Thriving in Uncertainty - Series 4
Our new podcast series “Thriving in Uncertainty,” is where we get comfortable in ambiguity, talking with leaders as they share their personal experiences in overcoming challenges and navigating change effectively to propel their workforces forward into the future.
Together, we discuss topics including growth and adaptability, next-generation leaders, and taking the path less travelled with an impressive line-up of trailblazers from across the Australian public sector. Episodes drop weekly are available to listen to from our website or across Apple podcasts and Spotify, helping you gain fresh and unique perspectives at a time that’s most convenient for you.
Our new series takes on a more personal lens, exploring what it takes to be resilient and persevere through significant reforms, which our trailblazers have been inspired by in their own career and professional journey, and how their influencers have helped shape them into the leaders they are today.
Our Trailblazers
Found out more about our Trailblazers:
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Danielle Wood commenced a 5-year term as Chair of the Productivity Commission on 13 November 2023.
Prior to joining the Commission, she was CEO of the Grattan Institute and Head of its Budgets and Government Program. During her time at Grattan, Danielle also held roles as member of the Australian Government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, the Parliamentary Budget Office Expert Advisory Committee, the Jobs and Skills Australia Consultative Forum and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Research Committee.
Danielle previously worked in senior roles at the ACCC and at NERA Economic Consulting. She started her career as a graduate at the Productivity Commission.
Danielle holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and two Masters degrees, one in Economics and one in Competition Law, from the University of Melbourne.
Danielle is an Honorary Fellow and former President of the Economic Society of Australia and a Research Fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute. She was the co-founder and first Chair of the Women in Economics Network.
She is currently an ex-officio member of the Australian Government’s Competition Review Expert Advisory Panel.
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Emma Connell is the Executive Director of People and Culture at the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. She joined the Commission in December 2024. Prior to joining the Commission Emma was the Assistant Secretary People, Strategy and Safety Branch at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Emma has led and delivered complex and multi-faceted HR reform projects to improve and enhance workforce capability related to culture, workforce planning, data insights, organisation re-design, corporate learning and development and recruitment. Emma is a people focused leader who values the importance of good change management practices while building a well-supported, highly capable, diverse workforce that works together to fulfill the Commission’s vision.
Emma holds a Master of Business Administration (Human Resource Management) and is a Certified Practitioner Human Resources (CPHR) with AHRI.
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After over 20 years working on health and aged policies and programs, Rachel decided to make a change and moved to her current role leading the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s people, communication, change management, parliamentary support and property functions. In recent years Rachel has had a keen focus on supporting the department to adapt to changing workforce expectations and responding to the department's 2023 Capability Review.
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Mark Williamson reports to the Chair/Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Regulator. In his 12 years at the Regulator, Mark has successfully led many major initiatives including the Regulator’s role in Australia meeting its Renewable Energy Target.
Mark had extensive senior executive experience in the private sector and state and local in government prior to joining the Commonwealth 2012.
Mr Williamson has tertiary qualifications in applied science and postgraduate qualifications in management.
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Brad is the Chief Executive Officer of the federal government’s Climate Change Authority, a role he commenced in late 2018. The Authority provides expert, independent advice to the government on Australia’s climate change targets and policies. Brad has extensive experience advising on climate change, renewable energy and energy market issues. Prior to his current role he worked in the climate change department, where he was responsible for clean energy innovation, Australia’s greenhouse gas inventory, and international climate change policy, and led negotiations on the first federal offshore wind farm exploration licence in Australia. He also has extensive experience working in the Australian Treasury, which he joined in 1991. Brad has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) and a Master of Information Management.
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CEO Saxon Rice has extensive experience across the VET and employment services sectors as well as the public policy process. Ms Rice previously held a range of senior government, VET and management positions. She was Assistant Minister for Technical and Further Education in the former Queensland Government from 2012 to 2015, and Chair of the then Ministerial Industry Commission responsible for industry engagement.
Ms Rice is a former Director of Global Business Development for an Australian employment services company and was responsible for significant growth into new countries in the European and Asian markets. Ms Rice has also served in a range of Senate Committee Secretariats, including as Acting Secretary and Principal Research Officer to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. More recently, she was a Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 2016 to 2018 and is a Member and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ms Rice commenced as a Commissioner of ASQA on 16 April 2018, before being appointed as Chief Commissioner and CEO (initially Acting) on 7 October 2019. With effect from 1 January 2021, Ms Rice was appointed CEO for a period of five years.
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Carlyn is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
Carlyn is a Kamilaroi woman who has connections to both NSW and Queensland. Her passion has always been ensuring that there are First Nations people in decision making roles within Australia’s organisations. She is known for her ability to identify and grow talented individuals to reach their full potential inside and outside the Australian Public Service.
Carlyn has held senior positions in the Australian Government as well as operates a side hustle as a Managing Director with Cultivate Indigenous. She was a Senior Fellow in the Practice of Business with The Australian University’s College of Business and Economics and volunteers as a director of the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife as well as a director of the Stars Foundation.
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Sandy is an accomplished public-sector leader, with experience leading agencies to make significant contributions to public policy and deliver outcomes that improve people’s lives.
As Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Human Services, Sandy is dedicated to promoting inclusion, independence, community support and modern services.
Prior to this role Sandy was Deputy Under Treasurer with the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance.
She was the inaugural Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in Victoria, an agency which includes child protection and women’s policy.
Throughout 2020 Sandy led the Victorian COVID-19 response, returning the state to COVID-19 zero.
Sandy has also held roles with the SA Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, the UK’s Commission for Racial Equality and the South Australian Office for Women.
In 2012, Sandy won the Telstra Businesswoman of the year ‘Community and Public Sector’ category, and in 2013 she was inducted as an IPAA National Fellow.
Educated at the University of Adelaide, Sandy has degrees in law and the humanities.
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Tania is the Deputy Secretary of Employment and Workforce, in the Department Employment and Workplace Relations in the Australian federal government. She leads a range of programs that enable services to support and help people overcome barriers and develop skills to gain employment.
Prior to commencing with DEWR, Tania worked in the Department of Health from 2015-23 delivering primary and community care policy and programs. She has worked for over 20 years in public administration, across areas of social, environmental, and economic policy.
Before being appointed as Deputy Secretary in May 2020, she held senior positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Department of Finance, Department of Education and Employment, and Department of Environment.
Tania has delivered policy reform at the federal level in environmental and financial regulation, First Nations' employment and education, primary care and mental health, and service delivery. She led the response to the Montara oil spill, has represented the Australian Government at the United Nations, and successfully negotiated with states and territories in areas of hospital funding, mental health and suicide prevention, primary care COVID arrangements and wider health reform.
Tania has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, as well as holding an Executive Master's Degree in Public Administration.
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Damian Green is the Deputy Director-General, Corporate Services in Queensland Health. The Corporate Services Division partners with the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services to provide contemporary expert advice and specialist corporate services. The Division works across the health system to deliver services such as Business Services, Corporate Enterprise Solutions, Finance, Governance, Assurance and Information Management, Human Resources, Legal, Supply Chain and System Procurement.
Previously Damian was Deputy Director-General, eHealth Queensland and led Queensland’s public health digital modernisation agenda, including Queensland’s ICT response to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual healthcare, digital hospitals and digital uplift in rural and remote Queensland.
Damian has held the role of Executive Director, Digital Transformation & Chief Information Officer, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service. Damian led the delivery of Gold Coast Health’s two-year journey to become a fully digital hospital and was pivotal in driving continuous improvement in health service delivery and quality.
Prior to working with the Gold Coast HHS, Damian worked in professional services organisations for sixteen years specialising in managing implementation of strategic organisational change within the public sector.
Damian’s qualifications include Bachelor of Economics (Hons), Bachelor of Arts, Change Management Qualification (AGSM). He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Management, Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health and an Adjunct Professor of the School of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith University. Damian is also a Board Director of the Gold Coast Primary Health Network and Board Chair of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.
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Deborah is Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) in a broad ranging role supporting the enterprise covering everything from HR, legal, communications, parliamentary, data and finance through to IT and digital solutions.
Her career has spanned the public and private sector in Australia and overseas, including most recently senior APS leadership roles at the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission. Prior to joining the APS, Deborah was a partner at KPMG where she held various domestic and international leadership positions with multinational experience in Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific and Europe. In Aotearoa/New Zealand she worked in both the public and private sectors, starting her career as a graduate with Inland Revenue before joining a law firm.
Deborah loves executing well designed client and staff experiences to achieve organisational outcomes. Passionate about communicating and connecting with people, she enjoys developing strong relationships and collaborating with stakeholders. She works hard to build inclusive teams that value diversity and takes being an active ally seriously. She inspires, leads and motivates those around her through her authentic and engaging leadership.
Her true passions outside of work (apart from her family) are rugby union, travelling and music. She particularly enjoys giving back to the community supporting grass roots rugby.
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Steve Vamos is a former CEO and Global Executive with more than 40 years’ experience in information technology and digital media. Steve served as CEO of Xero from 2018 to 2023.
Steve has lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Asia at the frontline of every significant technology shift and economic shock since the 1980s with companies such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, and ninemsn.
Steve has also been a non-executive director of ASX listed companies such as Telstra, Fletcher Building and David Jones and several start-ups and emerging businesses.
Steve also founded and ran a not for profit called the Society for Knowledge Economics (SKE) from 2005 to 2014. The SKE was a cross industry collaboration aimed at improving the quality of workplace leadership in Australia.
In his newly released book, Through Shifts and Shocks: Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change, Steve shares eight Must-Do actions that represent the most important lessons he has learnt about how leaders need to think and act in the face of uncertainty and change.
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Ms Amanda Cattermole PSM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Health Agency, a role she commenced in September 2020.
Auspiced by the governments of Australia, the Agency is the steward for digital enablement of Australia’s health system, with a lead role in coordinating national engagement, delivery and adoption of digital health to enable person-centred, connected healthcare.
The Agency also builds national health infrastructure and delivers national digital health products and services that make it easier for healthcare providers and Australian healthcare consumers to access, manage and share health information and that support a sustainable health system delivering safe, high-quality health services for all Australians.
Prior to this Amanda held several senior roles at Services Australia, including interim Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, and Deputy Secretary, Health and Aged Care Group, where she was responsible for the delivery of payments and services to Australians under Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme and in the aged care sector.
Amanda has previously held senior roles in Commonwealth departments, including Treasury, the former Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Department and Prime Minister and Cabinet. She has held senior State government roles in the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and the Western Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs. In her earlier career Amanda worked as a lawyer in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Amanda holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Laws and a Master of Business Administration. In 2013, she received the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service leading reform in providing housing for Indigenous people in remote communities and the National Gambling Reform laws.
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Tim Beresford is the Chief Executive at the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA), having joined the agency in mid-2022.
AFSA’s role is to support a strong credit system for Australia and is a visible, modern and contemporary regulator. The agency administers and regulates the personal insolvency and personal property securities systems and manages criminal assets.
Tim is a Board member of the St George Community Housing (SGCH) and the immediate past Chair of the Benevolent Society (TBS), Australia’s oldest non-Indigenous not for profit. Previously, Tim has held the roles of Acting Chief Executive of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University and First Assistant Secretary of the Social Policy Division in Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He has significant leadership experience in the higher education, government, not-for-profit, financial services and professional services sectors. His areas of expertise include strategy, governance, public policy, change management and organisational design. He holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours), Bachelor of Laws, a Masters of Philosophy (International Relations) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
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Josh has over 20 years’ experience in the public and private sector in Australia and overseas. He has helped shape and lead environmental policy and programs for the Great Barrier Reef and in terrestrial natural resource management.
Josh has worked in a number of senior public sector roles and across the environment, agriculture and finance portfolios, as well as in federal Ministerial offices. He has a strong track record of public engagement on matters affecting Australia’s World Heritage sites, and through major environmental programs such as the Biodiversity Fund and Caring for our Country.
Josh’s policy experience in the marine environment extends across the Great Barrier Reef and its catchments, migratory and endangered species, whaling matters, marine parks and Antarctica. He is committed to enhancing Australia’s natural environment and has been a strong advocate for incorporating both contemporary science and Indigenous traditional knowledge into environmental management throughout his career.
Josh lives in Townsville and holds a Master of Business Administration, Master of International Affairs, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts (Honours).
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Marie Boland has been the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Work Australia since 1 November 2023.
Marie is a Member of Safe Work Australia and its subsidiary committees and a Commissioner of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission. She is a member of the Respect@Work Council and the G20 Occupational Safety and Health Expert Network, and an observer on the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities and the Heads of Workers’ Compensation Authorities.
Before joining Safe Work Australia, Marie offered independent work health and safety and workplace relations consultancy services.
Marie’s work health and safety experience spans many roles, including completing the 2023 review of the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner, the 2022 Review of the Conduct of Work Health and Safety Prosecutions in the Australian Capital Territory, an independent review of the South Australian local government sector's One System WHS Management System in December 2020 and the 2018 National Review of the model work health and safety laws (Boland Review). Marie was the 2021 Inaugural Thinker in Residence at the University of South Australia's Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory. Marie has held senior roles at SafeWork South Australia as an Executive Director, Policy and Community Engagement Director and Chief Policy Officer.
Marie holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Master of Arts from University College, Dublin, and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Adelaide.
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Marina commenced as Chief Executive, Preventive Health SA in September 2023.
Marina led and collaborated on national and state health policy, strategy, and programs throughout her career. This has included leading legislative change; implementing state-wide and community-based programs; developing, implementing and evaluating whole of government strategies; partnering with agencies to implement evidence-based prevention approaches; and implementing business systems to support effective governance and the achievement of measurable outcomes.
Marina is the Co-Chair of the National Tobacco Officials Group, Presiding Member of South Australia’s Controlled Substances Advisory Council, a member of the Suicide Prevention Council, and works collaboratively across Australia with a range of research, policy, and service organisations.
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Sue Joined NOPSEMA as the Chief Executive Officer in February 2023 following eight years as the Chief Executive and National Rail Safety Regulator at the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator.
A career of over forty years in Government, Sue has held a range of roles across Education, including time as a school principal, the Public Transport Authority and as Deputy Director General of Policy, Planning and Investment at the WA Department of Transport. In these roles, Sue developed experience and expertise in government policy and regulatory frameworks and risk management in safety and environmental management, which she applies in her current role.
Sue holds a Bachelor of Law from Murdoch University, a Masters of Education from Edith Cowan University, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Sue is a member of the National Association of Women in Operations, National Women in Transport, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration.
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Elizabeth Tydd took up the position of Australian Information Commissioner in August 2024 for a 5-year term.
Elizabeth joined the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in February 2024 as Freedom of Information Commissioner after two 5-year terms as the Information Commissioner at the Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) of New South Wales.
Elizabeth’s role at the IPC was to promote public awareness and understanding of the right to access government information in NSW, as well as providing information, support, advice, assistance and training to agencies and the general public.
Elizabeth has occupied a number of statutory decision‑making roles in NSW commissions and tribunals, including deputy president of the Workers Compensation Commission and deputy chairperson of the former Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.
Elizabeth has extensive regulatory and governance experience at an executive and board level in a range of jurisdictions and industries, including commercial, not for profit and public sector oversight.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from the University of Technology Sydney, as well as postgraduate certificates in executive management and governance together with post graduate qualifications in leadership and policy from Harvard University. Elizabeth possesses expertise in digital government and has written extensively on this subject.
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David MacLennan is the CEO of the City of Vincent and Chair of the Australian Urban Design Research Centre at the University of Western Australia.
He has extensive public policy and strategy experience at local, state, federal and international levels.
David was previously Assistant Director General at the Department of Planning.
He is a former diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with overseas posting experience in the UK, Peru, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
David is a graduate of UWA and has a Masters of Management from ANU.
His passions are family and fitness.
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Samantha Palmer is temporarily seconded from her position as General Manager of Austrade’s Visitor Economy and Client Programs Division to work with the Australian Public Service Commission as a Senior APS Reviewer on the Capability Review of the Australian Government Department of Education. She is also a Diversity and Inclusion Champion.
Samantha brings 35-plus years of diverse experience with more than 25 in senior executive service roles. She has led policy, programs and corporate transformations in the Queensland, WA and Commonwealth governments in many areas relevant to the visitor economy. These areas include fair trading and consumer protection, environmental protection and national parks, land transport and road safety, housing, disability, and Indigenous communities. She has also run businesses and worked in the arts, university and community sectors.
Career highlights include achieving a 79.5% response rate for the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey; leading the development of the 10-year Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan policy framework; and being appointed the ‘cleanskin’ inaugural Deputy Director General Governance, Integrity and Reform following Australia’s largest public service corruption incident at the WA Communities Department.Samantha is a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA). She was one of the 2013 Australian Financial Review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence, and the 2013 Australian Human Resource Institute Diversity Champion of the Year (HR).
Samantha was elected Secretary of the National Institute of Public Administration Australia (the professional body for public servants) in 2024 having served on both National and ACT IPAA Councils for some time. She has a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Business (Communication). -
David Thodey is a business leader with a career active in business, healthcare, public policy, innovation, tertiary education, the environment and corporate governance.
He is currently Chair of Xero, a global cloud-based accounting solution and Ramsay Health Care, a global hospital group.
He was appointed as the 19th Chancellor of the University of Sydney in July 2024.
Mr Thodey also co-chairs the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, an Australian non-profit established to help preserve the Great Barrier Reef and was recently announced as a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board.
Previously, Mr Thodey was Chair of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Tyro, Australia’s largest independent payments company.
Active in public policy, he led an Independent Review of the Australian Public Service (APS). He also chaired an NSW Government appointed Panel to lead an independent review of Federal Financial Relations and led a user audit of the myGov government services digital portal.
In 2020, Mr Thodey was Deputy Chair of the Federal Government’s National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCC) Advisory Board, supporting the Government to navigate the challenges faced during the early stages of the pandemic.
Prior to his non-executive career, he had a successful career as CEO of Telstra, and before that, CEO of IBM Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Thodey was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Technology from Deakin University and Honorary Doctor of Business from both University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney.
He was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for ethical business leadership.
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Tim graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1994 with an Arts/Law (Hons) degree. He initially worked as a lawyer in the Office of the Solicitor-General, before transitioning into policy whilst working in the United Kingdom.
From 2004 to 2016, Tim held various policy roles for the Department of Premier and Cabinet and commenced as Deputy Secretary Policy in 2014. During this time, he played a key role in education initiatives, leading the development of Tasmania’s Child and Family Learning Centres, and negotiating the ‘Gonski’ schools funding agreement.
Tim joined the Department of Education in 2016 as Deputy Secretary Strategy and Performance and was appointed as Secretary in 2018.
In 2022 Tim was appointed as Secretary of the Department for Education, Children and Young People. In this role Tim oversaw the bringing together of child safety, youth justice, and education into a values-based organisation that provides all children and young people with a bright life and positive future, through being known safe, well and learning.
Tim has been appointed to the role of AITSL CEO for a 5-year period, commencing 21 October 2024.
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Dr Ivan Williams is an internationally recognised and nationally certified expert in radiation oncology medical physics and medical radiation protection. Ivan trained as a radiation oncology medical physicist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia and has worked internationally.
