ASSE T MANAGEMENT | Sponsored editorial
CEO PERSPECTIVE:
TRUST AND COLLABORATION KEY TO SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY Peter Iancov was appointed as Zinfra's Managing Director in April 2019, becoming the driving force behind one of Australia’s leading utility infrastructure service providers.
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r Iancov said he was attracted by the opportunity to spearhead a major services and projects business that had been developing its capabilities in the energy infrastructure market since 2012. “Zinfra was always a ‘people business’, delivering a range of high-quality and complex maintenance, emergency response, construction and commissioning services in a market that for years was quite unknown despite its criticality to communities, industry and public at large,” Mr Iancov said. “Today, energy is at the forefront of any successful economy. Being part of the SGSPAA Group (State Grid Singapore Power Australian Assets) and being owned by two major global utilities offers learnings, a bridge to technologies, innovation and capability for growth that are second to none. The opportunity to make a difference and build a special business was quite irresistible.” While Mr Iancov was appointed to lead the organisation through its transformation to an efficient and trusted service provider, which could potentially lead to future growth aspirations, he believes growth is the natural consequence of delivering on the promise made, and building and maintaining trust and partnerships with clients and communities. “I’ll start with a statement that might be controversial. Growth is not a vision nor a strategy, but an outcome,” Mr Iancov said. “Like any business around the world, growth results from acceptable returns to shareholders, providing a reliable, quality and trusted service to our customers combined with planned development of our people, and fair relationships with our suppliers and subcontractors. “Our vision is simple but also challenging – to become a trusted partner in energy. We plan on getting there by becoming the safest and most efficient field force contractor in our market over many years to come.
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“Trust and partnership cannot be requested, nor tendered for a price, nor bought. Trust is earned and is an outcome of living our values and delivering our promises over a long period of time in a way that adds value to all our stakeholders. “Saying that, we see ourselves operating in the realm of transmission and distribution of energy (gas and electricity), energy storage including batteries, pumped hydro, gas (natural gas, biogas and one day hydrogen), renewable energy systems, smart grids and smart cities.” Little did Mr Iancov know that less than 12 months into the role, Australia would have to contend with the worst bushfire season on record, followed by devastating floods and then the global COVID-19 pandemic – yet even in the face of these challenges, Zinfra personnel displayed remarkable resilience and commitment to making a positive contribution to Australia’s energy infrastructure. “Reflecting on 2020, I recall being increasingly amazed at our people's capability to respond to a crisis,” Mr Iancov said. “This was not about my successful leadership, this was about the leadership of every one of our 1,750 people who responded to this series of unprecedented events. “Office staff moved within days from the office to working from home, while our depots and field workers continued to deliver 24/7 services to ‘keep the lights on’ alongside all other critical infrastructure and essential workers. On top of our typical ‘day job’ we had to learn to interface with and support various government and health authorities in their challenge of keeping Australians safe.”
A PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE As a professional electrical engineer, Mr Iancov has an established career with over 27 years’ experience in leading major businesses and projects, with expertise in the management of major projects, construction, maintenance, WWW.UTILITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU