Leadership Team

Wayne Hooper GAICD

Chief Executive Officer, Audit and Risk Committee Member

Wayne is a professional engineer with significant technical and management experience within the surface engineering, general engineering and manufacturing industries. His engineering experience includes design, maintenance and project management. He started his career within the electricity generation industry, followed by high volume manufacturing. Prior to joining the company in 1994, Wayne also held senior roles in marketing within the building products industry. Wayne holds degrees in Science, Engineering (Honours Class 1) and an MBA.

Philip Suriano GAICD

Chairman / Non-Executive Director, Audit and Remuneration Committee Member

Philip has been a director since 2008. He began his career in corporate banking with the State Bank of Victoria (Commonwealth Bank). He holds a degree in banking & finance (B.Bus (Bkg & Fin)). He spent 16 years in senior positions within the Australian Media industry. Philip has gained wide knowledge & experience to give him a strong background in operations, sales and marketing in such roles as National Sales Director, MCN (Austar and Foxtel TV Sales JV) and Group Sales Manager at Network Ten. Prior to joing MCN, Philip was employed within the Victor Smorgon Group. For the past 15 years he has been working in corporate finance.

Matthew Twist GIA (Aff.)

Company Secretary, Chief Financial Officer and Risk Committee Member

Matthew has over 25 years financial management experience, encompassing financial and operational control and systems development in manufacturing. Matthew has been the company's Chief Financial Officer since March 2007, and was appointed Company Secretary in March 2009. Matthew has a Certificate in Governance Practice, and is an affiliated member of the Governance Institue of Australia.

Gregory Hooper

Technical Consultant & Founder

Gregory has a mechanical engineering background with over 35 years of hands-on experience, as well as sales and management experience, in the engineering, metallurgy, welding and thermal spray industries. Before founding LaserBond Gregory held key positions with multinational surface engineering equipment and speciality welding consumable manufacturers. Gregory founded the company with his parents in 1992 and has been responsible for the research, integration and development of the company's materials and Thermal Spray and LaserBond^® cladding processes. Gregory provides technical support to the business related to Research & Development, Technology and Operations.

Carlie Junge

Human Resources and Workplace Health & Safety Manager

Carlie is responsible for the day to day management of LaserBond’s Human Resources operations. Carlie’s generalist background enables her to manage all aspects of the employee lifecycle including; recruitment, administration of policies and procedures, injury management, training and development and health and safety practices. Carlie holds a Diploma of Human Resources management.

Mike Walker

Sales Manager

Mike is a senior sales executive with international experience managing sales, marketing and business development functions. He has led teams across Australia, Asia and LAtin Amercia throughout his career. Mike has worked for several ASX listed companies including Orica, UGL and Aurizon over a combined 20 years, and has principally focused on value selling into B2B, industrial markets, covering both products and services. Mike has a degree in Business Management and is a qualified Chartered Accountant in New Zealand.

Thomas Schlaefer

Research & Development Manager

Thomas is a materials and process expert out of Germany who leads our R&D department. He achieved his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the Surface Engineering Institute of RWTH Aachen University, Germany, which is one of the leading research institutes for coating materials and processes. He has extensive experience and knowledge of materials and coating processes, and technical skills related to laser cladding, application oriented coatings development, materials development, and materials and composites analysis.

Tahnee Bathurst

Material Scientist

Tahnee is responsible for co-ordinating and conducting in-house and external R&D projects. Her background in Chemistry has enabled her to effectively maintain and run LaserBond's in-house laboratory since joining the team in 2014. She has a broad knowledge of surface engineering techniques, coatings and material selection, and metallographic examination techniques. She has attained certificates in Metallurgy and Metallography.

Peter Mutty

International Business Development

A highly experienced thermal spray and cladding systems manager, who has worked in national and international leadership roles.

Peter has a wealth of knowledge in the maintenance and repair fields covering a broad cross section of heavy industries, including earthmoving, exploration, mining, oil & gas, power generation, hydraulics, steel making, refining smelting and steel making.

Steve Halloran

National Production Manager

Steve has led our NSW operations, including estimating, since 2012. Steve has recently taken the post of National Production Manager overseeing all of our locations. He joined LaserBond in 2007 as an experienced tradesman and is fully conversant in our diverse operational divisions. Steve holds a Cert III Mechanical Engineering Trade Certificate.

Jim McClymont

SA Operations

Jim leads our SA operations, joining LaserBond in 2017 bringing with him an extensive background in operations and production management. He is a qualified tradesperson and throughout his career has continued development in areas including training and assessment, and workplace health and safety.

Peter Oke

Quality Manager

Peter leads our Quality division focused on maintaining and continuously improving LaserBond's quality assurance and control strategies, documentation and procedures. He provides a wealth of experience from quality and project management roles in diverse industries including manufacturing and aviation.