The Coalition-appointed board of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has been renewed for another term in recognition of their effective leadership of the financing agency, according to Minister for Northern Australia Madeleine King.
Chair Tracey Hayes, first appointed in July 2021, will have her tenure extended by nearly two years to June 2026. She is also the chair of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and was formerly chief executive of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association.
Meanwhile Mark Gray has retired from the board after a three-year stint and is being replaced by Robert Edel, a Perth-based partner of law firm King and Wood Mallesons. Mr Edel’s term will run to June 2027.
Other board members having their terms extended to varying dates are Stephen Margetic (June 2026), Lisa Hewitt (June 2027), Kate George (December 2025), and Grant Cassidy (December 2025).
The NAIF is currently under review, which is due to wrap up by the end of the year. Ms King said the NAIF “continues to future-proof the north by investing in projects that will create jobs, deliver back into local economies and help us achieve our net zero aspirations”.
The new managing director for data security firm Cohesity Australia and New Zealand is Paul Henaghan. Mr Henaghan was previously based in Singapore, moving between senior regional executive roles for enterprise management software firm Workday, Dell EMC, and payment systems company ACI Worldwide.
The United States ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy is reportedly set to leave by January, irrespective of the result of the upcoming presidential election in November. The daughter of former US president John F. Kennedy was previously ambassador to Japan between 2013 and 2017.
Equatorial Launch Australia has appointed Brian Duane as its general manager of the Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory, where he will oversee delivery of ground-based support service. Mr Duane was formerly an airfield engineer for the Royal Australian Airforce over more than a decade.
OpenAI’s chief technology officer Mira Murati will leave the developer of ChatGPT after six and a half years at the company. Ms Murati said in a statement on X she is vacating the role to “create the time and space to do my own exploration”.
The new chief executive of the Queensland Manufacturing Institute is Ali Davenport. Before taking a one-year sabbatical, Ms Davenport was the chief executive of the Toowoomba and Surat Baasin Enterprise, a business development organisation.
The University of New South Wales chief data officer Kate Carruthers is retiring after a decade in the role. Ms Carruthers has also been the UNSW AI Institute’s head of business intelligence since the start of 2022 and spent more than seven years as a senior lecturer.
The Australian National University’s chief information officer Jonathan Churchill has been appointed chief operating officer, which he has been acting in since June. He has been chief information officer since 2021 and was formerly James Cook University’s chief digital officer.
The new Australian energy infrastructure commissioner is Tony Mahar who will serve an initial three-year term. Mr Mahar is stepping down as the National Farmers Federation chief executive after an eight-year stint to take the energy infrastructure role.
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