The Plant Assessor team is growing!

We’ve had some more new starters join the team at Plant Assessor. Get to know a little about them!

Kelly Thompson – Company Accountant

Background/Education: I moved to Newcastle from the Riverina NSW area to complete uni and fell in love with Newcastle.

Career: I have worked in the finance field for over 16 years but what I’m most passionate about is knowing how finance places itself throughout every part of the business. I love working with people to find out the smartest and most efficient way and really believe that accountants can change the stigma from being rigid and constrained to being useful partners. I feel that change is inevitable in any competitive business but the way we go about it makes a huge difference to how it is adopted. I’ll never waver from doing compliance the right way but I will go about finding the easiest way for everyone involved to do it. Workplace culture and providing psychologically safe work environments is important to me and I’m proud to work for Plant Assessor where barely a day goes by without a discussion on company values, a game of table tennis or some team building. I am excited by my new role where there are plenty of growth, change management and leadership opportunities. It is a compelling time to be part of the journey so watch this space for all the exciting things to come.

Outside work: I live for my kids and my partner, Paul. Our weekends are spent with the kids, so currently my hobbies are hanging at parks, soccer fields or with other families that have kids. When I do have some time on my own, I like seeing friends and connecting with Ronald McDonald house to volunteer.

Adam Daff – National Account Development Specialist

Background: I was born in the Hills District but I spent a lot of time bouncing between Broken Hill, Wangi Wangi and the Central Coast visiting family. There wasn’t much to do other than play sport where I grew up, so I played most sports there are to play and made rep teams in a few. When I wasn’t playing sports, the farming side of my family were petrol-heads. For a short while I raced motocross and attained my restricted aerobatic license.

Education: I went to school at Northholm Grammar in Arcadia north-west of Sydney. I attended Macleay College for my Diploma in Journalism before finishing my BA in Comms at Southern Cross Uni and completing a cadetship at News Ltd. I am currently studying Business at the University of Newcastle. In terms of the unusual, at high school I once volunteered for a survival course conducted in thick and steep bushland by a consultant botanist and instructor to the SAS. Some of us were nearly washed away by a thunderstorm which made the river we were near rise 20 feet. It took only 30 hours or so before a few on this course started losing their lollies.

Career: I started at Liquorland, our local Chinese restaurant and in classified sales for a publishing company at the same time before getting the call from News Ltd. I switched from being an editor/journalist to sales full time in Dubai when, in a pre-press meeting, it was clear I had sold many more advertisements into the magazine I was also editing than the appointed Sales Manager. I’ve always been curious and enjoyed people’s company, so I found the switch back to full-time sales management energising and relatively straightforward. 

Last job: I was a full time dad for a few years. Prior to that, I was Group Sales Manager at a publishing company.

Outside work: I am married with two young kids. We also have a dog; a powderkeg- but very loveable- red and tan, one-year-old kelpie called Turbo. We don't have many relatives in NSW so at the moment my pastimes include DIY home improvements and attempting to garner time for myself and my wife, sans kids, any way we reasonably can! I otherwise make an effort to watch the Parramatta Eels and Waratahs go round and occasionally the Swans, Western Sydney Wanderers and Liverpool too.