The federal government’s trade investment agency has poached Home Affairs’ long-serving chief digital officer Radi Kovacevic, as the public service continues to grapple with the internal impact of artificial intelligence.
Mr Kovacevic has been appointed the Australian Trade and Investment Commission’s (Austrade) new chief information and digital officer, ending a five month recruitment campaign. He begins next week.
The move ends Mr Kovacevic’s near-seven-year stint at Home Affairs, and follows an internal restructure which placed both the CDO and chief information officer’s work under the remit of a new Technology, Data and AI Group, to be led by a new, and as yet unnamed, Band 3 deputy secretary.
Home Affairs at the time said the new group would improve technology and AI capabilities for its APS staff and “provide the Department [with] a single, coordinated view of technology and data priorities”.
Mr Kovacevic joined the public service in 2009, going on to be CIO at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – he served under four PMs between 2012 and 2016 – and an acting head of the Digital Transformation Office.
Australian National University (ANU) has announced four new senior science institute appointments, led by former Australian Defence Force Surgeon General, Professor Tracy Smart, and senior nuclear physicist Associate Professor Elizabeth Williams.
Professors Smart and Williams will both take on interim director roles, Smart at ANU’s Defence Institute, and Williams at ANU’s Nuclear Stewardship Network.
The Defence Institute will also add two new executive directors, Professor Stephan Fruehling, who will lead its humanities and social sciences, and Professor Sean O’Byrne, who will oversee STEM.
ANU said it reflected the “University’s commitment to ensuring Australia has the expertise, the institutions and the evidence-based understanding it needs to navigate some of the most consequential decisions of the coming decades”.
Westpac has appointed former Meta executive Maggie Shi as its inaugural chief AI innovation officer, tasking her with driving AI and GenAI adoption at “enterprise scale”.
Ms Shi departs a distinguished engineer role at the Commonwealth Bank for the new job, less than a year after Westpac also poached Andrew McMullen to be its chief data, digital and AI officer. Ms Shi will report directly to Mr McMullen.
Ms Shi began her career as a software engineer at Shanghai-based government software firm Wonder Information Tech Co – later serving as its CTO – before becoming head of business engineer for Meta ANZ, Japan and Korea.
The University of Melbourne (UoM) has named former City of Melbourne CDO Michelle Fitzgerald its new chief information officer.
Ms Fitzgerald departed as private hospital operator St Vincent’s Health Australia’s CDO earlier this month, and succeeds Byron Collins at UoM.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday announced Vice Admiral Mark Hammond as Australia’s new Chief of the Defence Force, kicking off a week of defence-heavy policy announcements by his government, including the launch of the 2026 National Defence Strategy by Defence Minister Richard Marles on Thursday.
Vice-Admiral Hammond succeeds Admiral David Johnston as CDF, and simultaneously hands over his previous Chief of Navy role to Rear Admiral Matthew Buckley, who will receive a promotion to Vice Admiral ahead of the appointment.
The ADF’s Chief of Joint Capabilities Lieutenant General Susan Coyle has also been appointed as the new Chief of Army – the first woman to hold the top command role – replacing Lieutenant General Simon Stuart.
Mr Marles complemented Admiral Johnston for his “enormous impact” as CDF, saying his two years in the role had seen the implementation of “some of the most significant and consequential decisions [for the ADF] in decades”.
A new Chief of Joint Capabilities will be “appointed in due course”.
Former Atlassian and Microsoft executive David Masters will step up to chair the board of federal government not-for-profit, the Future Skills Organisation, succeeding Yasmin Allen.
Mr Masters was a founding board member of the FSO’s predecessor and has been an independent director at FSO since. Ms Allen, who is also chair of AI fintech Tiimely, departs the FSO after more than six years as chair.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is on the hunt for an inaugural National Manager, Cyber and IT Services for its Intelligence and Information Systems division.
The Senior Executive Service Band 1 position will encompass the roles of a deputy chief information security officer and chief AI officer, documents advertising the job said, and will report to ACIC IIS executive director Heidi Madden.
Former Macquarie Technology Group head of sales Paul Larkin has joined tech recruitment firm Pinpoint Talent as chief revenue officer.
Legal and advisory firm Atmos, which specializes in cyber, privacy and digital risk, has recruited Lewis Graham, a former advisor to Minister for Home Affairs and Cybersecurity Tony Burke.
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