Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
I am a passionate and innovative Executive Leader focused on managing Business Shared Services across strategic business units to deliver back-office functions efficiently to meet strategic and commercial initiatives set by Board I partner with. I have extensive experience at building the Business Services function and developing shared services strategies and design with a particular focus on Commercial & Contract Management, HR & Safety, Procurement Management, Legal, Risk, IT Security, and Facilities Services. The ability to deliver strategic change, expand products and services to new markets and steer accountability and transparency, are my key strength. Delivering financial, management, and operational improvements aligned to robust and prosperous success is my passion. With a reputation for exceptional human resource and commercial management in a career with multiple career streams I am also an experienced Company Secretary, Non-Executive Board Member, Local Government Councillor, Mayor, Committee Chair, and General Manager. I have focused on improving company culture to deliver corporate outcomes balanced by harnessing employees to develop a high-performance culture. I’m known for having a natural ability to listen then act upon people’s needs and being passionate about delivering value to stakeholders. I have been an active member in the City of Whitehorse for over 14 years and enjoys being a member of Hawthorn Football Club, Freemasons Victoria, (social) member of Bennettswood Bowling Club, Box Hill Lions and I am also an honorary member of the Mont Albert Surrey Hills Rotary Club.
DCA delivers expert and specialist services in data quality and enrichment, data migration, data driven marketing, cloud hosting, and research management. There are 100+ employees. I manage a shared services function and a multidisciplinary team across Commercial & Contract Management, HR, Safety, Quality, Risk, Legal, Facilities, ICT and Property and manage the commercial contract lifecycle process for all contractual relationships with customers, subcontractors and suppliers. Key achievements include: Devised plans to implement shared service operations and successfully transitioned the HR team to a new organizational capability model providing proactive strategic collaboration with business partners and reducing reactive support. Conducted tender and contract progress review/s with the Parent Company and board of directors, delivered contracting strategy, bid strategy, risk treatments and profit and loss analysis. Led tenders for major supplier works, IT Vendors and Facilities subcontractors which resulted in over $200K savings over 5 years. Manage relationships with outsourced service providers. Led negotiations to construct a 4 year and 3-year EA between the company and ASU covering 170 employees. Input into the M&A program, resulting in successful sale and acquisitions. Managed relocations to a new HQ including people and IT relocation. Retained ISO 9001 and achieved ISO 45001 conversion. Contributed to the IT steering committee to gain and maintain ISO 27001 compliance. Legal/Contractual advice to the board. Briefed external legal Counsel/Barristers advice. Directly engaged the bar thereby reducing costs by eliminating solicitor fees. Successfully self-represented and defended unfair dismissal proceedings at the Fair Work Commission.
Member of the Board Member of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee Member of the Quality and Safety Committee
Deputy Mayor 2023 - 2024 Mayor 2017-2018; 2024 - 2025 Member of Audit and Risk Committee 2012-2015,2021-2022 Member of the Heritage Advisory Committee 2014-2015, 2018-2019 Board Member Whitehorse-Manningham Library Corporation 2016-2017, 2022-2024 Board Member Whitehorse Business Group 2019 - 2020 Executive Member - Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action 2024- Member Visual Arts Committee 2018 - 2022 Chair, Eastern Region Group of Councils 2017-2018
Community Board Member
Nexans Olex is an Australian manufacturer of electrical cables servicing the Australian markets in building & construction, infrastructure, energy resources, renewable energy and electricity supply industries, 300 Employees, turnover $300M. Nexans Olex is part of a global group, Nexans, and Nexans Olex implemented an outsourcing program, transferring cable manufacture to overseas sister plants, delivering less complexity to the Australian business. Key achievements include: Lead teams across Contract Administration, Procurement, Quotations and Tender teams. Improved cash flow by reducing late payments from 6M to 400K within 2 months, through better contract management processes resulting in faster contract delivery. Successfully managed defense of a claim in the Supreme Court with settlement being 1% of the original sum being sought actively managed defense of a claim in the County Court with the business receiving compensation for costs; successfully defended action within the Federal Court. Improvement of the request for quote process leading to more robust contracts with suppliers and implemented Quotation prioritization rules so our most important customers were served first, leading to being able to retain order intake with less staff.Lead board processes for the Nexans Olex group including, co-ordination of board meetings and responding to various regulator enquiries. Prepared contract documents for multiple projects, frame agreements, periodic supply contracts including negotiation and management of contracts within Utility, Oil and Gas, Commercial and Residential buildings, energy and Defence sectors. Constructed frame agreements with China suppliers for purchase of finished goods. Manage and protect IP, including registration of trademarks with IP Australia. Implemented a risk management process including a risk management template which has since been deployed within the Nexans group, globally and streamlined approval processes.