Ivan started with the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency as the inaugural Director of the Australian Clinical Dosimetry Service which he planned and built to be a nationally impacting service with international recognition.
In 2021, he was appointed to the International Commission on Radiation Protection’s committee on medical radiation protection. In 2024, he represented Australia at the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
Ivan is particularly passionate about the appropriate use of science, data and information to improve patient and public health with national impact.
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David Coltman is the Chief Executive of TAFE SA. Prior to joining TAFE SA in April 2019, David was Deputy Vice Chancellor at Swinburne University of Technology and Chair of the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA).
David is a New Zealander who made Australia his home in 2014.
David holds postgraduate qualifications in Adult Education and Public Administration. His early career work focused on the delivery of programs that sought to increase participation in higher education of underrepresented communities.
More recently David’s work has focused on the use of digital technologies to improve access and participation in post-compulsory education.
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Tess has over 20 years' experience across the public, private and not for profit sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom. Since January 2017, she has held Deputy Secretary roles at both the state and federal level, achieving major outcomes with lasting positive impact. This includes leading priority projects such as founding the Office for Rural and Regional Queensland, establishing the Priority and Delivery Unit for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and delivering the Transformation Action Plan for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Tess is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of the Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement Group in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. It is a pivotal role overseeing the full suite of corporate and assurance services, as well as navigating high risk, complex and varied policy and enterprise strategy.
An experienced Non-Executive Director, Tess has recently been appointed to the Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia ACT. She previously served on the Board of Screen Queensland, the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the Board of the Townsville Port Authority, and the Pathways to Resilience Trust.
Tess holds a Master of International Relations, a Graduate Certificate in Business Management and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and Public Policy. She has also completed the Australia New Zealand School of Government Executive Fellows Program and is a graduate of the AICD Company Board of Directors program.
Professional memberships include the Institute of Public Administration Australia and IAP2 Australasia.
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Judith is a Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate and Infrastructure, at the Department of Health & Wellbeing, where she has Executive responsibility for Workforce, Finance, Procurement and Contracting and Infrastructure Projects. Judith has worked in Government over 20 years and has held Executive and Senior Management positions across a number of Government agencies in South Australia.
Judith is leading the project delivery team, in delivering the new Women’s and Childrens Hospital to the South Australia, being the State’s largest health infrastructure project.
Judith has a passion for reform and project delivery, leading a number of reform projects across Corporate Services, driving change and innovation across systems and processes. Judith has a key focus on the Employee Value proposition and embedding diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
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Gina is the General Manager of People and Culture at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or ACCC. Gina is an accomplished HR professional with extensive global transformation experience in the private and public sectors. With a keen understanding of workplace culture and leadership, she excels in leading teams to achieve operational excellence and streamline processes, with the ability to simplify complex HR challenges and provide practical solutions.
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Martin is the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, where he is responsible for the administration of the Executive Branch of Government, the management of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, Ministerial Support, and the department's internal Corporate functions.
Before joining the Department in January 2024, Martin was the Deputy Secretary of Workplace Relations where he lead a range of industrial relations policy and programs. During his time in this role, Martin successfully delivered key legislation for the Government in relation to workplace relations, family and domestic violence leave, protecting worker’s entitlements and work health and safety measures. This included deep engagement and liaison across a variety of key stakeholders. Martin was awarded a Public Service Medal in June 2023 for outstanding public service in relation to workplace relations policy and employment services.
Prior to his role in the Workplace Relations space, Martin has held several deputy secretary positions in federal government during his career. He has been responsible for areas including developing a new employment services model; work, health and safety policy; and small business and industrial relations policy. Before this, Martin Worked as Deputy Secretary for Schools and Youth in the former Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the former Department of Education, dealing with the Australian Education Act, and associated funding mechanisms.
He has also held a number of positions in ACT Government, including as the Director-General of the Community Services Directorate, ACT Government. Martin also holds an Economics Degree from the Australian National University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment.
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Maree has worked in the APS for 16 years across a range of policy, program, regulatory, corporate and service delivery functions and she has held senior roles at Services Australia, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs Service.
Prior to the APS Maree had seventeen years in the private sector and held roles at the Shell Company, Osborne Computers and Austar United Communications. Prior to her move to the public sector, Maree worked as a consultant for eight years, with a specific focus on organisational change, strategic planning, maximising competitive advantage and building organisational capability.
Maree has a Bachelor of Economics from ANU, Executive MBA from the AGSM at UNSW and is a Certified Practicing Accountant.
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Appointed as Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in 2014, Erma Ranieri is driven to create a world-leading public sector that makes a difference for the South Australian community through an agile, flexible, and inclusive workplace.
Throughout her extensive career in the public and private sectors, her dynamic and inclusive leadership style has helped organisations optimise productivity while also enhancing employee wellbeing.
Erma was awarded the Public Service Medal in the 2021 Australia Day Honours list, for her long-standing advocacy of gender equality, diversity and disability employment and her commitment to public sector reform.
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After starting her career as a private practice Barrister and Solicitor, Kate realised that she was destined to follow a less “planned” but more “intentional” path, with careers and roles that better aligned with her personal and professional values. So she left behind the view of Sydney Harbor and unfulfilling hours at the desk, and returned home to Canberra where she began an eclectic career working in the Commonwealth Public Sector. Kate was appointed as the CEO of IPAA ACT in January 2024.
Kate describes herself as the quintessential “accidental public servant”. After she took a 6 month contract in the APS, she found herself in a rewarding public sector career spanning almost two decades. Her career mantra has been “good things with good people”. She has worked across a variety of roles as a senior executive in public policy and programs, HR and corporate services, property and security, policy implementation and National Cultural Institutions.
In addition to her professional executive career, Kate is a philanthropic leader, working across a variety of Australian charities and not-for-profit enterprises, including co-founding the CoRE Learning Foundation. Kate is a proud Auntie and Auntie Mother to some wonderful First Nations young people, and is a passionate advocate for inclusion and belonging.
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Dr Rachel Bacon is currently the Deputy Commissioner Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission. Rachel has also been appointed to the IPAA ACT Council where she works to promote excellence in public administration.
Prior to this Rachel worked at the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C), as Deputy Secretary Public Sector Reform, helping to shape and deliver a suite of reform initiatives to make people’s interactions with government simpler, easier – and make life inside the public service understood and valued.
