Ben Firkins Email & Phone Number

I’ve been fortunate to have three careers, often in parallel with each other, with 33 years with an aviation safety regulatory authority, 27 years in youth development with air cadets, and 23 years in superannuation governance. I have experienced the concept of “growth and improvement through service leadership”.Air cadets fuelled my interest in aviation and was built upon the volunteers who used the experience of learning to fly, as a tool to challenge teenagers and to help them mature. Those volunteers also demonstrated how to pay forward to the next generation.Having experienced several decades of safety regulation in all its components; standards setting, entry control, education, training, promotion, audit and enforcement; and more recently understanding human factors and safety management; has demonstrated the value of influencing attitudes across a sector of the industry, whilst also being able to change behaviours at an individual level.A decade of experience as a committee chair, then board chair of a superannuation fund; and another decade with a cadet unit, has instilled in me the concept of empowering others to grow and improve too.And so to my current career – leading and serving the aviation industry in managing the transportation of dangerous goods even more safely.