A born and bred country boy, his career kicked off in Geraldton as an apprentice plumber, fast forward to today and Rod has clocked up seven years on the Monadelphous clock where he’s held a fundamental business development role in Heavy Lift; leading to his most recent pivotal role within the business in our newest joint venture, Alevro. Although perhaps his most cherished roles are that of husband and Dad – get to know Rod Stribley, Manager – Alevro Joint Venture.
I was absolutely fixated on being a Pilot, however, colour blindness squashed that dream, so instead I turned to the tools and began my career as a plumber and gas fitter in Geraldton! While I sit in the aircon of my office today, I’ve been on the ground, I’ve worked in the blistering heat and stayed in some pretty questionable ‘accommodation’, and that’s an experience I’ve never forgotten and I’d like to think has kept me honest all of these years no matter what my role in the industry.
I remember turning up for a job in Cue (Big Bell) and our accommodation was a converted horse stable, “rural” I think you could call it. There was certainly no need to pay for a sauna. And, every time I head up to Port Hedland, I’m always reminded of the pain staking task of replacing the roof on the hospital, screw by screw in the Pilbara sun.
Being a plumber in Geraldton was an interesting time, I had the opportunity to work on some pretty significant pieces of the town’s history. The full courthouse renovation, building of the new St John’s hospital, and worked on grain ships, cray boats and farms. Reflecting now, it was a pretty great time. Things have changed a lot since then, including the uniform – the old king gee shorts, boots and sometimes shirt optional!
Then in one of my life changing moments, I met THE girl, Sharon. I moved to Perth for her and 26-married years later I’m still on my honeymoon. I took on a maintenance role in an oil and gas company, then I moved into their main services division which was my introduction to the business development world. After nine years I ended up running the whole operations.
In 2004, it was highlighted I needed to add some academic qualifications to round out my experience, so I embarked on my first master’s degree in Human Resource Management (MHRM), majoring in industrial relations and labour economics. Then I continued on and completed my Master of Business (MBA).
In the same year, I made the best career move I’ll ever make. I became a Dad! My daughter Tara was born. Then in 2006, my son Samuel completed our family becoming the first grandson on my family’s side after my brother had four girls. Nothing I will do in my professional career will come close to being a Dad.
This year, I’ve had an exciting shift in Monadelphous with the establishment of our heavy lifting and shift joint venture, Alevro. As the joint venture manager, it’s my responsibility to lead the day-to-day operation of our venture, while also continuing in my capacity as Manager of Business Development for the Heavy Lift business. There’s a strong overlap between the two currently as Alevro is in a heavy development and strategic growth phase.
Since joining Monadelphous in 2015, the Heavy Lift business looks very different now. We’ve grown quickly both in head count and equipment volume since becoming our own operational entity. Being awarded our first major crane services scope at Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) was the first of many highlights for me at Monos, that moment in particular brought us to life, and it allowed us to expand our business and build a baseline operation for us to scale our growth plans.
We’ve worked very hard to create value and build trust with our internal stakeholders so it’s great to see how far we have come as a business and for people to be actively interested in the work we are, can or will be doing.
Monadelphous has allowed me an environment where I’m able to think freely. I’ve always been backed by the business to push forward with growth strategies which align to a simple philosophy I operate to of ‘think big, start small and scale fast’.
Alevro is an exciting joint venture and I think adds a lot of value to Monadelphous as an overall business. The reaction to Alevro both internally and externally has been a quick validation that we have created something very special.
What are some of my proudest moments? My wife and children create my proudest moments. We’ve always been quite involved with our children, Tara and Sam, and their sports. Recently our daughter Tara was drafted into the AFLW with the Fremantle Dockers, while my son Sam is a keen runner who is currently trying to get his 200-metre time down to 22-23 seconds.
I’m now fully inducted into the role of spectator, so now it’s Sharon and I along with our two little Maltese pups just taking the world on as it comes!
What’s Rod reading, watching or listening to at the moment?
For all those who were fans of the Karate Kid – I just watched the series Cobra Kai, really enjoyed it. As for a recent read – The Captain’s Run. What it takes to lead the All Blacks, with Richie McCaw was very good
What’s on Rod’s recommendation list?
The best book I have ever read is: The Measure of a Man – the Autobiography of Sidney Poitier. Talk about culture and life – what an incredible read!!
What’s your final parting advice? What advice would you give your younger self?
Couple of major learnings would be: