Awards Time to celebrate Jodie Williamson, IAM Professional Development and Membership Manager, reveals who took the top awards at the IAM Asset Management Excellence Awards 2022 O n Monday 17 October, the asset management community came together to recognise best practice at the IAM Asset Management Excellence Awards 2022. The Hilton London Bankside, in the heart of the city, was a fitting venue for the awards ceremony and dinner. Its glamorous ballroom played host to more than 150 guests who gathered to celebrate and showcase the excellent work undertaken in the past 18 months across the discipline. The evening began with a drinks reception sponsored by Business Modelling Associates, followed by the awards ceremony and dinner sponsored by Arup and hosted by IAM President Christian Roberts. Formal proceedings began with a warm welcome from Christian, Stephen Herndlhofer of BMA, and Vicky Vassou from Arup. This was followed by the launch of Why Outcomes Matter, a collaborative project between the Institute and ITN Business for a digital news-style programme about starting with the end in mind when it comes to building infrastructure. The guest speaker for the evening was Dame Jo da Silva, Global Director of Sustainable Development at Arup. Dame Jo gave an insightful and thought-provoking speech on maximising value and managing uncertainty. She is passionate about enabling Arups 18,000 employees to put sustainable development at the heart of what they do. One of her key messages was that influence is for all; each of us can make a difference. She called for systemic change in the industry to combat climate change, nature loss, and inequity and recognised that asset managers have the ability to make a difference because of their influence throughout the value chain and across the whole life-cycle of assets. She challenged attendees to think bigger and bolder to maximise value for communities and nature, not just for stakeholders. Dame Jo finished by reminding us that what we do matters. As individuals, organisations, and a community, we can shift practice and influence policy by creating positive outcomes for people, places, and the planet. New Chapter Those attending also saw the launch of a new Chapter of the IAM. The Institute is currently working with several committed groups of volunteers across the globe to develop new Chapters where there is both a critical mass of members and asset management activity. Representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were invited to the stage to sign an official mandate allowing them to form a legal entity in KSA, which will become the IAM Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Chapter. Khaled Alammar, who will be the Chapter chair, expressed his delight in being appointed to drive this initiative forward. He highlighted the KSAs ongoing commitment to furthering the asset management discipline. Thiagarajan Karthikeyan then took to the stage to outline the Chapters aspirations to: Promote KSA as a global knowledge hub for asset management Promote KSA as a reference nation for asset and facility management in the government sector Set the direction for critical national infrastructure programmes Promote nationwide government and private sector transformation. To finish the evening, Christian announced several special awards for individuals who have given their time and commitment to the IAM. Presidents Award Ashley Barratt and Sally Sudworth were presented with the Presidents Awards that they could not collect in person in 2021, as they were representing the IAM at COP26. Christian also acknowledged a Presidents Award presented at the North American Conference in Denver on 4 October to Joe Mooney for exceptional service in raising the profile of the IAM USA Chapter, IAM North America, and IAM activities and supporting the development of the IAM USA Chapter. The final Presidents Award went to Andy Watts, who has been involved with the IAM for many years. His early contributions were focused on knowledge development before being hired to project manage the development project associated with the professional registration work. During that time, his role significantly expanded, and in early 2020, he was asked by the Board to lead the Institute as Managing Director. He successfully steered the IAM during challenging times and stabilised the organisation. He has also positively embraced the appointment of the new CEO and actively facilitated the handover activities. We want to create shared value for society and safeguard the health of our planet Dame Jo da Silva Life Fellow This was followed by Ursula Bryan being appointed a Life Fellow of the Institute. Ursula has been a champion for asset management throughout her career and a driving force behind the disciplines professionalisation. During her time at National Grid, she pioneered the internal gamification of complex asset management problems. It was a bold move to suggest playing a game to a technically skilled workforce! But the asset management game and risk game continue to be used to introduce and refresh key principles in National Grids asset management decision-making. She joined the IAM Board in 2009, continuing for the next 12 years, taking on the role of President in 2019. During her two-year presidency, she introduced knowledge groups for Climate Emergency, Digital, Inclusion, Maturity, and Resilience, launched the register of Asset Management Professionals, and steered the Institute through a global pandemic. Now, as CEO, she continues to drive the Institute forward, championing the need to support members worldwide as a thriving global organisation. Edwards Bursary The evening closed with the announcement that the IAM will launch the Edwards Bursary in 2023 in recognition of Richard Edwards immense contribution to the Institute and, particularly, to developing the IAM knowledge base. Richard stood down from the IAM Board in September 2022 after more than 13 years, having served as President during this period as well as serving on the Finance Committee. However, Richard is probably best known within the asset management community for his significant contribution to the IAM knowledge base (such as the 6-box model and maturity). He continues to represent the IAM on the Global Forum for Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM) knowledge projects, including the review of the 39 subjects. The bursary will support the next generation of asset managers, and Richard will work with the Institute to develop the criteria over the coming months. Asset Management Excellence Award Winners 2022 McKeown Award for Individual Achievement This award is presented to an individual who has made a personal contribution to the asset management efforts of their organisation or the asset management professional community by progressing their individual journey in asset management. The finalists were: Dean Beamish, Binnies Angel Cana, Boortmalt Pty Ltd Michael