Corporate Ladder: your weekly guide to executive appointments
South Australia’s premier executive appointments column tracking the movements of those driving the state’s public and private sectors. Plus the latest executive recruitment opportunities.
Gareth Lewis (left), Sarah Feijen (top centre), Diana Newcombe bottom centre), James Marsh (top right) and Andy Weir (bottom right) have all been appointed to new positions.
Senior council staffer makes arts move
South Australian visual arts peak body Guildhouse has appointed Sarah Feijen as its new CEO.
Feijen will join the membership organisation on February 3 after finishing up with the City of Adelaide, where she has been Team Leader, Arts and Culture for the last six years.
Prior to that, she was with the State Library of South Australia as Group Manager, Collections. She is also a former Principal Adviser at Arts SA.
She has spent the bulk of her career at Artlab Australia, including as Assistant Director from 2003 to 2014.
Feijen has been appointed as the permanent replacement for Emma Fey, who left as Guildhouse CEO in November last year to rejoin the Art Gallery of South Australia as Assistant Director, Operations.
Debbie Pryor has been Acting CEO in the interim.
Law Society movements
The Law Society of South Australia has kicked off the new year under a new President and CEO.
Mitchell Chambers Barrister James Marsh commenced his one-year term as Law Society President on January 1, taking over from Justin Stewart-Rattray.
Marsh was called to the independent bar in February 2021 after more than 30 years in the South Australian legal industry.
The commercial lawyer has spent the bulk of his career with Fisher Jeffries – now Dentons – joining as a Solicitor in 1988 before being promoted to Partner in 1996.
Marsh will be working with newly-appointed Law Society CEO Diana Newcombe, who also started in her role this month.
Newcombe joined the Law Society after a year as General Counsel at Workskil Australia. She is also a former Manager of Legal Practice at the South Australian Legal Services Commission and National Director of Legal Services at the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
She replaces the Law Society’s Acting CEO Rosemary Pridmore, who has returned to her previous role as Executive Officer.
MusicSA’s new manager
Gareth Lewis, Co-owner of UniBar Adelaide and Co-founder of the Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival, has been appointed Program Manager, Special Projects at MusicSA.
Lewis has been in the music and hospitality industry for more than 20 years and is the long-time Director of General Admission Entertainment, with involvement in organising festivals such as Groovin the Moo, Soundwave and Parklife.
His new role at MusicSA gives him responsibility for the not-for-profit’s event and festival programs.
MusicSA CEO Christine Schloithe said Lewis is “genuinely passionate about championing local artists and the local industry”.
“As the industry continues to recover from the pandemic, Gareth’s focus on connecting artists, audiences, venues and businesses will further help MusicSA to promote and support our local music ecology and create new opportunities to showcase what we do best,” she said in a statement.
Corporate Position: the latest executive employment opportunities
A significant community services not-for-profit is looking for a new Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary to be based in the CBD. The organisation has around 700 staff with facilities across South Australia and is a highly respected and leading service provider to a broad client base in the community services sector. This pivotal role reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, contributes to the strategic direction of the organisation by providing critical financial advice to the CEO and Board and is an important part of the Executive Leadership Team. Key areas of responsibility include leading, planning, directing and administering all financial activities for the organisation, ensuring sound governance and financial due diligence, delivering detailed commercial analysis and financial modelling, and leading and developing the finance team. Also important are budget management, management reporting, statutory reporting and compliance, financial forecasting, audit and risk management. The successful candidate will be CA/CPA qualified with significant senior management experience in a comparably complex strategic financial leadership role contributing to organisational strategy and planning. Applicants from a variety of industry backgrounds including not for profit, corporate and commercial sectors are encouraged to apply.
Leadership shakeup at Andromeda
South Australian-listed company Andromeda Metals has appointed international mining executive Bob Katsiouleris as its new Managing Director and CEO.
He replaces incumbent Managing Director James Marsh, who has led Andromeda since 2018 but will now transition to Executive Director, Sales and Marketing.
The leadership change is scheduled to occur in April.
Katsiouleris, a Greek Canadian citizen, is currently Director of Market Development and Risk Management at Russian aluminium company UC RUSAL, one of the top five aluminium producers in the world.
Based in Switzerland, he has also worked in senior roles for mining multinationals Vale and Nyrstar and was from 2007 to 2012 Chief Commercial Officer at Rio Tinto Minerals.
Andromeda Metals told the ASX that the company board “determined that now is the appropriate time to implement these management changes to increase Andromeda’s marketing activities in global markets”.
“The board identified an opportunity to appoint a Managing Director and CEO with extensive international experience in industrial minerals and strong commercial skills,” it said.
“The Board’s global search focused on securing a high-calibre and suitably experienced executive across international mineral markets.”
CIO chosen for SA credit union merger
People’s Choice Credit Union Chief Information Officer Andy Weir has been chosen to stay on in the role when the organisation completes its $23 billion merger with Queensland’s Heritage Bank.
Weir, a former executive at Commonwealth Bank, BankWest and Halifax Bank of Scotland, has been Acting CIO at People’s Choice for the last six months.
His permanent appointment will see him take on the CIO role when Adelaide-based People’s Choice merges with Queensland’s Heritage Bank in March.
The new entity is set to be the ninth-largest bank in Australia.
People’s Choice CEO Steve Laidlaw said Weir would be in charge of amalgamating People’s Choice and Heritage Bank’s two IT systems.
“Andy is a deeply experienced and collaborative professional, who has already made an outstanding contribution to People’s Choice,” Laidlaw said in a statement.
“Throughout an extensive recruitment process he stood out as the ideal person to guide us through our next, critical phase – bringing together our two IT systems and teams.”
