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 advice on how to grab the best hire.
Solstice Board Director joins Ventia
Amanda McIlroy has joined Ventia as Head of Strategy and Transformation for the Across Government Facilities Management Arrangements (AGFMA) operation in their Adelaide-based Defence and Social Infrastructure business.
AGFMA refers to the mechanism used by the State Government to manage and maintain public buildings such as hospitals, schools and police stations.
McIlroy currently serves as a Member of the Audit, Assurance and Finance Committee at the SA Ambulance Service and a Director of Solstice Media. She was previously the Chief Operating Officer at the City of Adelaide and a Director at AnglicareSA, among other roles.
Ventia is an Australian and New Zealand-based essential infrastructure services provider.
Banking on a new CEO
Beyond Bank Australia has announced that Jake Bromwich will be taking over from Robert Keogh as its CEO.
Bromwich was previously Managing Director at RAMS Home Loans and before this was Chief of Staff of the Westpac Consumer Bank, Head of SME Business Banking at Bank SA. He also held several roles at ANZ including as Head of Commercial Small Business Managers.
Up, up and away
Amanda Hudswell has been appointed to Head of Marketing Communications and Public Affairs at Equatorial Launch Australia.
In this role, Hudswell will lead the company’s strategic marketing, communications, public affairs and brand development.
Hudswell is the founder of Gorgeous Jones and co-founder of Tryst, which are both music production companies.
She previously worked as Head of Marketing and Communications and Marketing and Communications Manager at TurbAero and prior to this was Marketing Manager at the Department for Innovation and Skills, among other roles.
Equatorial Launch Australia owns and operates Arnhem Space Centre, with its website describing it as “[t]he world’s only operational multiuser, commercial spaceport providing access to a wide range of launch inclinations and orbits.”
Corporate Position
This week Hender Consulting General Manager Andrew Reed discusses why sometimes it’s just better to “swoop” on a candidate immediately.
My colleagues and I have been recently discussing and advising clients on the importance of the occasional “swoop” in recruitment.
We regularly see situations where there is an obvious, compelling, exciting, almost perfect (no-one is ever fully perfect) and completely appointable candidate who emerges during a recruitment process. Some decision-makers will claim that it is not due process to simply offer and appoint that person ASAP because it is not due process. Our advice is that sometimes, in fact often, the swoop is the right move because the organisation’s best interests are paramount. A failure to act quickly can derail the potential for a great appointment, particularly in disciplines where specialist talent is in short supply.
So, how do you decide when to swoop or glide and watch the field for a bit longer? I suggest asking four simple questions.
- How much will we regret not swooping and securing such a suitable candidate?
- Are we disadvantaging the entity by not securing the individual?
- Do we realistically think anyone better has already applied or is about to surface?
- What if a competitor business hired the preferred candidate instead?
If the answers are
- A lot
- Yes
- No
- Nightmare
then… it is time to swoop. And ensure you are ready to expedite due diligence and approvals to avoid delays, or you may lose them.
No-one can legitimately criticise any board or executive team for making a recruitment decision such as this if they have reasonably considered the above context and concepts. And the swoop logic applies to strong internal candidates too! We know too many entities who certainly regret the failure to swoop.
Craig Rigney joins Junction Board.
Community housing provider Junction Australia has announced the appointment of Craig Rigney as the Non-Executive Director of their Board.
Rigney is a Ngarrindjeri Kaurna man and has been CEO of KWY Aboriginal Corporation (Kornar Winmil Yunti) for the past twelve years.
Rigney is also a member of Embolden, which is a support service for women who are victims of domestic violence, and the South Australia Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network for Closing the Gap (SAACCON).
Additionally, he is a representative on the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council on family, domestic and sexual violence and a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Early Childhood Strategy advisory council.
Restoring the Murray
Three new ecologists have joined the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board.
The three new members are Priya Spencer, Victoria Hefford and Toby Galligan, who has been appointed to the position of Regional Ecologist.
Spencer has worked across native vegetation systems in the Adelaide Hills, Coorong and River Murray floodplains and will be working on the Iron-grass Natural Temperate Grassland project as well as helping landholders to access Native Vegetation Heritage Agreement grants.
Hefford will be working to protect threatened flora species and Galligan will work across projects including threatened bird species and the restoration of the South Olary Plains.
Promotions at CCK Lawyers
CCK Lawyers have appointed James Foster, Caitlin Ashworth and Alexander Hicks as Partners of the firm, while Fiona Huynh has been promoted to an Associate.
Foster was previously a Senior Associate at the firm and has also worked as Legal Counsel at Naval Group Australia and an Associate at Richards Commercial Lawyers.
Ashworth has been promoted several times over her past six years at CCK Lawyers and before this worked as a Law Clerk at WestSide Lawyers and an Electorate Officer for Kate Ellis MP.
Hicks was previously a Senior Associate at CCK Lawyers and prior to this worked as Group Lead at Law Australasia and Associate Solicitor and Solicitor at Andersons Solicitors, among other jobs.
Huynh has been at CCK Lawyers for the past fifteen months and prior to this was a Solicitor at Hume Taylor & Co and a Law Clerk at Campbell Law Australia, among other roles.
CCK Lawyers is a commercial law firm located near Victoria Square.
New members of the Outback Communities Authority
Andrea Triggs, Will Fennell and Tony Vaughan have joined the Outback Communities Authority (OCA), which provides services to outback communities that are not within a council area, covering some 63% of South Australia.
Triggs is Director of the Eyre and Far North Local Health Network and prior to this worked for the Flinders Upper North Local Health Network, Country and Outback Health and Country North SA Medicare Local.
For 15 and a half years she worked in a variety of roles at the Flinders Far North Division of General Practice.
Fennell is a Partner at Piper Alderman, where he has worked for the past 17 years. He is also Director of the Operation Flinders Foundation.
Prior to this, he worked at the Law Society of South Australia, the Tax Institute of the Professional Development Committee and was a Committee Member of the SA Young Finance Professionals Committee.
Vaughan is CEO of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Central Operations. He has also worked as General Manager at MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval and as a Senior Advisor at WPM Health Recruitment, among other roles.
