This year, the Asset Management Excellence NxtGen Award was won by Binal Patel. Hailed as a rising star and dedicated member of the asset management community by her colleague in the award submission, Patel is making great strides as an ambassador for asset management, as Louise Parfitt finds out I am very much a people person. Id much prefer to be talking to people and working together than on my own staring at a spreadsheet Binal Patel pops up on my screen at the start of our Zoom call beaming and we immediately start chatting about the weather, the importance of keeping warm and unflattering angles when your camera freezes. It feels like I have known her for years and this is one of her qualities that Alina Gonzalez Briceno, Patels colleague at Copperleaf, extolls in the submission for the NxtGen Award: Binal has a knack for relationship building and recognised [early on] that building relationships and breaking down silos for effective communication are vital to successful asset management. I am very much a people person, Patel tells me. I like that my current role [as an implementation consultant at Copperleaf] is client facing. I work with people to help configure our software to best suit their needs and decide how they need to be using it. The past few weeks Ive been in client workshops morning and afternoon, which can be really tiring but I really enjoy it. Id much prefer to be talking to people and working together than on my own staring at a spreadsheet. On role models This sounds a bit corny, but my mum is my absolute source of inspiration. She grew up in a tiny village in India, met my dad and emigrated to this country when she was 19. She didnt speak any English, and then within a few years had me and my brother with little family support nearby. It was quite tough for my parents to settle in, but they worked so hard and have never complained. My mum is now fluent in English and she never holds back from trying new things or putting herself outside her comfort zone. She has always really supported me, whether thats getting a good education, or going for jobs I thought maybe werent possible for me. I always have her in the back of my mind. Professionally, I think my line manager, Penny Moss, is amazing and does a great job. I look at her and I think, OK, perhaps I could lead a team in the future. Its great to see someone who you feel represents you, because then you start to see yourself doing a similar job and believe in yourself. People person A former colleague at AMCL, where Patel completed her graduate training, noted that she is excellent with data and processes, and also in her ability to quickly build a rapport with anyone at any level two skills not often seen together. Early in her career, Patel proved this when she helped develop content for the award-winning International Union of Railways (UIC) SAMP (strategic asset management plan) Application Guide, in collaboration with representatives from 11 national railways across Europe. The guides are intended to support railway organisations to implement ISO 55001 for certification and develop a SAMP collaboratively across their company. I was still so new to asset management at the time Id never written a SAMP before, Patel says. My role was to constantly ask why, how, and what does that mean, so when we wrote the guide it would be accessible to people new to asset management or who perhaps dont touch on it all the time; the SAMP has to have collaboration across the whole business in order to be effective. It was quite nerve-wracking leading workshops with senior staff in order to develop the guide. But Patel did this with aplomb she was later invited to become an ongoing member of the UIC AM-DIP (asset management developing implementation) working group, supporting the development of key deliverables such as value framework guidance. Her abilities shone again when she played a key role supporting the implementation of a value framework for a water company, for which she developed a costbenefit assessment (CBA). I worked with a lot of different stakeholders to decide how to value quite different parts of the business, such as how putting in a new HR system compares to developing a new site. COVID-19 hit just as we were about to get going, so we obviously had the challenge of changing our way of working, but we were able to keep up the conversations. I was talking to the client all the time, which is so effective and just really nice. Profile audio clip I was still so new to asset management at the time Id never written a SAMP before. It was quite nerve-wracking leading workshops with senior staff in order to develop the guide On joining the asset management profession I basically just fell into it. I studied economics at the University of Exeter, and when I was looking for graduate jobs, I was primarily looking at financial asset management. Then a job at AMCL came up and I read the job description and thought, this seems way more fun. Its not just looking at Excel and numbers all the time its more tangible. So, I applied, hoped for the best, and got it. And Im so glad that I did. I fell into asset management really by chance. It is so important that we do the outreach to students so they understand all that is available, because asset management is really quite broad On spare time I love painting I spend far too much money on paints and canvases. I am trying to fill my wall with paintings at the moment. My partner and I love movies so we go to the cinema a lot. I enjoy baking and I love watching Bake Off [a British TV show] although I was upset that Jrgen didnt win the last series! Mover and shaker Earlier this year, Patel moved from AMCL, where she had been working since joining its graduate scheme in 2018, to Copperleaf. It was an IAM conference that first piqued her interest in the company. Ive been quite heavily involved with the IAM since I became a member as part of my graduate training programme, she says. Its been brilliant for networking: I have met some really great people. And its through the IAM I learned about Copperleaf because I discovered its stand at an IAM conference. I liked what it was doing with value frameworks, which is what I was just getting into, and I decided it was definitely something I wanted to pursue a little bit more and now I work for Copperleaf. Patel has been an active member of the IAM NxtGen committee, helping to put on events which she describes as great fun and has recently taken on the position of chair. Its a nice way to test and develop my leadership skills, she says. Im keen to establish a more solid events calendar, because we have struggled for the past couple of years because of COVID-19. I think theres also an opportunity to do more with online events and introduce a networking element to them, which new members have told us is so important to them. Were looking at putting more content on the website in terms of blogs and podcasts, so even if people arent able to join the events, there is a range of information they can access in their free time to help develop their knowledge. Reaching the next generation Sharing knowledge and giving others support and opportunities is important to Patel: she says that holding the role of chair should only be for 18 months because it is important to bring in fresh ideas and enthusiasm. It is a big thing for people in terms of skills and career development, so I wouldnt want to keep that from anyone else. I have my time now, until 2023, to get done what I feel needs doing, then its time for someone who is a bit younger and fresher to step forward and have the chance to use and develop their skills. Encouraging young people into the profession is a passion of Patels; she tells me she will be giving a talk to Bristol University students that night to encourage the next generation of asset managers. Unless you study engineering, you dont hear a lot about asset management. My degree was in economics and I fell into asset management really by chance. It is so important that we do the outreach to students so they understand all that is available because asset management is really quite broad, she says. I see we can make a huge difference by being visible to the younger generation. Hopefully, that should ensure we have a diverse and energised set of people coming into the profession to take it forward. NxtGen Award finalists Kristijan Apostolski Continuous Improvement Manager, GWR: I educate, coach and upskill my colleagues and the engineering stakeholders at Great Western Railway (GWR) in asset management methodology and maintenance, and also to use improvement tools to help us all increase our knowledge, raise standards and create a proactive culture of reliability. The extra knowledge we have all gained was captured in redesigned standard operating procedures (SOPs), including detailed site and assets specific procedures. To sustain our programme, I designed and certified our asset management system for managing assets with ISO 55001:2014. I also designed a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) to capture all asset and maintenance management information. The work is then shared through a portal, helping to improve communication between departments. We also set up a company-wide online communication and collaboration group to build engagement and empowerment, and also raise awareness of who we are, what we do, and why it matters. The journey to a culture of reliability relies on information quality and accessibility. I have developed an asset register, data standards, governance and policies for structured data collection, understanding assets, their capabilities and operating context. To reduce failure surprises, I have introduced and configured condition-monitoring vibration sensors with analytics capability, communicating through CMMS on onset of failure or change in condition. I have also performed a criticality analysis to identify the importance of assets aligned with business priorities and risk. Based on that, I have optimised the preventative maintenance strategy, and assigned asset management/maintenance/reliability performance indicators to track our improvements and support dayto-day operations and decisions. The results of this entire body of work have been amazing. We have seen a substantial reduction in maintenance resources, utilities consumption, and breakdowns, and we have doubled our workforce productivity to deliver asset care. The awards and recognition I have received include: Best Asset Risk, Criticality, Health Assessment Programme by International Maintenance Conference Certified Reliability Leader Black Belt Award, Society of Asset Management Professionals Co-Chair of Association of Asset Management Professionals Innovation Award, GWR Excellence Awards. Effective asset management has become even more critical in the face of mounting pressures, such as climate-related disruptions and health emergencies I designed and certified our asset management system for managing assets with ISO 55001:2014. I also designed a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) to capture all asset and maintenance management information Ali Akeel Asset Management Adviser, SLBC INC: As soon I entered the asset management profession, I fell in love with it. As an engineering student, I knew little about the profession before I started looking for work. The more experience I gained within the industry, the more appreciation I had. Effective asset management has become even more critical in the face of mounting pressures, such as limited resources, growing urban populations, climate-related disruptions, and health emergencies (including the COVID-19 pandemic). All these challenges are felt most acutely in our daily lives as we interact with our built environment and infrastructure assets. These are our local assets, our common goods, our community. As an asset management adviser, my role is to help businesses achieve their goals by pairing them with the right practitioners, techniques and resources. I am a member of multiple high-profile asset management committees and have lectured at the Schulich School of Business Infrastructure Management and Real Estate Master of Business and Administration (MBA) programme, as well as presenting at various conferences including for CNAM, WEAO and the American Water Works Association. For me, asset management is about offering cutting-edge practical solutions to current challenges.