cabling system consisting of 10,000 monitored ports during 2003.
Rocky Sama - General Manager, Queensland
Rocky has been involved in the electrical industry for over 25 years and joined DESA’s Queensland Office in 2005 as a Project Manager, shortly after assuming the GM role.
Rocky has been involved in all facets of electrical and communications cabling including the design, supervision and installation of power and lighting, network cabling, telephone cabling, intercom systems, UPS units, generator systems, AV and security systems.
Rocky has supervised many major projects including the cabling infrastructure for various sites across Australia. These include construction and refurbishment of airport terminals, office buildings, universities, resorts and apartment complexes for organisations such as Woolworths, Qantas, Boral, MLC, Outrigger, Queensland Government, Brisbane Hilton and Pfizer.
Project Group Managers & Project Staff
DESA’s Project Group Managers, Project Managers and Supervisors are Licensed Electricians, selected for their experience within the communications industry. They are registered to complete Open Communications Cabling as accredited by one of the Australian Communications Authority registered bodies and either have, or are working towards, their BICSI RCDD accreditation (DESA currently has 13 BICSI RCDD qualified staff). Our project management staff are highly skilled and considered to be experts in their field, with one attribute in common - providing exceptional customer service. This emphasis on customer service allows us to work on the most demanding projects, consistently providing new challenges and experiences.
|