An exceptional project manager, with a great sense of humour who always puts the company, and his clients first: that’s what Brent Henderson is all about.
After 28 years of exceptional service at Radiola, Brent is taking early retirement for health reasons and to spend more time with his family.
“Brent has always been here to serve the company and has never expected anything in return. He is committed and driven by the needs of the company and is always the first to pick things up and take on the challenge,” says Executive Director Richard Thompson.
“He has delivered between $30M-$40M worth of projects. All had complexities with respect to location, suppliers, subcontractors and customer management and all, bar none, delivered positive results for us.”
Brent Albiston, Radiola’s Chairman of the Board, says Brent originally worked for the company’s Telecommunications division (no-longer operational).
“We had just won our first international contracts in Fiji and Vanuatu. Unfortunately, our project manager passed away while conducting factory acceptance testing in Norway. Brent was thrown in the deep end to manage those projects. This was the first of many large-scale projects that Brent has managed for the company over the years.”
Two of Brent’s stand-out project management traits are relationship building and attention to detail.
Colleague Mike Reynish says Brent is the best Project Manager he’s ever worked for, high praise coming from Mike. He is a well-loved member of the team with the ability to get along with everyone.
Richard says that in more recent times Brent’s legacy project is the contract with TATA Power Company in India which has been rolled out in two phases over 13 years. “This is a massive flight calibration project that’s been carried out at 70+ military bases in the country. Brent has run this programme of work and run it extremely well. He has an excellent relationship with TATA, and we’ve had nothing but good customer feedback.”
“Radiola’s ability to manage the logistical and operational difficulties of missions in an unfamiliar country was well demonstrated by the successful deployment of aircraft and flight inspection staff for operations at Indian Air Force bases throughout India.” Tata Power
Brent Albiston says Brent has always given whatever it takes to get the job done efficiently, quickly and most importantly, accurately. “The India project would frequently see Brent working in the middle of the night dealing with issues in a different time zone.”
Sheryl Sharpe, Radiola’s Accounts Manager, says: “Brent has always been a stickler for getting contracts right for the benefit of both the supplier and for the customer. We’re on the receiving end of the paperwork and it’s pretty obvious who the good project managers are from our point of view. Brent’s paperwork is always exceptional. He gives us line-by-line reporting and we never have to go back for clarifications. His spreadsheets are so good that even our auditors have been in awe of his work.”
Brent is well-known for his sense of fun with colleagues, and former Radiola Flight Inspector, Evelyn Sissingh, says Brent’s contagious laugh and great sense of dry humour can turn a mood around within seconds.
Not one to let his full-on career take over his life, Brent has four great passions outside of work. He is first and foremost a wonderful family man (with wife Sylvia and two adult children), he loves his classic cars, his music (with an extensive vinyl collection and an electric guitar) and his animals on the family’s lifestyle block.
“On behalf of the Radiola team, we are really going to miss having you around but know this; you have made an indelible mark on the company, and we’ve all loved working with you,” says Richard.
