An Interview with Sam Gunasekera, Senior Principal, Tetra Tech Coffey
To start off with, could you share a bit about your career history and what motivated you to choose your career path?
I didn’t set out to work in contaminated land management or landfill engineering. In fact, when I began my career journey, my goal was to be a geotechnical engineer. However, the recession of the early 1990s left few opportunities in that field for an entry-level graduate geotechnical engineer. While searching for funding to pursue graduate studies in the US, I came across an emerging area—geo-environmental engineering—one of the few specialisations at the time related to hazardous waste management, which was what contaminated land management was referred to at the time in the US. That decision ultimately set the course for my career.
What really kept me actively engaged in this field is the challenge. Contaminated land management wasn’t even a recognised discipline when I started, so I had the opportunity to be at the forefront of a rapidly evolving industry. I found that I enjoyed tackling complex problems and finding solutions to real-world environmental and engineering challenges, where the problems weren’t even well understood.
What does your role as Senior Principal at Tetra Tech Coffey involve?
As a Senior Principal at Tetra Tech Coffey, I provide technical leadership, project direction, mentoring, business development, and contribute to the development of business strategy. Client relationship management and industry engagement through associations such as ALGA and industry forums are also integral in my role. I lead project teams investigating and developing solutions to complex contaminated land and landfill problems. The projects I’ve had the privilege of working on have ranged from Brownfield redevelopments, including the rehabilitation of closed landfills, to large-scale infrastructure and land developments like Gateway, Parramatta Light Rail, Sydney Olympic Park, Barangaroo, Green Square, and Western Sydney Airport Metro. There are also a significant number of smaller projects where we’ve still made a big difference with innovative and cost-effective solutions.
I take lot of pleasure and pride in helping the next generation of contaminated land and landfill specialists grow and develop in their careers, just as I was mentored early on in mine.
Having worked on several Brownfield Development projects, how has it helped you throughout your career
Brownfield development projects have been a cornerstone of my career. These projects often present unique environmental, regulatory, and technical challenges, which push you to think outside the box. Contaminated land specialists play a pivotal role in transforming Brownfield land, and this gives us exposure to other professional and technical fields that transcend contaminated land, ranging from urban planning, project financing to property development.
The sheer complexity of Brownfield sites means that the path to success is rarely straightforward. One must work as a team and collaborate with various stakeholders with different expectations, evolving regulations, and unforeseen technical issues. Over the years, these experiences have honed my problem-solving skills and deepened my understanding of how to balance technical, environmental, and community concerns to deliver successful outcomes.
Given the theme of this e-cronicle is “Global Perspectives”, could you talk about how you leverage the global theme to carry out your projects at your company?
As a global company, we at Tetra Tech are exposed to global technical and operational issues. Though we’re based in Australia, we are part of a larger global network with access to a wide range of expertise and resources. This allows us to pull in best practices, innovative technologies, and cutting-edge solutions from around the world and apply them to local projects.
One of the key advantages of having a global perspective is that it broadens our approach to problem-solving. Whether we’re looking at landfill gas management techniques from the UK or remediation technologies developed in the US or Asia, we can adapt these global learnings to meet the specific challenges we face here in Australia.
In addition, the global focus enables us to be more proactive in addressing emerging challenges, such as climate change, sustainability and use of artificial intelligence (AI), which require a coordinated, cross-border approach. Having access to a global knowledge base and technology allows us to stay ahead of the curve and offer our clients solutions that are not only locally relevant but globally informed.
Finally, would you like to share a key message with our audience?
If I had to share one key message, it would be this: embrace challenges and always seek to add value. As Albert Einstein once said, “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” This has been a guiding principle throughout my career. In contaminated land and landfill engineering, the problems we face are often difficult and multifaceted, but those are the challenges that offer the greatest opportunities to make a real difference and chart a fulfilling career.
At the end of the day, it’s not just about solving technical problems. It’s about improving environments, enhancing communities, and leaving a positive, lasting impact. I believe that if we approach our work with this mindset, we can continue to push the industry forward and deliver outcomes that benefit both people and the planet.
