Alumni Community: Where are they now?

Michelle Carr (Fr 2008) works in Infrastructure Construction Management at Facebook, where her team is responsible for building the global physical infrastructure that brings their apps and services to billions of people around the world. Michelle shared with us what her time at College and university was like, the challenges of moving abroad and what a typical day in her life working at Facebook looks like.

Our team is responsible for building Facebook’s global physical infrastructure that brings Facebook apps and services to billions of people around the world. My current role manages our long term strategic planning all the way through preconstruction to handover to the construction team on our global sites. I love working on our strategy, collaborating with a range of different teams and setting our projects up for success.

Facebook operates on a truly unprecedented scale. A third of the world’s population rely on Facebook products to keep them connected every single day, and our teams work hard to make that possible. Managing at our scale has unique challenges and requires unconventional thinking, which is what I really enjoy about the job. Another great aspect of my role is the people I work with, Facebook hires extremely talented individuals with diverse backgrounds, I am always learning something new.

Due to the nature of my role I don’t really have a typical day as I travel a lot for work and work on many different projects, but this is roughly what it looks like: 5.15am – Wake up 6am – Get the Facebook shuttle to work (many tech companies have shuttles that take people from all around the Bay Area to the office campus). I normally respond to emails or prep for my meetings on the shuttle. 7am – Grab breakfast at one of our cafeterias on campus. 7.30am – 4pm – I am normally in back-to-back meetings all day. They vary from meetings planning our future site strategies; to meeting with our internal teams for design changes or utility commitments; to establishing and reviewing budgets, schedules or contracts. 4pm – Get shuttle home. It normally takes about 2hrs to get home, so I’ll take my afternoon meetings or work on the shuttle. 6pm – Exercise. I either go to the gym; pilates; cycling; or play tennis or basketball. 8pm – Have dinner, and catch up with friends or family.

I had travelled a lot before moving overseas, but I underestimated how challenging moving abroad is, even to an English-speaking country. It required me to navigate complex immigration systems, new healthcare and tax systems, and even smaller things like having to re-sit my drivers test. I knew only one person when I moved to San Francisco, so building new friendships and navigating a similar but different culture was tough. Having to reestablish my career and create new work networks pushed me to challenge myself. The experience has given me a different perspective and appreciation for people; the US and Australia; and even myself.

San Francisco is an incredibly vibrant city, there is always something going on – concerts, festivals, lectures, shows, comedy, films, and it’s really close to incredible national parks, surfing and snow. It’s amazing the amount of people that are working on cool and innovative things, like AI for health applications and VR for education. I miss my family and friends in Australia, and definitely miss the Australian beaches.

Project planning software developer nPlan is using machine learning to construct the world’s first system to understand construction planning. Toby Buchanan (Fr 2007) is General Manager at nPlan and has been central to their growth. He shared with us what his time at St Andrew’s College and later the London Business School was like, his experience of moving abroad, what it is like working at nPlan and his words of advice to young Androvians who may be struggling to choose a career path.

My job at Lendlease was very demanding, with long hours and weekend work. It was also very focused on project delivery, and I felt I didn’t have the whole picture of how a successful business works, nor the capacity to explore this due to the demands of the job.

I was already working in London and London Business School is one of the top business schools in the world, so I applied. LBS will go down as one of the most influential periods in my life – it was completely eye-opening. Much like Drew’s, there were a lot of smart, interesting, and driven people which was exciting to be a part of. Postgraduate education, when everyone has consciously decided to attend and is giving up a lot to be there, has a different energy and level of engagement than undergrad. It also sparked an interest in technology and how that will change the construction industry, which I am now pursuing in my work.

