Advanced Dynamics

Brian Midgley

Brian Midgley is an electrical engineer and before emigrating to Australia in 1969 he worked for a number of years on the construction, operation and maintenance of coal fired and nuclear power stations in the UK. From 1969 onwards he held various supervisory and management roles with Rio Tinto Aluminium at the Bell Bay aluminium smelter in Tasmania and at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in New Zealand culminating as General Manager of Tiwai Point for four years. He led an organisational development study of the former Martin Marietta aluminium rolling mill and recycling facility in Kentucky, U.S.A., soon after the company was purchased by Rio Tinto, which resulted in a complete restructuring of the company and a relocation of their headquarters.

As Chief Project Engineer for Rio Tinto Aluminium in the late eighties based in Melbourne he carried out a number of pre-feasibility studies into the potential expansions and/or upgrades of their Tiwai Point, Boyne Island and Bell Bay aluminium smelters.

In Chile, South America, commissioned by a consortium of international companies, he headed up a series of studies into harnessing the potential water resources of southern Chile through the development and construction of hydro-electric power stations and aluminium smelters. In the early nineties as Managing Director of Anglesey Aluminium, Rio Tinto’s aluminium smelter in North Wales, he restructured the operation and made significant gains in Industrial Relations through system changes and the introduction of management and leadership training.

Since 1995 he has worked as a consultant, based in Invercargill, New Zealand working mainly on systems development and management/leadership training and development. Most of this work has been for Rio Tinto at their bauxite mine, alumina refineries and aluminium smelters but also for BHP Billiton and Nordural. In 2004 he headed a major power option study for Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point smelter. In 2006 he was involved in the pre-feasibility study for a proposed new large aluminium smelter to be built in the UAE. He is married to Voreen with a grown up family. His outside interests are house renovation and vintage cars.

Areas of expertise

Systems Leadership practitioner
Organisational Development – Structure and Systems
Management and leadership development, effective teamwork, and experiential programmes.
Large scale Engineering Projects and Studies