Dr Leon Burgess-Dean is the creator of  CalAlSil^®. A management professional, innovator, chemist and materials engineer, Leon has over 20 years experience in procurement management, technical, research and laboratory management of building products and construction materials facilities. In addition, Leon has specialist and extensive experience in developing solutions to difficult problems in construction, manufacturing and capital projects. Leon’s experience in the tertiary education sector, not-for-profit organisations, large volume manufacture engineering, resource assessments and concrete mix designs gives him with a breadth of experience to lead organisations in a range of corporate, management and technical roles.

As an accomplished engineer and business manager, Leon relishes managing new and innovative business systems of complex processes including the adoption of new technologies to the production of first quality outcomes. Combining innovative management techniques with practical business sense, Leon has successfully managed small and large scale projects that have resulted in world class improvements to products and processes.  Leon works best at the interfaces between key stakeholders using persuasive communication and drawing on his experience to provide valuable advice and support to projects to manage the focus of team members on efficiency and effectiveness in the face of seemingly great challenges.

Leon has a Bachelor of Applied Chemistry with Honours from the Queensland University of Technology (1994). This was followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration from Deakin University in 2001 and 2005 respectively. The topic of Leon’s honours and PhD was an investigation into the complex chemical and material interactions between multi-component aqueous environments and heterogeneous brittle materials. This began Leon’s foundation for the success Leon has had in industry and projects.