Niven, Binnies Seyed Ali Seyedi Pour, MOP/NIDC The winner was Seyed Ali Seyedi Pour, who designed and developed an AMS implementation roadmap for Irans oil and gas industry. As an advisor to the Iran Ministry of Oil, Seyed Ali has been instrumental in shifting its focus from maintenance excellence to asset management. He is also head of physical asset management at the National Iranian Drilling Company. NxtGen Award This is awarded to an individual new to asset management (less than five years in an asset management-focused role) who has made an outstanding contribution to the implementation and development of asset management in any part of their organisation and demonstrates great potential for further asset management excellence. Once again, the shortlist for this award included the winner of the North American Award of the same category, Julie DeYoung. Corporate Transformation Award This award honours the corporate journey and the excellence displayed by organisations to progress their asset management competence. Any organisational effort towards the corporate journey, regardless of the asset management maturity, is considered for this award. The shortlist for this award also included the North American Award winner in the same category, Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department. The finalists were: AIMS Operation and Maintenance Project, Environment Agency Government Operations & Maintenance Sectoral Reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, EXPRO Introduction of asset management during global pandemic results in remarkable corporate transformation, Grupo Energa Bogot Project Clarity, Irish Water & KPMG Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department The winner was Grupo Energa Bogot (GEB), a public utility corporation with operations in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Latin America, plus the transport and distribution of natural gas in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Guatemala. GEB successfully introduced asset management across the organisation in the face of several challenges, including a global pandemic. Despite these challenges, it achieved ISO 55001 certification one year ahead of schedule and delivered multimillion-dollar validated business benefits. The finalists were: Cameron Sloman Craig Stout Dana Bani Malek Julie DeYoung Katherine McCarthy The winner was Cameron Sloman, who joined AMCL in October 2021 from the aviation sector. Despite such a short time working in an asset management-focused role, Cameron has acquired a strong understanding of the discipline and a thirst for knowledge, ensuring that he continues to learn and apply that knowledge to his work. He was assigned as the project manager for an asset investment planning project in a major UK water and wastewater services company, where he developed an investment plan for the remaining three years of the regulatory period using a new asset investment planning and portfolio optimisation software product that the water company had recently bought. This was a tough ask of someone with limited asset management experience and no experience working in the water sector! Team Achievement Award This award honours an operational team or department who have made a significant contribution to their organisation or the asset management knowledge base. Each team consists of people from across the organisation or other organisations, reflecting that this was a collaborative effort. The finalists were: Affinity Water Leakage Team and PA Consulting Deputyship of Roads Operation and Maintenance Ministry of Transportation and Logistics Services Multiple organisations in Denmark working together to adapt the British CNAIM methodology and embed risk-based decision-making at several DSOs to benefit customers and society Pneumatic Tube (P-Tube) Programme Improvements and Resiliency The Defence Infrastructure Asset Management (2030) Programme Team The winner was Affinity Water Leakage Team and PA Consulting. Affinity Water was the leading company in leakage reduction during AMP6 and has committed to one of the industrys most significant reductions in AMP7. During the financial year 2021/22, in collaboration with supply chain partners and notably PA Consulting, it significantly increased its leakage reduction activities, which has produced a step change in its performance and delivered its lowest-ever volume of leakage. So far in AMP7 (at the end of year 2), it has achieved a 10.5 per cent (based on a three-year rolling average from 2019/20) reduction against its total five-year reduction target, which puts it in the best place to deliver on its total commitment of a 20 per cent reduction by 2025. In absolute volumes in year two, this equates to a leakage reduction across its region of 16.6 million liters per day (Ml/d) thats enough water every day for nearly 110,000 people! Eason Award for Digital Innovation This award has been named in honour of the IAMs founding President and Life Fellow, Norman Eason, who died earlier this year. Norman was passionate about using technology to further the discipline. His vision, more than 10 years before the introduction of Windows, was to run software on any hardware owned by the client. It is his innovation that drove his work with the IAM and for which this award recognises his contribution to asset management. The award honours innovative advancements in asset management in the face of current challenges. It recognises an individual or organisation that has applied good asset management principles in adapting to new technologies, advancements in digital capabilities, and meeting competitive, digital business and consumer trends that have taken place in the previous year. It is for those on the cutting edge of asset management innovation and who are pioneers or early adopters of new methods, theories, and tools. The finalists were: An evolution in resilience planning: determining a more resilient future through digitally enabled adaptive systems planning BMA/National Grid/Yorkshire Water Engineering Net Zero Model: revolutionising network planning and design for our Net Zero future SP Energy Networks Enterprise and digital integration for the Elizabeth line Mott MacDonald National Grid Electricity Transmission National Grid The winner was National Grid Electricity Transmission for introducing Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) technology to manage costs on the transmission system effectively. This technology has never previously been deployed on the National Grid transmission system and is a GB first. The technology issues hourly rating enhancements to the overhead line, increasing the power that can flow down the overhead line by an average of 31 per cent. The proposals are set to achieve 1.4m in constraint savings during the first year. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists. The next edition of Assets will showcase the winners and celebrate the successes of 2022.