As I write this in May, I think London is wonderful as the sun is out and the days are long. If I wrote it in January, I might feel differently! Jokes aside, our London experience has been fantastic. Uprooting your life and putting yourself out of your comfort zone can be challenging but rewarding. I love Sydney and it is definitely “home”, but it can be difficult to break out of your bubble. Moving to London was like starting college – putting yourself out there, friend “dating”, and exploring new places. Doing all this aged 30 has meant forming great friendships with people I wouldn’t have met at 20. We are also lucky to have several women and men from Drew’s and other colleges living here in London, who have become our de facto family.

Professionally, there are a lot of opportunities in London, especially in the start up and technology space. It has been really exciting to be a part of this community!

I would say the revolving door of political leaders, but there’s plenty of that here too! It’s cliché, but friends and family. I remember on the first day at Drew’s, John Sergeant (then Vice Principal), said to look left and right at the people next to you. Many of you will get married and have families together. John was right – there is a fresher 2007 baby boom happening right now! It’s been hard at times being away for big milestones like weddings and the arrival of babies.

I joined nPlan because I was looking for a role where I could have an impact at an organisation and industry level… a modest goal! Our team has doubled in size since I joined, and I have been central to the way we have grown. We have applied groundbreaking applications of machine learning to solving the problem of rampant delays in major construction projects, and this is changing the way our customers make consequential decisions. I have very much enjoyed being at the center of this as we continue to crack this tough problem. The flip side of working on an exciting but challenging problem is that the ride to achieving our ambition is full of ups and downs. This can be difficult endure, but on the balance, I enjoy it.

You can read the full interview with Toby on the College website: www.standrewscollege.edu.au/alumni-community/ androvians/

Whilst the Alumni Society has not been able to host the usual Semester 1 alumni events in 2020 (Rawson Rugby Finals, Young Alumni Drinks), we are currently assisting the College and Students' Club in a number of different ways in dealing with the immediate effects of the pandemic. While we appreciate it is a drop in the bucket, we have brought forward the remaining instalments of our $50,000 pledge towards the new TRL Building to this calendar year and have made a donation of $15,000 towards the Principal's COVID -19 Relief Fund. We like to think the latter donation is made on behalf of those alumni who would have ordinarily contributed to such a fund but now find themselves unable to do so.

We are also separately looking at expanding the number of our annual Society Scholarships over the next year with a particular focus on helping out alumni connections who are financially distressed. Further, we are actively working on strengthening existing informal alumni networks to help current students and young alumni obtain practical experience or a foothold in their chosen profession or occupation in a tighter labour market.

Personally, I would like to thank the Principal and the other officers of the College, Students' Club executive, Councillors and Foundation Board members for their work in responding to the pandemic. It has been a privilege to watch some fine minds spring into action to protect the fabric and essence of the College. From the Society's perspective, we hope that this moment of crisis passes quickly and College life can resume shortly in all its full colour.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the service of a longstanding committee member who has recently retired, Adam Casselden SC, and also thank current Committee members Cameron Ireland, Don Nicol, Jeremy Hoffman Lucas Smith and Andrew Huckel for their work. I would also like to thank new members Simon Carson, Simon Ward, Sasha Kovic, Katherine Suttor and Georgie Quigley for agreeing to join the Society Committee as of late 2019.

President, St Andrew's College Alumni Society Senior Student 1997

On Wednesday, 11th March 2020, a luncheon was held at the College to celebrate the 66th anniversary of our 1954 freshers. The following nine 1954 freshers attended: Colin Davidson, Andrew Ferguson, Denis Gordon, Richard Halliday, David Houston, Davidson Mathieson, Angus Munro, Keith Murree-Allen and Herb Sternberg. Apologies were received from Don Jamieson and Kim Ostinga.

After a guided tour of the new Link Building with the Principal, Wayne Erickson, and Advancement staff, the group gathered for a very enjoyable 3-course lunch in the Senior Common Room. The Principal joined them for drinks and provided a summary of the current College position.

'The whole occasion was most worthwhile. There was much reminiscing and sharing of recent experiences since we last met in 2019. We all left in good spirits determined to get together again next year.' - Colin Davidson (Fr 1954)