Meet Kate Bardy, a valuable and high-performing member of the water industry. Kate is the Manager Operations Project & Maintenance at North East Water (NEW), a member of NEW’s Women in Operations group and a founding member of WIOA’s WiWO network. She is a strong leader and advocate for women in water.
Tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to working in operations:
After leaving school, I travelled extensively and worked in many different industries. When I returned to my hometown of Wodonga after my travels, I was looking for an industry where I could build a career, which led me to North East Water. I joined in 2012 in a customer service role, but my procurement and contract management background quickly helped me secure a role in operations. I have worked in operations ever since in roles ranging from asset management and maintenance to project delivery. My current role is Manager of Operations Projects & Maintenance, and I lead an awesome team consisting of maintenance planners, mechanical fitters and project managers. We are responsible for maintenance across our whole operating area and support the delivery of renewals and asset improvement projects.
What do you love about working in operations?
I love how varied water operations are and how committed the people are. The Operations group at North East Water is passionate about the services we deliver to the communities in which we live. This commitment shines through in our ESC results. I also love working across reticulation and treatment streams in an indoor and outdoor capacity. I enjoy how fast-paced and constantly evolving our space is, and I am particularly interested in emergency response and management. Another of my focus areas is finding efficiencies across day-to-day operations and looking for improved ways to deliver our services.
Most importantly, I am passionate about our work and how critical our services are to our communities. The Operations group at North East Water have supported our customers through some significant hardships in recent times, such as fires, floods and severe storm events. These are the times I see what it means to work in operations and how critical our operators are to the industry.
What have been some of the biggest challenges working as an Operator or in operations?
There are many challenges currently facing the sector, and I believe our path to meeting those challenges lies through industry collaboration and collective effort. Managing the impacts of a changing climate, increasing regulations, and aging or rapidly expanding infrastructure puts pressure on operations, particularly in today’s economic environment. The increasing expectations of our customers and the demands placed on our resources are tough to manage.
A more personal challenge I have faced throughout my career is finding female mentors who work in water operations. Very few women worked in water operations when I started, and there were fewer female field operators. As I navigated my operations journey alongside having a family, the support of a female mentor from operations would have been very beneficial. While things have changed a lot in water operations over the last decade, progress is still required to reduce the barriers for women to work in operations so that we can benefit from a more diverse workforce.
In recent years, I have seen my operations department benefit from the diverse thinking that female managers bring. I am also seeing an increase in female representation in office-based operations roles, though we continue to see very few working in field-based roles. We have a handful of incredible women working in outdoor roles, and I would love to see more support for them from the industry.
What have been the biggest rewards/achievements?
I have achieved a lot at an organisational level in my current North East Water role. My team has changed how we deliver maintenance and has established a mechanical maintenance team from the ground up. These changes have significantly reduced our operational risks and operating costs. Another notable achievement is recently completing the IWN Champions program. I was part of the Champions group that stood up the Water Ministers Climate Innovation Challenge, which is now in its third year.
For me, the biggest reward is working with amazing people across the industry. It is thanks to some of these people that the Women in Water Operations (WiWO) network has now gone national through WIOA. WiWO all started with a conversation between the women who work in operations at North East Water. It soon became evident that other water authorities were having similar conversations and facing the same challenges. Our Managing Director and fierce supporter, Jo Murdoch, then took the conversation beyond our organisation, which started the chain of events leading to the WIOA collaboration. Support has also followed from our Board, particularly our Chair, Steven Brown, who is an ally and advocate for diversity.
The partnership with WIOA and the willingness of CEO Dean Barnett to make this initiative a reality is exciting for the future. It is rewarding to work with like-minded people who are passionate about attracting more women into operations and who want to see women acknowledged for their contributions.
What do you see for the future of women working in water operations?
My hope for the future is that more women see operations as a viable career path. Water operations encompass varied roles across all elements of STEM, trades, administration and field-based positions. Technology and innovation continue to reduce the barriers for women working out in the field, particularly in roles that were historically very manual. However, many barriers still exist, and I think as an industry we can work collectively to understand and remove or reduce these barriers where practical. As we see more women in leadership roles across water operations, I hope their success can be leveraged to attract university and school students and people from other sectors.
Have you had any role models or mentors in the water industry?
Mentoring is something I have sought out in recent years, particularly as I have transitioned into a management role, and I have found it to be very beneficial. I have been fortunate to have some great mentors within my organisation and through the IWN Champions program. IWN connected me with a network of amazing people, and I continue to be supported by these people beyond my time in the Champions program. A special shoutout goes to the legendary Elisa Bourke for helping bring WiWO to life and to Cameron Geddes, who mentored me through the last two years.
I respect and admire many women in the water industry, but I consider the incredible women in operations at North East Water my most important role models and mentors. I regularly seek guidance and feedback from my fellow operations managers, Jessica Littlejohn and Chelsea Harrison. Their unwavering support gives me the confidence and comfort to keep moving forward.