LaTrobe University has appointed Australia’s first academic vice-chancellor devoted to artificial intelligence, describing the role as a landmark for higher education.
The Melbourne-based university on Thursday announced Phil Laufenberg would be its first pro vice-chancellor of AI and chief AI officer. Mr Laufenberg until recently was Macquarie University’s head of AI.
The appointment marked the next step in LaTrobe’s transformation “into an AI-first university”, vice-chancellor Professor Theo Farrell said.
“By 2027, every La Trobe student and staff member will have access to advanced AI tools — implemented in ways that are innovative, ethical and genuinely transformative for education, research, student support and service delivery,” Professor Farrell said.
Mr Laufenberg described LaTrobe as having “one of the most ambitious and values‑led AI agendas in Australian higher education”.
“This is a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunity for universities to rethink how they operate and how they create value [and] La Trobe is well positioned to lead that change,” he said.
The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) this week appointed former Cicada Innovations chief executive and veteran tech executive Sally-Ann Williams as its chair.
Ms Williams, who chaired the federal government’s Pathways to Diversity in STEM review, joined Google in 2006 as an executive program manager, before becoming Cicada’s CEO in 2019.
The Australian National University-based NCI hosts Gadi (meaning ‘to search for’ in the First Nations Ngunnawal language), a 9.26 petaflop supercomputer, and Tenjin, a 67 teraflop cloud partner.
“NCI is more than just a home for world-class supercomputing,” Ms Williams said. “It is the engine room for the climate, health, and space research that will define our future.”
Ms Williams succeeds Dr Greg Ayers, who departed as chair in December last year.
The federal government’s National AI Centre has promoted Brett Szmajda to deputy executive director. Mr Szmajda is a past executive of Data61, the CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm, and has worked at NAIC since 2023.
Posting to LinkedIn about his new role, Mr Smzmajda described the NAIC team as “small but mighty”, touting their ambitions to help roll out the government’s National AI Plan and guidance from its AI Safety Institute.
“Now that AI is no longer a foreign concept for most people … the road forward for NAIC is helping Australian organisations to build confidence in AI, to gain personal capability by upskilling … [and] the clarity of knowing how to adopt AI safely,” he said.
Canberra Institute of Technology has appointed former Australian Electoral Commissioner Thomas Rogers as its new chair.
Mr Rogers will commence on March 31, succeeding former federal Labor Minister for Sport and ACT Senator Kate Lundy, who saw CIT through an integrity investigation scandal involving a former CEO.
The Institute said Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering chief executive Kylie Walker will also begin as its new deputy chair in September.
Senior public servant Xiaoyan Lu will be executive director at the Audit Office of NSW’s corporate, experience and strategy branch.
Ms Lu joined the state’s audit office in February 2025, off the back of almost seven years at the Australian National Audit Office and following a decade-long stint at the Australian Sport Commission.
Federal Department of Health, Disability and Aged Care (DOHAC) chief information security officer David Lang has retired, ending 32 years with the Australian public service.
DOHAC’s deputy CISO Matt Newman will act in the role full-time while recruitment efforts are underway.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has appointed Stevie-Ann Dovico its inaugural chief technology officer.
The independent consumer and SME ombudsman for financial services companies also announced Deborah Jenkins as its first chief customer officer and Brigid Parsonson as its next chief operating officer.
Professor Drew Evans will be dean of research for Adelaide University’s College of Engineering and IT, the institute said on Wednesday.
Professor Evans is part of a team of South Australian scientists spearheading next-generation betavoltaic battery technology, manufactured using 3D printing.
Atlassian alumnus Dominic Price has joined boutique advisory firm Be Luminous as a partner, where he will specialise in assisting leadership teams through digital transitions.
Online property settlements giant PEXA has withdrawn the announcement of Tony Ristevski as its next chief financial officer, with current acting CFO Liz Warrell to remain until a successor is found.
Former Myer and Disney retail executive and PAS Group CEO Eric Morris will join Australian wallet app-based marketing firm Litecard as chair.
Payments and fintech platform Monoova has welcomed Lyndall Bushell as its new COO. Ms Bushell exited as Police Bank’s chief information officer role in January.
Cybersecurity firm Dam Secure has recruited seasoned cybersecurity and AI lead Wesley Hamburger as a founding engineer.
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