Over the previous four years, Rachel has worked for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts as Deputy Secretary of the Regional, Cities and Territories Group, delivering place based policy and services for communities around Australia. Rachel has also spent time in the Department of Environment and Energy, running the Policy Analysis and Implementation Division, and as Deputy Chief Executive Officer with the Northern Territory Government’s Department of the Chief Minister.
Rachel has led a number of taskforces (many based in PM&C) to deliver whole of government priorities in areas such as environment regulation reform and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and has worked in teams to improve implementation capability, deliver strategic policy projects, and support government in areas such as counter terrorism, native title and refugee law.
Rachel’s PhD focused on administrative law and organisation change.
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Mandy is a proud Aboriginal woman whose mob is Gamilaroi (Quirindi in north west NSW).
Mandy Young was appointed the Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority in June, 2024. Prior to this, Mandy was the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Customer Service responsible for enabling 14,000 staff in multiple portfolio agencies with responsibility for a $4b budget. She drove significant reforms across corporate functions to better enable portfolio agencies to deliver to the citizens of NSW.
With a NSW Public Sector career spanning over 20 years, Mandy has dedicated her career to driving better outcomes for people and communities, improving service delivery, and implementing large-scale socioeconomic and justice changes for the citizens of NSW.
Mandy has diverse leadership and public sector experience, having held Executive Director and Deputy Secretary roles within the NSW Departments of Customer Service and Communities and Justice and its predecessor agencies.
Mandy holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of New South Wales.
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As Chief People Officer for the Department of Customer Service (DCS) Jody is focused on growing a diverse and inclusive workforce to build out the experiences we offer for both our people, and our 8million+ customers across NSW. With extensive experience in transformation, service delivery, governance, and people development, Jody is committed to driving initiatives that foster transparent ethical behaviours, enhance employee engagement, and equip teams with future-ready capabilities.
Jody has a wealth of experience across the NSW public sector, where she has been instrumental in championing transformation, supporting workplace wellbeing, and promoting an inclusive, speak-up culture. Jody’s background is leading significant reform in service provision and running large multidisciplinary teams in complex environments, including in Family and Community Services, and Service NSW, and more recently as Chief Operating Officer of DCS.
Jody oversees strategic people initiatives that align with the Department’s commitment to delivering exceptional customer service. In 2020, Jody was recognised with a NSW Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to the community.
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With 20 years of senior public sector experience, Janet has led educational and community transformation programs, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, workforce strategy, and the Families NSW strategy for the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. Janet has a passion for children and young people, with a background in nursing and child and adolescent psychology, previously serving as the NSW Children’s Guardian and receiving a Public Service Medal for outstanding service, particularly through the protection of children. She is a National Fellow of IPAA and the Vice President of IPAA NSW.
Our latest episodes:
This episode highlights the critical need to boost productivity in Australia and provides several approaches on how to turn it around. It also leaves you with the encouragement to pursue change, embrace new technology, prepare your workforce for the future, and approach and navigate regulation more thoughtfully.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
This episode offers practical advice on managing organisational change well through putting your people first, sharing the ‘why’ early, and providing ways for engaging your workforce from the get-go in contributing to what the change may look like to them. It also provides the difference between communication done well and when it isn’t, and emphasises the importance of everyone having leadership skills, regardless of their role, in how they support, collaborate, and learn from what others are doing around them.
Danielle Wood, Chair of the Productivity Commission, has had an incredibly busy year, and she took time out of her busy schedule to join me in our latest podcast episode to talk about how we can apply a growth mindset approach to boosting productivity. It’s a fantastic chat that highlights the critical need to boost productivity in Australia, and Danielle provides several approaches on how to turn it around.
This episode is a masterclass in change management and future-proofing your workforce, emphasising how crucial it is to bring your people along with you to help shape and drive the narrative forward. It’s an episode that’s also packed with excellent advice from leader to leader on being self-aware in terms of your risk appetite, the factors that drive your response behaviours, and how you can plan to react differently, enabling you to lead more authentically and with empathy.
Rachel Balmanno, First Assistant Secretary of the People, Communication, and Parliamentary Division, at the department, joins us to discuss a future-oriented approach to change in our latest episode.
This episode is an excellent example of an organisation that prides itself on being open, transparent, and collaborative in how it navigates and manages change. With a pragmatic approach to actively managing change — “don’t admire it, just get on with it” —they have helped create a workplace culture that is practical, grounded, quick, and commercially savvy in how they manage risk and support one another in meeting legislative requirements and deadlines.
Speaking with Mark Williamson, the Executive General Manager, who has been at the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), for thirteen years on the topic of navigating change, it’s clear that as an organisation, they have had to get very good at managing ongoing change at pace, which is highly aligned to their purpose of accelerating carbon abatement for Australia and how from doing this, adaptability to change has become a permanent part of their organisational DNA.
This episode offers an honest reflection on leading and managing rapid organisational change, highlighting some of the challenges that arose from significant growth in recruiting a new workforce that had to come together quickly to start delivering on an expanded remit of work.
The Climate Change Authority has undergone a significant period of growth over the past few years. From a micro agency of just nine people to an agency of sixty-five in just 18 months, it must have felt like establishing a new organisation, and by many measures, it was.
This episode is an excellent reminder that while, for many leaders that are comfortable with change and may already be working in the future state that they’ve been part of designing, it can be easy to forget that others in the organisation may not be on the same page, and may see and experience change differently. Leaders who can ‘read the floor,’ translate that direction, and make the change journey meaningful to everyone can effectively foster adaptability in their team and achieve long-lasting change.
As the world becomes increasingly uncertain, the ability to adapt in organisations is becoming increasingly important. Saxon Rice, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), joins us in our latest episode to discuss this and more on the topic of fostering adaptability in teams.
This episode offers a unique perspective of an Aboriginal leader in the public sector and how cultural traits embody a growth mindset approach to change by providing an advantage in the ability to sit in uncertainty, think about the bigger picture beyond today, the importance of learning from others, and how honouring the past also plays a key role in caring for the future.
In a sector where we talk a lot about inclusivity and embracing diverse perspectives and experiences, Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, exemplifies what this means in practice as she explains how she has approached traumatic programs of work in her career with a growth mindset and how by thinking about what her ancestors would say and what her descendants would expect of her helped her to stay at the table and try and do the best that she can.
This episode offers an honest reflection on how our values and aspirations, even from an early age, can guide us throughout our careers. It also demonstrates that knowing your strengths and recognising strengths in others around you can help you all work towards a shared vision with the authorising environment to achieve great outcomes.
