New Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has begun her term as the first woman in the role, replacing Rod Sims after almost 11 years. Ms Cass-Gottlieb is a competition lawyer who has been a partner at Gilbert + Tobin since 1995. She has also sat on the Reserve Bank of Australia Payment Systems Board, and the University of Melbourne’s Advisory Board Graduate Program in Competition Law.
Mr Sims is now a Professor of Public Policy and Anti-Trust at the Australian National University. Ms Cass-Gottlieb said she was prepared to hit the road running and thanked Mr Sims for his service to the commission.
“This work provides important benefits to Australians. I start the role today fully aware of and ready for the responsibility that comes with leading the ACCC.”
“I would like to thank my predecessor, Rod Sims, who has made an enormous contribution to the ACCC and who has left the organisation in very good shape,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Ms Cass-Gottlieb was nominated by the federal government to be the ACCC chair last December.
The University of Canberra has appointed its inaugural chief digital officer Craig Mutton. Mr Mutton moves from his role as executive director strategy and transformation at the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria. He has also worked in digital and innovation roles at Telstra, financial service company Manheim Asia Pacific, NAB and WorkSafe Victoria.
The Payment Systems Board at the Reserve Bank Australia has appointed Scott Farrell as a new board member on a five year term. Mr Farrell is a partner at law firm King & Wood Mallesons and led the federal review into Open Banking in 2017, the inquiry into future directions for the consumer data right, and the review of the Australian payments system in 2021.
The Productivity Commission has appointed four new commissioners, one of whom will also serve as deputy chair. Serving five-year terms, Professor Alex Robson has taken up the deputy chair role, while Natalie Siegel-Brown, Joanne Chong, and Martin Stokie will be commissioners.
Professor Robson and Martin Stokie are currently associate partner at EY and partner at PwC respectively. Ms Siegel-Brown is managing director of child services non-governmental organisation Child Wise while Ms Chong is currently CSIRO Land and Water research director sustainability pathways.
Australia’s first stand-alone Freedom of Information Commissioner Leo Hardiman will begin his term on April 19. Mr Hardiman is a senior government general counsel who has worked in the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department since 1993. After three months, the government has also found a new director of the National Archives of Australia in senior South Australian public servant Simon Froude who begins his five-year term on May 23.
South Australia’s Deputy Premier Susan Close will also serve as the state’s Minister for Industry, Innovation, and Science, as well as its Minister for Space and Degence Industries. Dr Close has been Deputy SA Labor leader since 2018 and previously served as a manufacturing, innovation, and trade minister in the previous Labor government. The SA cabinet was announced on Thursday following their election victory last weekend.
The federal government has appointed Dr Gillian Hirth as the new CEO of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, replacing Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson who retired this week after 12 years in the role. Dr Hirth has been deputy CEO since 2017 and is currently the Chief Health Radiation Scientist. She is represents Australia as the chair of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
Cisco ANZ appointed Carl Solder as its new chief technology officer last week. Mr Solder has been with Cisco since 1996 with the last 14 years spent at the American office in Silicon Valley. During his time in America Mr Solder led technical strategy for the company’s enterprise networking division.
Logistics software company Zoom2u appointed an additional board member, Kara Nicholls, last week. Ms Nicholls will also chair the companies audit and risk committee and be a member of the sustainability committee.
Deloitte CEO has appointed David Hill as the new CEO. Mr Hill has been a partner at the consultancy firm for almost 20 years. He starts in May as a replacement for Cindy Hook, who was the first CEO.
Telecommunications company Spark New Zealand has appointed Aliza Beckett as strategy director. Ms Beckett is currently based in the UK and has over 20 years of strategy and corporate development experience.
Talent optimisation software company Compono has appointed Peter Scott as the new Chief Product Officer. He brings with him 17 years of experience in product growth strategy.
Bank Australia recruited Scott Wall as its chief transformation officer. Mr Wall made the move from chief information officer at BankVic last week. Gambling company Tabcorp also found a new chief information officer last week, in Loren Fisher. Ms Fisher is currently chief digital and information officer at Youi Insurance and will begin her time at Tabcorp in June 2022
Business lender Grow Finance appointed Andrew Speers as Managing Partner, Structure Finance and Payments last week. Mr Speers has spent 20 years in banking and finance with previous rolls at Commonwealth Bank, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and NAB.
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