CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL COO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2025 4 COO of the Year 2025: Water Resource Strategy & Sustainability ounded in 2005, eWater Group is today relied upon to deliver trusted, creative, and science-led tools and expertise to more than meet the water management needs of Australia and other countries in this part of the world. The team here work tirelessly to support, facilitate, and encourage evidencebased decision making when it comes to water resources, seen through their ability to develop, manage, and deploy tools and services that enhance responsible water management, underpinning them all with accurate data and practical advice. Duty-bound to deliver these offerings in the best interests of its owner governments, stakeholders, and clients – as well as on behalf of the Australian people that have invested in its capacity to deliver – eWater Group has evolved considerably over the past two decades, to the point where international stakeholders are now as A venture jointly owned by all Australian governments, eWater Group supports sustainable, climatefocused water management through the provision of stewardship, development, enhancement, research, access, and transparency in this space. The company not only works within all of Australia’s states and territories, but its presence can be felt internationally, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. Stephen Cory is the COO of this huge operation, and he leverages more than 25 years in finance, quality assurance, and management systems to lead valiantly from the front. On the back of his recognition in this programme, we caught up with Stephen for more. F reliant on its products, tools, and expertise as those within its home country. These insights assist stakeholders with everything from reducing poverty to pursuing integrated water resources management. “There is no other organisation in Australia that can ensure the safe custody and wise, ongoing development of these critical national assets.” eWater Group manages two businesses – eWater Solutions, its software and hydrology business responsible for supporting the application of its tools for water modelling both at home and abroad, and the Australian Water Partnership, which is a key part of Australia’s support for climate resilient sustainable water resource management in South Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific. Until January 2024, Mekong Water Solutions was the third business operated by the company, with this venture delivered in partnership with the Australian Government to see a practical approach taken to climate-sensitive water resources management in Cambodia. MWS successfully met program outcomes and delivered services using Australian and local water expertise in Cambodia until the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s decision to discontinue funding beyond January 2024. eWater Group is continuing to go from strength to strength, and a great many of its successes over the past eight years can be attributed to COO Stephen Cory. Backed by more than a quarter century of experience in a career spanning everything from banking to work in the not-for-profit sector, Stephen has carved out a welldeserved reputation for himself as a strategic and astute senior executive. Across his daily responsibilities as eWater Group’s COO, Stephen oversees and manages the operations and strategies of the company, ensuring its strategic goals are met. As a part of this, he has even optimised the internal process of the company to the internationally recognised ISO:9001 standard, all whilst improving efficiency, driving growth, and keeping alignment with the company’s vision of making water management better. Since joining eWater Group in early 2017, Stephen has achieved a number of highly impressive feats, such as increasing growth in retained earnings by 250% as a result of careful financial management across the company. In addition to this he has also successfully bid for an open tender for the third phase of the Australian Water Partnership. Although these figures are notable, Stephen told us: “I have always taken the view of telling the story behind the numbers.” This not only relates to his unique ability to explain complex financial structures to those not in the know, but it is also indictive of a COO that is about much more than figures on a piece of paper. For example, Stephen prides himself on a mantra of continuous improvement, allowing him to improve both his own performance and that of the wider company through the likes of audits and due diligence reviews. This ability to keep pace with an ever-changing environment is proving increasingly important in a landscape of growing complexity and new challenges, and significant discussions have been sparked as a result of these developments. Diving deeper into this, Stephen explained: “At eWater Group, we are part of this conversation, developing innovative, science-based solutions to support effective water management. By leveraging May25003
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