Paul McCartney has been appointed chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, after 16 years at the federal government’s green bank.
Mr McCartney joined one of the CEFC’s predecessor entities Low Carbon Australia in 2010, and most recently led the corporation’s $19 billion Rewiring the Nation fund, alternative fuels and Western Australian divisions.
He will succeed current CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth in September.
CEFC chair Steven Skala said Mr Learmonth had helped the CEFC become “a catalyst for private investment, delivering significant outcomes for Australia’s energy system, economy and emissions reduction efforts”.
In his 16 year tenure, Mr Learmonth oversaw investments in a green energy pipeline now valued at more than $98 billion and expanded CEFC’s available capital from $10 billion to $33 billion.
Fergus Hanson will head Prime Minister’s new Office of Artificial Intelligence, with former Communications department director Peter Good as assistant secretary.
A former cyber policy director of defence think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s international, Mr Hanson was added to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s organisation chart this week after a media report of his appointment.
Mr Hanson has previously worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Lowy Institute, and exited ASPI in 2022 after he was passed over for its top job, at which point he reportedly joined the national intelligence community.
Mr Good began his career at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions office as a paralegal in 2009, joining the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications in 2011, where he most recently served as director of postal policy.
He has been a senior adviser and then assistant secretary inside DPC since 2023.
Australian public sector consulting firm Scyne Advisory has named Dr Michelle Perugini as its inaugural managing director for AI and digital transformation.
The PwC spinout on Thursday announced the new role on Thursday, touting Dr Perugini’s bona fides as “a founder of three AI companies since 2007 [who] has spent almost two decades working with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies”.
Most recently Adelaide University’s Director of Research Translation and Commercialisation, Dr Perugini’s storied career includes nine years as a cancer research fellow and seven years as director of AI healthcare firm Presagen.
Dr Perugini said the new role would “combine my passion for AI, commercialisation and innovation with Scyne’s expertise in strategy, transformation and advisory”.
PsiQuantum has locked in Victor Peng as its next chief executive officer and added two new C-suite roles as it continues efforts to build the world’s first utility scale quantum computer.
A tech sector veteran, Mr Peng was president and CEO of chip developer Xilinx over four years through 2022, before heading its parent company AMD until August 2024.
He joined US-headquartered PsiQuantum as interim CEO in February.
The company has since won more than US$200 million in financial support from the US government and broken ground on a facility that will eventually house a quantum computer in Brisbane.
PsiQuantum this week said it would also add fellow tech sector mavens Rob Soderbery as executive vice president and Sriram Sitaraman as chief information officer.
Neocloud operator Sharon AI has poached Macquarie Group tech lead Anuj Goel to replace its outgoing CFO Tim Broadfoot. Mr Goel will start next month, ahead of Mr Broadfoot’s exit after a transition period later this year.
Mr Goel joined Macquarie as division director in 2005, most recently working as head of technology sector coverage and senior managing director.
Microsoft has promoted long-serving Australian lead Tiffany Wright to public sector lead for Australia and New Zealand.
Formerly a director at Cisco, Ms Wright joined Microsoft in 2017, and succeeds Vivek Puthucode, who will move up to be Asia operating unit lead of global AI skilling initiative Microsoft Elevate.
Main Sequence Ventures has promoted its investment manager Alejandra Romero to principal.
Ms Romero has led investments in local quantum firms Q-CTRL, Diraq and Quantum Brilliance, and co-authored Main Sequence’s Quantum Investment Thesis, which was published last year.
The Attorney-General’s department has begun searching for a new chief information officer. The first assistant secretary role went up in the APS job board this week.
It is unknown when current CIO Michael Harrison will depart. Mr Harrison took on the role in 2022.
Public sector ICT leader Pia Andrews has taken a new role with the Northern Territory government’s Department of Children and Families as general manager, corporate and shared services.
Ms Andrews most recently worked as digital government adviser for the United Nations Development Programme, and was previously chief data officer for the Department of Home Affairs and executive director of digital governance at the NSW Department of Finance.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.