Asset ManagementPavement Design and AssessmentSouth Australia
9 July 2026
Rod Ellis – Principal Infrastructure Management recently reached a milestone of 30 years of service with Tonkin.
Joining the company in 1996, Rod started as a Project Engineer, working across a range of disciplines at Tonkin. Early on, as an ‘under study’ of Barry Hagan, Rod developed an interest in pavement design, a specialisation that remains one of his passions to this day. Over the years Rod was involved in several significant road and highway projects in Adelaide, including the Port River Expressway and Southern Expressway.
With an interest in business management, Rod completed his MBA and became part of Tonkin’s Executive Management Team in the early 2000s, playing an important role in guiding the business as it continued to evolve and grow. Around that same time, Rod began developing Tonkin’s spatial information service offering, which eventually would become the multi-disciplinary Asset Management and Spatial team we have at Tonkin today.
Rod Ellis – Principal Infrastructure Management recently reached a milestone of 30 years of service with Tonkin.
Joining the company in 1996, Rod started as a Project Engineer, working across a range of disciplines at Tonkin. Early on, as an ‘under study’ of Barry Hagan, Rod developed an interest in pavement design, a specialisation that remains one of his passions to this day. Over the years Rod was involved in several significant road and highway projects in Adelaide, including the Port River Expressway and Southern Expressway.
With an interest in business management, Rod completed his MBA and became part of Tonkin’s Executive Management Team in the early 2000s, playing an important role in guiding the business as it continued to evolve and grow. Around that same time, Rod began developing Tonkin’s spatial information service offering, which eventually would become the multi-disciplinary Asset Management and Spatial team we have at Tonkin today.
Rod has also served on Tonkin’s Board of Directors and has been actively involved with industry associations, including Consult Australia and IPWEA SA.
These days, Rod’s passion remains focused on supporting regional councils across South Australia to responsibly manage their vast networks of assets and infrastructure. Maintaining close connections with his clients is always front of mind for Rod; he’s often on the road visiting clients and Tonkin’s annual Asset Management and Spatial Collaborative Forum – an initiative that Rod started more than 10 years ago – is an event that many of our council clients look forward to each year.
These days, Rod’s passion remains focused on supporting regional councils across South Australia to responsibly manage their vast networks of assets and infrastructure. Maintaining close connections with his clients is always front of mind for Rod; he’s often on the road visiting clients and Tonkin’s annual Asset Management and Spatial Collaborative Forum – an initiative that Rod started more than 10 years ago – is an event that many of our council clients look forward to each year.
Reflecting on what excites him about the future at Tonkin, Rod said:
“Although I feel like I could keep going and going, I’m approaching the back end of my career. So now one of the things that excites me is when I think about the opportunities we’ve created for others. What we offer to our clients is still quite unique and so is the culture at Tonkin. Our team members who are coming up through the business right now really have a wonderful future ahead of them with Tonkin.”
We thank Rod for his outstanding contribution to Tonkin over the past 30 years.