Melissa Thek is a highly accomplished leader with over 20 years of experience in delivering strategic transformation, governance, and operational excellence within the water sector and other regulated industries. As a trusted advisor, Melissa has consistently driven measurable outcomes, enabling organisations to adapt to evolving regulatory, customer, and operational demands.
Melissa’s career aligns perfectly with the mission of Utilities Strategy Advisory (USA), leveraging her expertise to address key sector challenges like water scarcity, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. Through her strategic and innovative approaches, Melissa empowers water businesses, government agencies, and associated organisations to achieve sector-wide goals while enhancing resilience and customer value.
Career Highlights:
- Strategic Leadership: Provided end-to-end leadership for transformative projects, including the development of the Gippsland Water Price Submission 2023-2028, and 2050 Vision and development of strategic growth initiatives at Sequana, ensuring alignment with organisational and sector goals.
- Regulatory Expertise: Improved regulatory submissions for water businesses, streamlining processes to meet compliance standards and embed long-term strategic objectives.
- Governance Design: Developed governance structures and frameworks for effective decision-making and accountability, including risk management, change management and project management frameworks for Gippsland Water.
- Innovation and Transformation: Delivered transformation roadmaps, embedding continuous improvement, and managing change to enhance operational efficiency and customer outcomes.
- Sustainability Advocacy: Authored influential thought leadership articles on water conservation, sustainability, and infrastructure, sparking sector-wide discussions and driving innovation in the water industry.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Fostered partnerships across water businesses, government agencies, and communities to drive collaboration, reduce friction, and achieve shared outcomes.
Highlighted Experienced
Melissa has received three Australia Day Public Service Awards recognising her contribution to nationally significant regulatory, technology and transformation programs.
The awards recognised excellence in:
- national regulatory reform;
- complex program delivery;
- digital transformation;
- customer service improvement; and
- government technology implementation.
These achievements demonstrate Melissa’s ability to successfully lead complex initiatives involving significant regulatory, organisational and stakeholder challenges while delivering measurable outcomes.
Melissa is an active contributor to industry discussions on regulatory maturity, governance, capital planning, organisational capability and transformation within the water sector.
Her thought leadership has been recognised by the Australian Water Association and widely shared across the industry.
Featured Publications
Navigating Capital Investments and Embracing Transformation for Victoria’s Water Sector
Featured by the Australian Water Association after receiving more than 35,000 views and 2,400 downloads. The article was subsequently promoted nationally by AWA and led to a feature interview discussing the future of investment planning and regulatory transformation within the water sector.
Joining Forces: Why Collaboration is Key to Transition Within the Water Sector
Featured by the Australian Water Association, highlighting the role of collaboration, capability sharing and sector-wide learning in navigating regulatory and organisational change.
The Secret Life of Your Water Bill: What You’re Really Paying For
Explored transparency, customer understanding and accountability in water pricing, supporting improved customer engagement and awareness of how water services are funded.
From Sprint to Endurance: Why Change Management is Central to Regulatory Maturity
A thought leadership series examining the relationship between organisational capability, governance, leadership and regulatory maturity, and the importance of embedding sustainable regulatory practices rather than relying on cyclical submission-focused effort.
Why Leadership, Not Management, Matters
Explored the role of leadership style in shaping organisational culture, wellbeing, engagement and performance.
Melissa has extensive experience supporting utilities in the planning, governance and delivery of regulatory submissions across Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
She works with executive teams to translate regulatory expectations into clear delivery plans, evidence requirements, assurance processes and Board-ready decision material.
Representative Experience
Barwon Water – PS28 Integrated Program Roadmap and Critical Path Alignment
Led development of an integrated PS28 roadmap, critical path, RACI and Board-readiness outputs spanning strategy, asset management, digital, workforce, customer engagement and price modelling workstreams.
Coliban Water – PS28 Governance Planning and Resourcing
Led advice to establish governance arrangements, workstream planning, dependencies, resourcing strategy, Board assurance and an external support model under the PREMO framework.
Central Highlands Water – PS28 Strategic Advisory Support
Leading development of foundational artefacts covering customer value, PREMO positioning, tariffs, affordability, Superpipe cost treatment and pass-through considerations.
Seqwater – 2026 Bulk Water Pricing Proposal
Engagement lead for submission coordination, strategic regulatory advice, executive reporting and Steering Committee governance across the extended bulk water pricing proposal period.
Melissa establishes governance frameworks and assurance processes that improve accountability, transparency and regulatory readiness.
