I’m roughly 10 minutes into my sit-down interview with Varenya Mohan-Ram when a keen member of the bus and coach industry comes to join us.
It’s just minutes after Varenya had made his first speech to the industry since becoming the new executive director of the Bus Industry Confederation (BIC), calling for the packed Queensland Bus Industry Council (QBIC) annual conference crowd to unite.
As we venture into the need to remain focused before political parties to achieve growth for Australia’s bus industry, an attendee stops by to talk to the new BIC leader.
“I want to thank you,” he says while shaking Verenya’s hand. “I want to thank you for taking the position, and I know you’re going to do a good job.”
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For a person that I’m quick to learn is very well spoken and a deep thinker when it comes to tackling the collection of challenges facing the bus industry, Varenya is taken by surprise.
“That’s happened a lot today – more so than I expected,” he says while turning back to face me. Then, just like that, he’s back to talking about the intricate process of representing the industry in front of the decision-makers at Parliament House.
To understand the new face of Australia’s bus and coach industry, one has to first of all learn of his unique upbringing.
Born on South America’s northern coast in British Guiana, a former British colony that is now known as the independent nation of Guyana, Varenya sees his beginnings as a reflection of many in the bus and coach industry.
“I didn’t start out with much,” he told ABC. “Born in British Guiana and it being a developing country, people didn’t have a lot there.
“The individuals in this industry reflect my own journey — starting with limited resources, persevering through challenges and achieving success through determination. Like many bus operators, I was told certain things couldn’t be done, but I relied on creativity and resilience to overcome those barriers and deliver results.”
When I catch up with Varenya, he is only a week into the role, but he’s well-known by many in the industry due to his previous work experience. While he brings more than 30 years of strategic management, government and cross-sector experience to the post, his most recent role as national business relationship manager at Team Super (formerly TWUSUPER Fund) has seen him cross paths with many in the industry.
It all started when he arrived in Australia from South America in 1987.
After completing school and a Bachelor of Science in Darwin, it was a part-time job that stoked Varenya’s passion for a career in unions.
“I worked at Kmart for eight years, eight months and eight days – it’s easy to remember,” he recalls. “While working at a large organisation, I realised that sometimes people can be forgotten and be treated as a number, and I felt something really wrong with that.”
When he was approached to be a delegate of the local Shop Distributive and Allied Employee’s Association (SDA), he jumped at the chance. He admits he “knew nothing about what it meant to be in a union”, but he was led by a belief that having a voice was important. It stoked the fire.
From there, Varenya rose to work for Rest Industry Super, representing the retail industry. Following this he was approached to take a role as the Labor Party secretary in the Northern Territory, meaning he was to join the ALP national executive and the political sphere as a whole.
These stepping stones resulted in Varenya becoming the national executive member of the ALP between 2011 and 2013 while heading up the NT branch as general secretary. He’s also been a member of various industry committees, standing on the boards of organisations like the Refrigerated Warehouse & Transport Association of Australia (RWTA), the Service Industry Training Advisory Council, Asthma Australia in the NT and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), of which he was chairman in the NT.
Throw in a diploma of financial services in superannuation, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Finance for Senior Executives from Harvard Business School, and it’s safe to say Varenya has well and truly made something of himself.
But what does all of this mean for Australia’s bus and coach industry? Varenya says he is looking to bring his experience and connections to the role to help the sector overcome present challenges and flourish.
“I don’t want to overstate my connections, but whatever relationships I have will be used to ensure every one of our issues is heard by every state, territory and federal government,” he says.
“It doesn’t mean we’re always going to like what politicians say, but we won’t back down from raising our issues because the bus industry matters and to do this I want 100 per cent unity to ensure politicians understand that we work with no disparate parts and that we are one.
“A united bus industry that advocates for the same things, such as a recruitment and retention plank, a need to look at the procurement process and the fact that local content needs a separate discussion, that will yield success. I’m excited, humbled and energised to be in this role.”
It may sound like a daunting target – how can one unite a whole nation’s industry and push it forward on the path of reform? Varenya’s first step as BIC’s executive director is to bring together the executive directors of every state and territory association.
“We need to have the same narrative – each state association does such good work, but we need to do it together,” he says.
“Currently all of our work is seeing one plus one equal two, but by uniting us under the one concise and consistent narrative, I believe we can make one plus one equal three and see the industry’s synergistic qualities yield success. It means the sum of our parts can produce more than us all trying to out-do each other.
“I’m not saying this has happened previously, but what I want is our synergistic qualities to bring the industry success.”
To achieve this, there’s an elephant in the room. In recent years, Australia’s various bus associations haven’t been united – the Bus Association of Victoria (BusVic) has not been a member of BIC, with last year’s National Bus & Coach Show being held in Brisbane instead of Melbourne like it was originally slated to be.
When mentioned, Varenya presented a constructive approach to re-forging bonds with BusVic and ensuring all states are onboard to work collectively with BIC and each other.
“Every state will need to work with BIC in a constructive manner, and that excludes no one,” he says.
“I’ll be seeking conversations with the EDS of bus associations – my relationships with each of these executive directors has pre-dated me taking this role, and I’ll be interested in constructive conversations.
“This is, after all, greater than me and any individual – it’s about the industry and ensuring that when we leave the roles we have, we leave it better. That means we have to leave our egos at the door and ensure we’re thinking about all the stakeholders that we represent.”
The relationship between state associations may be set to change under Varenya’s rule, with BusVic also set to change hands this year. On June 30, long-time executive director Chris Lowe will resign, with Peter Kavanagh stepping into the role.
“I know Peter very well and the industry as a whole would like to congratulate him on taking the role while also thanking Chris for his time,” Varenya says.
“This new era with different voices gives us an opportunity to think about what we want for the industry. I’m sure every executive director in Australia wants to ensure that their legacy is about leaving the industry better off than how they received it, and I have no doubt that this will be the case with BusVic.”
To achieve this, Varenya says it all boils down to unity and collaboration.
In his first speech at the QBIC Conference, he mentioned the need work closely with Australia’s road freight sector due to the tendency for road freight to get in front of politicians more than other transport industries. His goal is to join with the road freight sector by combining certain key industry issues, such as the recruitment and retention obstacle, under the one banner to present to politicians.
“The other threat that we need to monitor closely is what the tariffs mean for our valued suppliers and whether it hurts our industry,” he says.
“It’s difficult to determine how much impact it’ll have on us when the USA has a fluctuating methodology that they’re applying to tariffs, but I want to help prepare for it.”
While the challenges come in abundance, Varenya is excited to tackle them with the help of the wider BIC group. The team, consisting of Andrea Luquesi-Scott, Lara Cole, Dean Moule, Glen Bortolin and Kirsten Jongsma, is one that Varenya speaks highly of, proudly emphasising their professionalism and expertise.
He says the current depth of knowledge that sits on the BIC
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