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Birkenhead welcomes a new Terminal Manager
When Senay Velisha began her career at ExxonMobil Australia in 2010 as a vacation student at Yarraville Terminal, the prospect of moving to South Australia to assume the role of Terminal Manager seemed as distant as the opportunity to work in locations such as PNG, Guam, Majuro, New Zealand and China. And yet that is exactly the career that lay before Senay over eight action-packed years.
News
Birkenhead welcomes a new Terminal Manager
After completing a double degree in Engineering and Commerce at the University of Melbourne, Senay had a choice between following a path toward a career in business or a hands-on role in the engineering industry.
After making the decision to choose engineering and entering the vacation student program, Senay honed her problem-solving skills by diving into a range of projects and working alongside a number of experienced mentors.
While Senay has worked in a range of Australian and international facilities, she credits her time at Yarraville as being the most influential on her career.
“The five years I spent at the Yarraville Terminal was invaluable from a learning and career development perspective.
“Staying in the one location to assume the roles of Operations Coordinator and eventually, Maintenance Supervisor provided me with an excellent foundation for understanding reliable and efficient terminal operations,” she said.
The experience she gained at Yarraville Terminal provided Senay with the expertise to provide operational advice to terminal operations around the Asia Pacific region in the capacity of Asia Pacific Pipeline Integrity Programs Engineer.
“Having the opportunity to travel the world to assist sites with their pipeline integrity practices was a definite career highlight for me. No two terminals are the same, and I enjoyed the challenge of immersing myself in an operation in order to discover unrealised efficiencies.”
After almost two years in the Asia Pacific role, Senay returned to Yarraville as an Operations Lead before Birkenhead came calling.
While Senay’s tenure as Terminal Manager is still in its early stages, she is relishing the challenges of overseeing a plant that manages more than 1.3 billion litres of fuel a year.
“Along with servicing a significant proportion of South Australia’s fuel demand, a key part of my new role is maintaining strong relationships with local community groups and residents.
“I’m also liaising with employees at every level at the Birkenhead Terminal to understand their specific challenges and hear new ideas. Coming from a very large and very loud European family, communicating with people has always been something I have enjoyed.”
During her downtime, Senay enjoys discovering new locations through travel and hiking wherever possible and catching up on the latest movie at the local cinema.
“I can’t believe how much I’ve done in eight short years and I can’t wait to see what the next eight years hold,” said Senay.
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