She works with utilities to strengthen governance maturity, improve evidence quality and establish repeatable processes that support successful regulatory outcomes.
Representative Experience
Yarra Valley Water – PS28 Board Attestation and TOTEX Assurance
Leading the TOTEX assurance workstream, including review of expenditure variances, business cases, IT, SaaS and cloud expenditure, cost drivers and evidence traceability.
Seqwater – Regulatory Readiness Progress Review
Led a readiness checkpoint assessing progress against uplift actions, governance and evidence maturity, delivery risks, dependencies and embedment of prior recommendations.
Lower Murray Water – PS28 Evidence Register Review and Gap Assessment
Project managed a comprehensive review of evidence quality, completeness and fitness for purpose, identifying targeted uplift actions and support needs.
Central Highlands Water – PS28 Evidence Register Review and Readiness Assessment
Assessed evidence quality, traceability and readiness against regulatory expectations to strengthen the defensibility of future submission material.
Melissa supports organisations to align digital and technology investments with strategy, risk, customer outcomes and regulatory requirements.
Her experience combines digital investment review, transformation governance, technology-enabled process improvement and delivery-readiness assessment.
Representative Experience
North East Water – Digital and IT Investment Review for the 2026 Price Submission
Led the regulatory shaping of the digital and IT investment program, testing cost estimates, assumptions, strategic alignment, risks and evidence against ESC expectations.
Seqwater – Digital, Technology and Information Program Assurance Review
Reviewed program blueprints, business cases and risk registers to strengthen scope definition, benefits realisation, procurement planning and governance readiness.
Seqwater – Operational Technology Program Prudency and Efficiency Review
Assessed program drivers, strategic alignment, delivery model, governance and business case justification against QCA expectations.
Gippsland Water – Business Transformation and PMO Uplift
Established project and change management frameworks and a corporate PMO to improve accountability, transparency, governance and delivery performance.
Melissa helps organisations translate strategy into practical delivery models, governance arrangements and capability uplift plans.
She focuses on building internal ownership, improving decision discipline and ensuring strategic priorities can be delivered through business-as-usual processes.
Representative Experience
Lower Murray Water – PS28 Governance, Planning and Capability Uplift
Project managed advice on governance, planning, delivery model design, capability assessment and resourcing arrangements for PS28.
South East Water – PS28 Governance, Planning and Regulatory Strategy
Supported the core advisory team developing governance, planning and regulatory strategy arrangements for disciplined PS28 delivery.
Gippsland Water – Strategic Framework and 2050 Vision
Led strategic planning and delivery frameworks connecting corporate planning, risk, technology, business reporting and transformation activity.
Barwon Water – Strategy 2040 and PS28 Integration
Integrated strategy, asset management, digital, workforce, customer and price submission milestones into a coherent delivery roadmap.
Melissa develops and reviews investment material that links strategic need, customer value, governance, delivery readiness and regulatory defensibility.
Her work supports utilities to present clear, evidence-backed expenditure proposals and funding cases that withstand executive, Board and regulator scrutiny.
Representative Experience
Coliban Water – Resilient Rivers Water Infrastructure Program
Supported development of a detailed business case and funding material for rural network modernisation and improved water efficiency.
North East Water – IT Program Synopsis Guidance and Templates
Developed regulator-ready program synopsis guidance and templates aligned to ESC TOTEX expectations and DTF gateway principles.
WaterNSW – Price Submission Delivery and Process Optimisation
Developed standardised project scope and justification templates and implemented an RFI process to improve traceability and response quality.
Seqwater – Review Events Framework and Templates
Developed templates and framework recommendations to support prudency, efficiency and cost-recovery evidence for review events.
Melissa leads complex change and readiness activities across regulatory, digital, technology and organisational reform environments.
She is recognised for simplifying complexity, aligning stakeholders and establishing practical delivery disciplines that allow organisations to sustain change.
Representative Experience
ASIC – National Business Names Register
Led business transition and readiness activities supporting the consolidation of state and territory systems into a national platform.
ASIC – Stronger Super and Financial Advisers Register
Led business engagement, implementation planning and operational transition activities for nationally significant regulatory reform programs.
Gippsland Water – COVID Response and Business Continuity
Led organisational response and continuity planning to maintain essential services while supporting significant operational change.
Seqwater – Readiness and Uplift Coordination
Coordinated stakeholder engagement, evidence assessment, delivery-risk synthesis and executive-ready readiness reporting.