our founding director, matthew killian, started sureside in 2016 borne from a misalignment he saw between what the traditional consultancy model was able to provide its clients versus what its client’s were seeking and expecting.

matthew had established a team of talented client focussed professionals that made listening to and understanding the client its priority. whilst he had received exceptional support from his employer to build the capability to best service client needs, the realities of operating within a large mutli-disciplinary consultancy model meant that limitations naturally applied to how services could be delivered.

in brief, matthew felt that he was exceptionally supported by his organisation, but this wasn’t a framework that would enable an authentic relationship between consultant and client. further, matthew observed misalignment in priorities between the organisation and his team members with there being frustration with the ‘machine’ and its misaligned processes to team activities.

as a compulsive problem solver, matthew developed a business model from scratch that began from the fundamental principle of “alignment equals success”. you can see how this materialised under philosophy.

beginnings

matthew graduated from monash university shortly after completing his studies in 1999. he graduated with first class honours in a bacelhor of civil Engineering (structures) and science (materials). he had earlier commenced his career in 1998 as an undergraduate in connell wagner’s (now aurecon’s) civil structures group. his initial role was to lead the organisation’s field team in pavement assessment for the city of melbourne and within the organisation’s municipal services team.

Matthew was then deployed into the project management team servicing melbourne water’s western treatment plant upgrades based in brooklyn and later mount waverley.

matthew’s intial passion when undertaking his desgree was bridge design so he was keen to come back to the design office environment and develop skills and experience as a designer. However upon return, the projects matthew found most interesting and challenging were condition assessment, deterioration diagnosis and remediation design. no two projects were the precisely the same and matthew found unique skills in observing the behaviour of structures and tying this back to the theory he had spent years in refining.

In addition to structural projects, matthew benefitted from regular collaboration with aurecon’s materials technology group and due to his science background, also participated in projects as a materials technologist.

over time, condition assessment, deterioration diagnosis and remediation design morphed into a new dedicated maritime team within the civil section. this was on account that most of matthew’s projects were maritime so it was elected to focus on marketing to the maritime industry. this was the beginning to matthew’s dedciation to an industry where people were passionate about the infrastructure. whether this were individuals working for a major port or being a member of the public loving their local pier.

in 2010 matthew moved to hyder consulting (now arcadis) as a senior maritime engineer for a short time before moving to kellogg, brown & root as a principal maritime engineer in 2011. He became team leader of the ports and maritime group in 2013.

professional traits

there are a few traits that serve to describe matthew’s professional attributes.

foremost as a designer and advisor, is his scientific background. for matthew there is always an answer and a reason. much of what matthew does is formed from a fundamental understanding of the principles he is working to and this is supported by his own curiosity and the standards that he holds himself to.

related to this is authenticity and integrity. its not good enough in matthew’s view to just have “some idea”. matthew’s trait is to ask of his peers, “what is the connection here” and “how assured of you of this conclusion” and “convince me of the facts… tell me the story and have it make sense”.

finally its a passion for people, what they do, their talents and their fulfillment. matthew is a big believer in business and the benefits that business is capable of providing for society and individuals alike. in that vein… he sees business and community as symbiotic and their interaction is most mutually beneficial when their respective values are aligned. an example is the framework that consultancy has provided for himself to prosper in his career, to find fulfilment in his work and its facilitation of matthew to do that for this peers. matthew has always put his team before business in recognition that the framework of business benefits from the fulfillment achieved by individuals.

when we get a chance to chat

well naturally, matthew is passionate about the maritime industry and technical endeavours.

away from work matthew loves to engage with sport, particularly team based sports and enjoys the opportunity to be involved in coaching at the junior level. he rarely misses seeing the bombers play or following the san francisco 49ers from afar.

while his opportunities are limited, he loves getting back to the farm to work and reconnect with the hill country he worked before his career gravitated him to the city. being there is a chance to admire the transformation of the family farm into landscape featuring habitat restoration projects.

Matthew will always have plans to travel and lose himself in natural expanses and observe wildlife in their natural habitat, including alaska, southern africa and some special places in australia. there’s a trek to kilimanjaro’s peak and motorcycling trip around vietnam in the early planning stages. He also loves to engulf himself in new cultures and cuisines. He’s passionate about conservation efforts worldwide but particularly here in australia.

on a regular weekend after setting some time aside for meditation and mindfulnees he’s enjoying time with his son and friends, possibly on a day trip to the coast or a local winery. in time on his own he’ll be chain-listening to podcasts or listening to all sorts of eclectic music that enriches the soul from the likes of ennio morricone, leonard cohen and faith no more.

what does sureside mean to you

matthew shares his thoughts on sureside…

from a personal perspective… starting sureside was just a matter of observation and making a choice to be consistent with those observations.

it was an observation of my own motivations for living, for being a colleague and a mentor, for having purpose.

it was an observation of my colleagues, what they were wanting, what they hoped was different and occasionally questioning the motivations of their own actions.

some might mistake it as some token virtue signalling, but sureside really isn’t about declaring ourselves or anything really as virtuous, it is much more about being aware of our authentic selves and asking ourselves… what are we working towards here?

i’ve worked with so many talented individuals throughout my career, people that i respect immensely, people that i’ve learnt from and whom are larely aspirational. these engineers and technologists are inspiring for their capability and proficiency. i’ve been lucky to have observed the very best in our industry and to have shared time with them. I have benefitted from their example. having felt their respect is something I will always value and be grateful for.

all of those that inspired me, they held their obligations to their clients as sacred, they expressed a desire to conserve and felt dismay when impacts were unavoidable. without exception, they were determined to deliver great infrastructure and were invested in its quality as if it were their own. that infrastructure was a testament to their craft.

unfortunately, their efforts would often go unrecognised and unappreciated. it would be taken for granted that they would pull off these strokes of adept mastery in their craft. frankly, the rewards they received were often paltry compared to the benefits enjoyed by their clients. that is not a knock on clients but a testament to the business model used to deliver these benefits. clients were paying too much for indirect costs and the talent was seeing only a small proportion of the revenue. our motivations in creating sureside are twofold… to make our services more accessible for clients and to ensure that the ‘craftsmen’ see more of a direct return on dedication to their craft.

in terms of legacy, i don’t see it as my legacy or really anything to do with me. I think if this works, its a legacy of the collective that makes it work at a point in our shared future. the only thing i’ve done i guess is have had the blind courage to make the observation that I did and then to act… but that’s been largely involuntary really… once i’d made that observation… acknowledged it… analysed it… its in my nature to act… to test that hypothesis and to make that something that others can contribute to… and be authentic in the process. so i guess in a way that its part of my legacy… is to say it was there to be done…so it was acted upon.