The inaugural director of the National AI Centre Stela Solar will depart the organisation next week, six months after the government announced that the centre would shift from the CSIRO to its new home inside the Department of Industry and Science.
Ms Solar’s appointment was first announced in December 2021, when she was based in Seattle as Microsoft’s global director for artificial intelligence solution sales and strategy.
Since joining the NAIC, Ms Solar’s led the centre’s engagement with businesses on adopting AI technologies, and delivered AI Sprint, a three-month competition helping AI startups to develop demonstration-ready prototypes.
The centre also convenes the Responsible AI Network, bringing together experts, regulatory bodies, training organisations and practitioners to focus on responsible AI solutions for local industry.
Industry and Science minister Ed Husic said he “very much valued the work she and her inspiring team over at [the] National AI Centre have done to develop Australia’s first set of AI safety standards and work with industry developing responsible AI”.
Announcing the news on LinkedIn, Ms Solar said she “can definitely say that I gave it my all and I’m proud of that. Many of our efforts converted into impact, which reached millions of Australians and thousands of businesses”.
Ms Solar will depart the National AI Centre next week on November 15.
The Australian Capital Territory’s chief minister Andrew Barr has relinquished the Treasury portfolio to Chris Steel under his new minority government Cabinet. Meanwhile, the energy portfolio, previously held by Greens leader Shane Rattenbury during the Labor-Greens coalition has been scrapped. The full Cabinet can be found here.
The University of New England has appointed Dr Sarah Pearson, an expert in particle physics, as its next chancellor.
Dr Pearson also sits on the Australian National University (ANU) Council, the Main Sequence Ventures investment committee, and Foreign Investment Review Board.
IT services and consulting firm NRI Australia has lost its chief executive Dean Lagenbach, whose resignation was announced on Thursday. Mr Lagenbach rounds out an almost 20-year career at ASG group, which was acquired by NRI in 2016, and has led the Australian arm for around five years.
Atlassian’s new chief revenue officer is Brian Duffy, who moves from the chief executive role at the multinational SoftwareOne. Prior to his time at SoftwareOne, Mr Duffy spent more than 18 years at enterprise resource planning firm SAP, capping his time there as president for cloud.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s new head of ICT business and governance is Kristie Bullock, who was promoted internally.
Former Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan has been appointed to the advisory board of the federal government-led National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
The inaugural Advisory Board of the ASEAN-Australia Centre has also been appointed. Members include Aurecon chief operating officer Louise Adams and Mandala engagement manager Hayley Winchcombe. The full board can be found here.
The Academy of Social Sciences has announced 20 new fellows, including ANU vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell. Ms Bell’s election as a fellow comes as she oversees a $250 million cost-cutting effort at the national university.
Meanwhile, ANU Professor for Commercialisation and Innovation Michelle Jasper has been appointed as co-chair of the steering committee for the Australia India Youth Dialogue.
Former CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall has been made Fortescue’s lead independent director after more than a year on the board. He is also chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia and sits on the ANU council.
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