Corporate Ladder: your weekly guide to executive appointments in South Australia
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.
Marni Cook (above, left), Andrew Polkinhorne (below, left), Yulia Petrenko (centre), Luke Brown (above, right) and Alfred Lowe (below, right) have all been appointed to new roles.
Food SA welcomes new CEO
Food South Australia has announced the appointment of Marni Cook as Chief Executive Officer.
Cook joins the company from her role as Manager of the South Australian Leadership Academy.
She was an Associate Consultant for the Australian Institute of Management for almost a decade and has experience in the higher education sector as a Program Director, Lecturer and Industry Professor.
She currently serves as Chair of Wine Communicators of Australia Inc and was formerly Chair of the McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association Board.
She is also the Founder and former Chair of the South Australian Fashion Industries Association.
The appointment comes after Food SA’s inaugural Chief Executive Officer Catherine Sayer stepped down in May 2023 after 13 years.
From athlete to executive
Former Australian Football League Professional Athlete Luke Brown has been appointed Industrial Executive at the professional services and investment management company Colliers.
Brown began his AFL career playing for Tea Tree Gully in the Adelaide Footy League before being picked up by Norwood in the South Australian National Football League.
He was recruited by the then-incoming club Greater Western Sydney as a pre-selection and was traded to Adelaide during the 2011 trade week.
During his AFL career, Brown played 189 games for the Adelaide Football Club and was nominated for the Rising Star Award in 2013.
Good for grain
Lock-based grain producer Andrew Polkinghorne has been appointed Trustee for the South Australian Grain Industry Trust (SAGIT).
Polkinghorne has run his family-owned 7000-hectare cropping and sheep farm Kingara Farms Pty Ltd since 1978.
He currently serves as Director of grain storage and handling business T-Ports Pty Ltd and Director of Agricultural Innovation Research Eyre Peninsula (AIREP).
He also serves as an Elected Member of the District Council of Elliston.
Polkinghorne is the former General Manager of Farm Services at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus and has previously served as Chair of the Farm Management Committee at Minnipa Agricultural Centre and Chair of Australian Graingrowers Cooperative.
Corporate Position: the latest executive employment opportunities
Manager of Operations and Finance for one of South Australia’s largest community legal service providers, Community Justice Services SA.
IT Manager for Mobo Group as it provides employment and support services to those living with disability.
Board Members for Adelaide’s leading co-educational, independent early years and primary school, St Andrew’s School.
Communications Manager and Manager Locum Services for not-for-profit NGO, Rural Doctors Workforce Agency.
Chief Financial Officer for national disability and aged care support service HenderCare and HenderCare Foundation.
Senior People and Culture Business Partner and Manager, People and Culture Operations for Renewal SA, the State Government’s property development agency.
Board Members for the peak representative body for foster and kinship carers across South Australia, Connecting Foster & Kinship Carers-SA Inc.
First SA female liquidator
Yulia Petrenko has been appointed as a Registered Liquidator making her the only current female to hold the registration in South Australia.
Petrenko is a Founding Partner of boutique chartered accountant firm Oracle Insolvency Services.
She is a Member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA), Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ), the Australian Institute of Credit Management (AICM) and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).
She was formerly an Insolvency Manager for Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants and an Insolvency Services Professional at BRI Ferrier.
Sculpting an association
South Australia-based First Nations artist Alfred Lowe has been appointed as Board Director of the Australian Ceramics Association.
Lowe is an Artist in Residence at APY Studio with a focus on clay and ceramics.
Before becoming an artist, Lowe was the Administration, Travel and Systems Officer for the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia.
He formerly served as National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Officer at the National Union of Students and as Union Representative at the Union Representative Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.