The benefit of hindsight is that you can see how things from your past have carefully placed the pieces together to create the path that you’re on. Our next trailblazer, Sandy Pitcher, Chief Executive at the Department of Human Services for the South Australian Government, joins us in our latest episode to talk about this as she reflects on her career. Sandy shares her experiences in growing up in a small country town, how having the desire to change the world led her to the public service, how she rises to the task of many challenges she has been given, and the important lessons she has learned along the way in knowing what your strengths are, using them, and letting others step up in using their strengths towards a shared vision and authorising environment.
This episode showcases an engaging and authentic leader whose experience in crises and uncertainty offers excellent advice on overcoming challenges, managing risk, innovating, and building resilience.
Do your employees operate with a license to innovate? It's an interesting concept. When you have a real problem to fix where usual solutions haven't worked, understanding the benefits and risks of innovating and articulating that to others around you gives you a licence to try a new and different way forward. But you have to be prepared for failure to be a part of that. Tania Rishniw, Deputy Secretary of Employment and Workforce at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) joins us in our latest episode to talk about this and much more about how failure can lead to your biggest success.
This episode is a masterclass in leading transformations. It will provide any leader with expert advice on leading change, fostering agility and adaptability in teams, and delivering successfully.
Having worked on several significant transformation projects across Queensland Health, eHealth Queensland, and Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Damian Green knows a thing (or ten) about what factors are critical in leading successful transformations and delivering them in uncertain times. Damian is currently the Deputy Director-General of Corporate Services at Queensland Health, and he joins us in our latest episode to discuss fostering adaptability in teams.
This episode affirms that to create great teams, you have to work hard at it. Deb shares that the cornerstones of great teams are built on relationships, a clear and shared purpose, and a diverse makeup, and these factors will always be fundamental in leading high-performing teams now and in the future.
Deb also discusses the pivotal role that recruitment plays in ensuring you have the right fit for your team and how evolving your hiring approach to recruit talent can help you succeed in filling key skills gaps.
What makes a team great? It may seem like a simple question, but the reality is that great teams don’t form and work well together by chance; there is a lot of investment required in making them high-performing. Deb Jenkins, Deputy Secretary of Corporate Enabling Services and Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, joins us in our latest episode to talk about fostering adaptability in teams.
Our next Trailblazer has over forty years of experience in information technology and digital media in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Asia, leading companies such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, ninemsn, and Xero, and as a result, has been on the frontline of every significant technological shift and economic shock since the 1980s. Steve Vamos, Global Executive, and former CEO, joins us in our latest episode to discuss this further as he reflects on his career and provides insights from his book, “Through Shifts and Shocks – Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change.”
Steve’s experience on the frontline of uncertainty has provided him with a unique ability to get straight to the point of what leaders must do today: establish great teams, maximise the potential of individuals in their workforce, effectively achieve alignment of aspirations at every layer of the organisation, and approach challenges with the right mindset.
This episode is a must-listen for leaders today who face increasing uncertainty and volatility.
This episode is a great example of a leader who is passionate about creating an organisational culture that’s focussed on stewardship, built on deep collaboration, and comprised of leaders at every level who add to the culture by enabling stewardship and innovation and creating a convening role with the broader ecosystem.
It also conveys a powerful message of the impact that leaders can have in seeing things and pathways for others that they can't necessarily see for themselves and how, with the right encouragement, it can profoundly impact their career journey in a really positive way.
When our next Trailblazer took up the challenge to take on the role of CEO and lead the Australian Digital Health Agency at the height of the pandemic, she felt that it was a near-impossible place to lead from, considering the limitations of not being able to be in the same physical space as most of the staff. But on reflection, Amanda Cattermole now sees how this has shaped the flexible and hybridised work environment that’s now fundamentally everywhere. In our latest episode, Amanda joins us to talk about taking the path less travelled and leading in uncertainty.
This compelling episode offers great advice to other leaders on shifting from knowledge organisations to learning organisations and on how important it is to be open, adaptable, and resilient to foster a continuous learning mindset in your workforce.
When you've had a thirty-five-year-long career that spans industries and sectors as our next Trailblazer has, you have the benefit of seeing how organisational learning has changed and if it's changed for the better or worse. Tim Beresford, Chief Executive at the Australian Financial Security Authority, or AFSA, joins us to talk about this and much more in our latest episode on becoming a learning organisation.
This episode is an excellent example of a learning organisation that is curious and generous with its knowledge sharing and a leader who is passionate, authentic, and respectful in helping his workforce work in uncertainty.
What does learning look like in an organisation when a high proportion of your workforce is already doctorate-level educated, formally trained marine scientists and former teachers? Josh Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, talks about this and much more as he joins us to discuss becoming a learning organisation in our latest podcast episode.
As CEO, Josh explains how risk is a key element that drives their organisational strategy and how they approach learning and development, as understanding risks in your environment is critical in understanding what you need to learn and lean into, and if an organisation is calibrated to understanding medium to long term risks, it will be more proactive in addressing challenges and returning value to stakeholders.
Our next Trailblazer’s interest in history and learning from it, particularly the history of labour movements and work, has been a common theme that has led her throughout her fascinating career. Marie Boland, Chief Executive Officer at Safe Work Australia, discusses this further in our latest episode on Taking the Path Less Travelled.
Listening to Marie's story of growing up in Ireland and how her dad used to take them around to see the statues and tell the stories of famous people, including great union leaders, helped to fuel her interest in history. Marie talks about moving to Australia and how working in museums ultimately led her to study law and work in industrial relations.
It's an episode that cements how your interests and passions can lead you to be on the path you're meant to be on, no matter which twists and turns it includes.
For many leaders in the public sector, there are very few times in your career when you have the opportunity to develop a new agency for a state government entity. Our next Trailblazer, Marina Bowshall, had the chance to do just that as she took on the Chief Executive of Preventive Health SA role in September of 2023. Marina joins us in our latest episode to talk about her experience in leading through a machinery of government change.
Listen in as Marina shares how the biggest challenge in leading this MoG change was the cultural change and bringing people along with the change to see themselves in it, and the strategies she used to build an open door policy and establish rapport with teams, which involved meeting with every team, regardless of size, to understanding each teams priorities and passions, and how she used the fascinating insights she gleaned from these meetings to offer further support, increase collaboration and deepen engagement across the workforce.
It’s a great episode for anyone who is leading change or experiencing change in their organisation. Through engagement and consultation, you can achieve strategic alignment, improve collaboration, encourage knowledge sharing, and bring a little more laughter into your organisation, too.
