Matt Gyde, the former CEO of billion-dollar global technology services company NTT Security, has joined the board of 6clicks. San Francisco based Mr Gyde joins the risk and compliance SaaS Provider as a non executive director following a recent investment round of A$5.5M from a consortium of Australian business leaders.
Elizabeth Kelly, deputy secretary of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources has resigned, InnovationAus understands.
Ms Kelly had held the role since 2017, where she was responsible for innovation, digital strategy and industry support programmes.
She became a national fellow for the Institute of Public Administration Australia in October last year in recognition of her strong public service leadership and avocation for innovation.
Services Australia’s inaugural chief data officer, Dr Maria Milosavljevic, has been promoted to the agency’s chief information and security officer.
She announced the news on LinkedIn, saying she was pleased with the establishment and operation of Services Australia’s Data and Analytics Division which the agency leaned on during the bushfires and COVID-19, and was excited for the new role.
“I will once again combine my passions for security, intelligence, risk and data,” Dr Milosavljevic said.
Garrett McDonald, the Services Australia general manager, experience and data services, will take the role of chief data officer.
NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte got busier than planned last week after former Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull was spectacularly dumped from NSW’s new climate board less than a week after being announced as its Chair.
Prof. Durrant-Whyte, originally named as deputy Chair, will now lead the Board until a replacement can be found for Mr Turnbull. The former PM said he was ousted from the role because of a “ferocious campaign” by News Corp against his appointment.
“Its goal was to bully the state government into not appointing me chair of this net zero board,” Mr Turnbull said.
The state coalition government’s federal counterpart will expect no such backlash from the Murdochracy after filling its climate advisory board with former gas and finance executives.
On Friday, Mr Grant King, a former Business Council of Australia president and energy executive, was appointed as Chair of the Australian Government’s Climate Change Authority by Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor.
The authority was established by the Rudd government in 2012 to provide independent, expert advice on climate change policy but has been wound back and largely ignored by subsequent coalition governments.
Mr King led gas giant Origin Energy for 16 years and has been heavily involved in the government’s ‘gas led’ COVID-19 recovery and energy technology roadmap. He has criticised renewable energy in the past.
Mr King said he looked forward to helping develop “practical responses” to the climate crisis.
“Mr King brings 40 years’ experience in energy, finance, infrastructure and sustainability,” said Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor.
News of the former Origin boss’s appointment was quickly criticised by environmental groups and former members of the Climate Change Authority, who said the decision was “disappointing but not surprising”.
Mr Taylor appointed two others to the Authority, Ms Susie Smith and Mr John McGee.
Ms Smith, a former Santos executive, is the current chief executive of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, an organisation representing fossil fuel and agricultural businesses. Mr McGee is an investment banker and cycling companion of former PM Tony Abbott.
Mr Taylor gave a cursory thanks to outgoing members, including Chair Dr Wendy Craik who led the Authority since 2015 and has held several high ranking public sector environment roles.
Sydney startup incubator Fishburners has revamped its board as it approaches its 10 year anniversary.
Clive Mayhew, tech investor and entrepreneur, will chair the Fishburners Board, alongside Jacqui Feeney, media executive, who will join as a director.
Domain Administration Limited or auDA, an organisation set up to develop and administer the rules for the .au domain code, has appointed five members to its new Licence Review Panel, who will have the final say on disputes.
Phillip Davies (Chair), Bernadette Day, Angela Flannery, Melissa Marcus, Andrew Sykes make up the panel, which is the final point of escalation for complaints under the new .au licencing rules which come into effect on April 12.
NAB’s executive for enterprise technology Steve Day quietly left the bank in March to take up a role at Databricks, a cloud based data analytics company that has raised US$1 billion for its “data lakehouse” service.
Mr Day played a key role in the business bank’s ongoing public cloud-first, multi-cloud strategy.
A former chief executive officer of Virgin Australia Airlines has been announced as the new Secretary of Transport for NSW.
Rob Sharp will replace Rodd Staples who was terminated last year after an apparent falling out with the Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
Mr Constance said he did not find it “particularly acceptable” that the then secretary refused the Minister’s direction to clear millions of trees along every highway in NSW last year to create a “clearance zone” in the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires.
Mr Staples received a severance of more than $830,000 and Mr Constance has refused to say the decision not to action the tree clearing directive was a direct factor in his termination.
Incoming Secretary Rob Sharp was chief executive officer (group executive) of Virgin Australia between 2017 and 2019. Mr Sharp continued working in the aviation industry and last year was involved in a private equity investment group that tried to take over the fledgeling airline.
Most recently he has been a committee member for the audit risk and compliance board for Newcastle Airport.
“Mr Sharp is the perfect person to lead the agency in a new direction with his experience in performing successful business turnarounds and transformational change. He comes with a unique blend of specialist industry experience across transport, professional services and technology sectors,” Mr Constance said in a statement.
“Mr Sharp’s impressive skillset is underpinned by strategic thinking, digital innovation, logistics excellence and delivering large scale, complex projects.”
Dr Michele Bruniges has been reappointed as Secretary of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment for a period of two years.
Dr Bruniges has held the position since 2016 and requested a further two years to see through the implementation of the New Employment Services Model – the government’s new job seeker service set to be rolled out from mid-2022.
“I congratulate Dr Bruniges and look forward to continuing to work with her,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Nina Cullen has been appointed chief executive of the Victorian branch of the Institute of Public Administration Australia. She replaces David Ali who is off to lead Motor Neurone Disease Australia.
Ms Cullen joins from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning where she was executive director, strategy and performance. She also spent time assisting with the state health department’s COIVD-19 response.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.