HRC Committee Members
President - Bill Hooper – Contact
Bill began his career with GM Holden in July 73 as an Experimental Project Engineer in the Experimental Engineering Department. After returning in 1977, from 12 months at GMI and Pontiac Motor Division in Michigan, he held various positions within the Chassis Group.
In 1982, Bill took up the role of Supervising Engineer in the Structures Laboratory. He returned to the Chassis Group in 1987 and held a number of roles including Engineering Group Manager.
In late 1997, Bill moved to Proving Ground as Manager for three years, after which he returned to Fishermans Bend and held positions of Manager – Current Product Engineering, Chief Engineer – Mechanical, Director – Chassis, Electrical & HVAC, and finally, Director – Chassis, Powertrain Integration & HVAC.
Bill retired in Dec 2008 after 35 Years with GMH.
Vice-President - Russel Nainie
Russel started at GM Holden on March 20, 1975, firstly working on the Truck Assembly line, then as a Rectifier at the end of the line. He moved onto Staff at the Car assembly plant and spent the next seven years in Work Study, doing time studies, designing plant layouts, and product support/problem solving.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he was the Area Engineer responsible for the operations in the Mechanical and Trim areas at the Dandenong plant for eighteen months. Then moved to Fishermen’s Bend Aftersales as a Senior Product Specialist for Engines and Air-conditioning systems.
Russel then joined Current Product Engineering at GMH. In a two year period, he worked at the Vehicle Assembly Plant in Elizabeth and at “Phra Nakorn Automobile group” (GM Joint venture in Thailand) & “600 Motors” in Singapore (GM Asia sales).
In February 1991, Russel left Holden to join the Vern Schuppan Racing team where he provided Engineering Support for the international race team “Porsche 962”, and design assistance & build of a 962CR supercar (based on the 962 Porsche Le Man race car).
In August 1991, he re-joined GMH Current Product Engineering.
After four years, he moved to Engineering Support & Field Service Engineer for “Holden Customer Assistance”, providing engineering & technical support to Customer Assistance Teams for all four Zones (NSW / SA / Vic / Qld) to resolve difficult cases.
From 2001 to 2003, he became Liaison Engineer, looking after engineering, quality, and customer service for Lumina and Caprice cars across 17 Middle East dealerships, visiting each one monthly. He did similar work for the Pontiac GTO in North America (2003-2005), visiting the port and dealers across 48 states every month. Then from 2005-2006, he worked with dealers in Korea and China for the Statesman, spending three weeks there every two months.
From 2007-2008, he was based in Detroit as Global Launch Manager for rear-wheel-drive cars, with frequent visits to Shanghai. He led engineering, quality, and customer service for the Pontiac G8 and Royaum.
Then, in October 2008 he was an Issue Resolution Team Co-chair for Powertrain / Powertrain integration / Chassis & HVAC at General Motors Holden, representing those groups on issue resolution & assembly plant trials, ensuring a smooth launch of new models,
From March 2009, he was Fleet Manager, Company Vehicle Operations at Holden.
Finally, he moved to VCAMM Limited as Facility Manager from 2010-2015.
He retired in 2015.
Secretary - Peter Roberts Contact
Peter began his career with GM Holden in June 1976 as a Materials Engineer in the Central Laboratory at Fishermens Bend.
During his time in the Central Lab Peter was involved in approval of supplier parts, specification of interior trim materials and then responsibility for specification of plastic materials on locally assembled vehicles including Commodore, Gemini and Camira.
In the late 1980’s, Peter moved to the Engineering Body Group and was the Program Engineer for the VR and VS Cockpit modules and the initial concept and packaging of the VT cockpit module.
Prior to the release of the VT Peter moved to the position of Section Engineer responsible for HVAC on both V& W cars and also some regional vehicles.
In early 2002 Peter moved to Opel headquarters in Germany and took up the position as Holden European Engineering Liaison Manager. During his time in Germany Peter worked as a contact between Holden and Opel Engineering Departments and supported the release of the Opel sourced Barina, Combo, Astra, Tigra and Vectra.
On his return to Holden in 2005, Peter worked in Planning Department supporting the release of the European sourced vehicles before moving onto the position of Launch Manager for all imported vehicles including Captiva, Cruze, Trax, Colorado, Volt & Equinox, as well as controlling some of the Engineering Department objectives of including all possible options for the Director, Motorsport and Magnum programs.
Peter can be relied upon to recommend a good restaurant in many European cities and advise on the choice of beer or red wine.
Peter retired in March 2018 after 41 years with GMH
Treasurer - Neil Pogson - Contact
Neil qualified both as a Toolmaker (Credit) and as a Fitter and Turner (Hons), and joined Holden staff in March 1964 at Pagewood Plant, Sydney. He studied part time and upgraded his formal qualifications to BE (NSWIT). Neil was The Industrial Engineer when Pagewood Plant was closed in 1980. Along the way he had periods acting as a General Foreman, Production Manager and Plant Manager.
When Pagewood Plant was closed in 1980, Neil went to GMNZ for almost 3 years as Production Engineer, based in Trentham vehicle Plant but also responsible for Petone Plant.
He returned to Holden Fishermens Bend in 1983 in Central Manufacturing Engineering. In 1984, Neil was asked to also computerise the Employee Suggestion Plan. During this time he was the Manufacturing representative at the Product Operating Committee.
In 1986, Neil joined Product Planning as Manager of Operational Planning, working with Family II engines. Once this function was under control, he started helping with the 'LD' Nissan Astra program, eventually taking over the program.
From then onward, Neil handled all non-Commodore passenger vehicle programs until his retirement.
In the early 1990s, he was asked to also take over Program Management of Commodore Export vehicles. Neil worked with SAAB to develop, and had 2 prototypes running of a VP Commodore with a SAAB 2.3 litre Turbo engine. The Caprice front end was also fitted to the standard Calais body to make a more formal car for Asian tastes. Despite exceptional performance and financial return, the program did not go ahead because of European internal politics.
As import models and volumes grew, Neil made a number of visits to overseas Plants to set-up the build, sign off specification and the build quality. He pioneered contact with Opel Plants in Spain, Portugal, England and Poland, as well as introducing Holden operating procedures and quality plans in these and other plants, including Opel Antwerp, Vauxhall Luton & Ellesmere Port, GM Thailand, Daewoo Korea and Isuzu Japan.
During the UAAI Joint Venture, Neil was the official Holden point of contact for Toyota on all Engineering and program matters, working daily with Toyota and closely on Holden versions of advanced Toyota models in a secure studio in Design Staff. He made a number of visits to TMC Japan to negotiate these matters on behalf of Holden.
Neil championed and then Program Managed the Holden side of a co-operative venture with Jakab Pty Ltd to import GMC Sierra trucks for conversion to Ambulances, and a later program to lengthen and convert Holden Utility cars to Ambulances. This latter program alone sold over 500 utilities, all plus volume, and changed the concept of ambulance fleets all over Australia.
During his career, Neil has represented Holden working directly with Nissan, Toyota, Daihatsu, Daewoo, Isuzu, SAAB, Opel, Bertone and GM Corp! And of course, Holden.
When he retired in December, 2005 after 42 years of service, Neil was responsible for all Holden models which were not V Car based, including Light Commercials.
In 2009, Neil became Treasurer of the Holden Retirees Club, and continues in that position today. Neil also started the Club web site, hrc.au, and is still the webmaster.
He was made a Life Member of the Club in December, 2025.