Tuesday 1 April
As an experienced leader who has worked across multiple industries and now is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), our next guest, Sue McCarrey, has certainly seen her share of times when things haven’t gone according to plan or achieved an unexpected outcome. Sue joins our latest podcast to discuss how challenges can lead to your biggest success.
Sue provides an honest reflection from earlier in her career when she was younger, and how, like many of us, she would often perceive things that didn’t go to plan or when things went wrong as failures and take them to heart. Sue shares that as time goes on and you build your experience in your career, you develop the ability to look at things more critically, observing what’s occurred and distinguishing if it was really a failure, if it was potentially inevitable, or if it’s something you can look at to see then the opportunity to do it differently.
It’s a great episode that will challenge your thinking about failure and how you can support and encourage younger members of your workforce to be resilient, courageous, and confident.
Monday 24 March
It was a privilege to talk with Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, as she shared the future of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or OAIC with us and how their postural organisational changes over the past year have positioned them to be at the forefront of being a contemporary regulator.
In this special broadcast edition of our podcast series on Thriving in Uncertainty, Liz takes us through the latest figures on data breaches from their recent report. She explains how an additional dimension of misinformation (e.g., deepfakes) can become an accepted truth in the mind of the audience, highlighting how even the human brain is grappling to adjust to this very real and growing threat and its manifestations.
In this enlightening episode, you’ll also learn the OAIC’s latest thinking on the eight key elements in ensuring there is a human-rights-centred approach in the AI space and how essential it is for their workforce to be committed to preserving human rights, be curious and work collegially, and how the organisation has developed four pillars to manifest in their culture and operations which are proactive, proportionate, purpose-driven, and people-focussed.
Thursday 20 March
Serving as a diplomat in Mexico City, Lima in Peru, and London, David MacLennan, CEO, City of Vincent, describes himself as a student of cities, and that interest was deepened in joining the Western Australian Department of Planning and being involved in the planning of metropolitan projects. Serving as CEO of the City of Vincent for the past five years, David has come full circle, being directly responsible for delivering projects on the ground that directly impact the community.
We often talk about leaders inheriting existing work cultures, but for many CEOs coming into an existing organisation, they also inherit existing ‘to-do lists’ as well as projects and processes on service delivery too. David shares his journey of learning how he got comfortable in his new role, how important it was in determining priorities and what to tackle first, and how he developed a structured way to allocate his time and energy to deliver on what his stakeholders wanted, and what he needed to improve internally with his workforce to do it.
Tuesday 18 March
We know that there are many modes of learning. One that has been spoken about in recent episodes as critically important is on-the-job learning and how, knowledge sharing between peers, even from different areas of an organisation, can help fuel new ideas and ways of working.
Another important learning and development opportunity in the APS is mobility. In our latest episode, Sam Palmer joins us to discuss this and so much more on the topic of learning organisations. Sam is Secretary and a Fellow of IPAA and currently serves as APS reviewer on the independent capability review of the Commonwealth Department of Education on secondment from Austrade.
If you're thinking about taking on a new or different opportunity or how, as a leader, you can help your staff grow and develop, this is definitely an episode that you won't want to miss.
Tuesday 11 March
We are thrilled to present our exclusive broadcast with David Thodey, who joins our podcast to discuss Innovating in Uncertainty. David is a Business Leader with a career active in business, healthcare, public policy, innovation, tertiary education, the environment, and corporate governance. He has over 30 years of experience, including previously being the CEO of Telstra and CEO of IBM Australia and New Zealand.
In our latest episode, we catch up with David to discuss the concept of "Innovating in Uncertainty." Together, we discuss the continued importance of driving innovation in a rapidly changing world that brings uncertainty with it and how great leaders are those who can adapt to the ambiguity that surrounds them.
David has the unique ability to provide pragmatic advice intertwined with examples throughout his career, spanning industries. Through his experience and knowledge of the APS, he also offers specific perspectives for the public sector, acknowledging the unique and strong position that APS leaders have in their ability to lead in ambiguity.
Listening to David inspires you to approach things new and differently, not just because you should, but because you feel compelled to do so to make a difference.
Thursday 6 March
Tim Bullard, Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), joins us in our latest episode to discuss adaptability. Tim knows too well how adaptability can directly influence your engagement at work, having managed the Department of Education and then the Department of Education, Children, and Young People in Tasmania through tremendous amounts of change, including COVID-19, a merger of two organisations, and other significant events.
Tim also provides his perspectives on how to develop adaptability within the workforce, the importance of having a growth mindset to always be learning and looking at how things can be done differently, how organisations need to inject some fun back into the workplace, how crucial it is to leverage the skills and talents of every generation in your workforce, and how essential it is to be responsible for your own wellbeing in taking time out for yourself which then, in turn, will make you more available for others.
This 30-minute episode is packed with practical, knowledgeable, and encouraging advice from an energetic leader in the education industry.
Tuesday 4 March
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) 's work is incredibly important. ARPANSA is Australia's primary authority on radiation protection and nuclear safety, regulating all aspects of Commonwealth activity in the radiation space. Its mandate is to assist in maintaining the safety of Australia's people and biota in the face of potential radiation risks. Dr Ivan Williams, the Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA, joins us in our latest episode to discuss the topic of becoming a learning organisation.
Due to the nature of the work that ARPANSA delivers, there is an expectation that staff invest in their own learning and development. In this compelling chat, Ivan outlines the vast range of methods that they use to galvanise learning across the organisation, and the modes of learning which are most important to them.
It's a great conversation that provides an understanding of the critical work that ARPANSA provides to Australia and how, as an organisation, they prioritise learning while delivering their huge and essential remit.
Thursday 20 February
We often speak about the importance of everyone continuing to learn. After all, learning, in its essence, is about being alive. While some may approach learning with curiosity and be open to the possibilities it may provide for us, others may find it overwhelming to be able to decide in the direction to go. David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, joins us to discuss this and much more in our latest podcast episode on change resilience.
David shares his perspectives on the role of leaders going forward in helping people find pathways through what can feel like a dense forest at times.
He’s also no stranger to leading in challenging times, having come into TAFE SA at a time when the organisation needed to transform and be led in a new direction. David reflects on that time, having moved from Victoria to Adelaide for the role, and how he used that journey in becoming South Australian to humanise himself with his new workforce rather than it just being about becoming the new Chief Executive of TAFE SA.
This episode isn’t just a masterclass in leading change, it’s also a great example of how to lead authentically and with kindness.
Tuesday 18 February
An open-minded approach to leadership and working with others is a highly desirable attribute that staff look for in a leader. After all, if you have a new idea or want to give feedback on a change or a project, knowing that you can approach these leaders, have a constructive dialogue, and work together to solve it is helpful.
Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF), is one of these leaders. She joins us in our latest episode to discuss a growth mindset approach to change.
Tess is a passionate and energetic leader with an open-minded approach to leading others. We hope that you will feel as uplifted as we did after listening to our conversation.
Thursday 13 February
Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, joins us in this episode to discuss authentic leadership. Judith shares her experience leading others by showing her human side, which helps her team realise she is just like everyone else.
She also provides strategies for how her organisation fosters connections to create a safe space where everyone is invited and feels that they can express themselves freely through a range of initiatives, that help workers to disconnect from the workplace, but connect with each other, including coffee breaks, Friday night wines, groups, and communities of practice.
Tuesday 11 February
Gina is the General Manager of People and Culture at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and she joins us in this episode to share her experiences of grit and the ability to persist and lead others through uncertainty. Together, we break down the stigma attached to making mistakes and how courageous leaders can pause and reflect when the emotions are running high and admit to their workforce that they don’t always have all the answers.
Gina also shares her perspectives on managing a hybrid and geographically dispersed workforce, including how working together has changed the importance of how contact with people remotely has to be more deliberate than in the office and how creating rituals and ways of working can encompass individual needs and embrace the needs of a diverse workforce.
Thursday 6 February
Martin Hehir, the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, joins us to share his experiences in the public sector of Taking the Path Less Travelled.
As an experienced public servant, Martin has led teams in the Commonwealth and ACT governments. In this episode, he takes us back to the start of his senior leadership career by providing us with invaluable insights into how he has adapted his leadership style to take on a new role in a new department, and how the importance of communication helped him to navigate unfamiliar territory where his team increased by a factor of 20.
Martin also shares the importance that a couple of mentors played at this time in his career in helping him to stay real and honest with himself, which are invaluable attributes today for leading authentically. He also shares his key learnings from experiences in putting together multi-disciplinary teams and how fostering creative tension respectfully and engagingly can contribute to making sure that the right outcomes are achieved.
This open and honest conversation with Martin has many great takeaways, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Tuesday 4 February
Failure is often regarded as a bad word in the workplace. No one wants to fail or intentionally sets out to, and it can make you feel pretty terrible when something you are working on goes wrong. Reframing failures positively by rallying around those colleagues and helping them work through them can turn failures into successes, and importantly, it can build resilience in a team, which is essential for embracing challenges, turning them around, and thriving in uncertainty.
Joining us to discuss this further is Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, and the Arts.
In this compelling chat, Maree shares experiences from her career from times when things haven't gone to plan and how she has kept moving forward and turned things around through active listening and engagement. She also offers a different perspective on how organisations view innovation and how often, when you are in the trenches, you don't necessarily look around you to realise how far you've come.
Tuesday 28 January
Developing, supporting, and guiding this next generation of leaders is imperative. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for South Australia, joins Andy this week to discuss the topic of next-generation leaders and offer her lived experiences of being an authentic leader who’s driven to support others through a whole-person approach and provide fairer opportunities for all.
Erma shares examples of some of the numerous mentoring programs that she’s led, detailing what it means for leaders to take a whole-person approach to support their workforce’s mental health and how she’s used her past setbacks to forge a new path for others in avoiding the disadvantages that she encountered earlier in her career.
It’s a powerful conversation that will leave you wanting to make a difference in supporting those around you.
Tuesday 10 December
You often hear about 21st-century leaders in government, but what about 22nd-century leaders? It’s an intriguing concept to ponder, especially considering that Gen Alpha, children born between 2010 and 2024, will play an pivotal role in stewarding our community, country, and world into the next century.
Join us in exploring this topic and much more with Kate Driver. Kate is the CEO of IPAA ACT and the co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, linking education, industry, community, and government to meet the needs of students and deliver future sustainable workforces for the Australian Industry. Listen in as Kate moves beyond the excitement of science fiction hype to provide pragmatic insights on the jobs and industries of the future, framing the importance of sustaining and improving life for humans at scale.
Tuesday 3 December
In part two of our conversation with Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, we discuss the APS Reform, which she has been heavily involved with, and how she keeps herself and others motivated on long-term projects that are hugely significant, have many initiatives attached to them, and require enormous patience and perseverance.
Listen in as Rachel shares the details of the design approach for the APS Reform Agenda, including how they determined the six guiding implementation principles using extensive research they conducted into global best practices on similar-scale projects. She also provides an introspective look at how she remains resilient and perseveres on long-term change projects .
Tuesday 26 November
This is part one of our two-part episode on a growth mindset approach to change with Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission.
In part one, we delve into the components of a growth mindset and integrity within the APS with Rachel. She explains how the literature on high-potential leaders has evolved over the past decade: once focused on high IQ as the primary predictor of leadership potential, the emphasis has shifted toward the importance of a growth mindset. Rachel discusses how a growth mindset is closely tied to learning agility, which involves curiosity, openness, and a willingness to continuously learn. This openness to new experiences transcends culture, age, and gender.
Tuesday 19 November
In episode three, we are steering off course - literally! Mandy Young, Chief Executive at the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority or SIRA, joins us to discuss ‘Taking the path less travelled.’
Mandy has diverse leadership and public sector experience, with a background in social work at the Department of Communities and Justice. She has also worked as the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the NSW Department of Customer Service during COVID-19. During this episode, Mandy provides specific examples from her time during these roles and the significant involvement and subsequent impact of the initiatives that Mandy has driven and been responsible for.
Tuesday 12 November
In our second episode, we are joined by Jody Grima, Chief People Officer at the NSW Department of Customer Service, for an open and compelling conversation as we talk about leading change and preparing workforces for the future.
Jody shares how there is no 'rinse and repeat' process for approaching change and that the first step is to be on the ground, understand the environment in which you're working with, what the culture is, and sensing the appetite for change. She also talks about other critical success factors, such as transparency and communication, and how without these, you risk losing trust very early on in the change process.
Tuesday 5 November
In our first episode, we are joined by Janet Schorer, a senior public sector leader and Chief Delivery Officer at TAFE NSW, to discuss growth and adaptability. In this open and inspiring chat, Janet shares experiences from her early career of how other leaders helped her grow and develop and how she leans on these experiences to grow and develop others today. She also explains how important it is for leaders to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, acknowledging that the world is now different from what it was, that workplaces themselves are different too, and that it’s through a connection with purpose that you can keep yourself, and your team, motivated through times of continuous change and uncertainty.