The Victorian government’s rebranded innovation agency has welcomed seasoned founders Geoff Tarrant and Monique Conheady to head its board of directors.
Innovation Victoria launched its inaugural board this week, recruiting its membership directly from the two entities it is replacing.
The Allen government announced the merger of state-owned venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria and startup accelerator LaunchVic into a one-stop innovation support agency in December last year.
Chaired by Mr Tarrant with Ms Conheady as deputy, Innovation Victoria’s board adds Deirdre Blythe, Joshua Funder, Mark Johnson and Dr Ian Meredith from the board of Breakthrough Victoria, and Chaman Sidhu and Susan Oliver from the board of LaunchVic.
Innovation Victoria CEO Rod Bristow transitioned across from the same role at Breakthrough Victoria in May.
Mr Tarrant said Innovation Victoria would act as “a stronger and more connected pathway which will enable more Victorian ideas to scale, attract investment and further build the tech sector in this state”.
Career public service executive Nadine Williams has been appointed interim National Armament Director (NAD), stepping into the Defence procurement job this week.
The newly created role was floated by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles in December last year within plans for a major overhaul of Defence procurement, including the creation of a Defence Delivery Agency (DDA).
Ms Williams was appointed head of a defence reform taskforce to launch the DDA that same month, a position she has held alongside her role as deputy secretary within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Beginning her public sector career in 2010, Ms Williams has also held senior roles in the departments of Finance, Communications and Employment. The government is still seeking a permanent NAD appointee.
Defence industry insiders have previously said the NAD would need extensive private sector experience to achieve the DDA’s stated mission of streamlining procurement processes.
The Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII) has appointed its inaugural leadership team while its founder, Emeritus Professor Andy Koronios, has formally wrapped its notional predecessor, the $110 million SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre.
Alongside Mr Koronios as CEO, ASII will be led by chief operating officer Andrew Beveridge and chief technology officer Dr Carl Seubert.
Retired US Air Force Lieutenant General Larry James, a former deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, will be a strategic advisor.
Pioneering Sydney quantum developer Silicon Quantum Computing has appointed IBM alumnus Karna Nisewaner as its chief legal officer.
Ms Nisewaner joins the scale up right off the back of 15 years as a legal executive and advisor at software giant Cadence, and succeeds SQC interim general council Howard Edelman.
Former CSIRO lead Carla Brown has joined quantum hardware developer Emergence Quantum as director commercial and business development.
Ms Brown was business development manager of CSIRO’s now defunct tech branch Data 61 until February last year, and most recently was commercialisation manager at horticulture sector R&D incubator Hort Innovation.
Artificial intelligence and data consultancy firm V2 AI has announced four C-suite appointments, led by Clare Cranston as its new general manager consulting.
Dwayne Helena will join the firm as its director of AI engineering, Gulnnar Grover will step in as director data and AI, while Millicent McCutcheon has been appointed partner.
The Federal Court of Australia has nabbed public servant Rebecca Wood from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to be its AI and data governance officer.
The FCA last month appointed its executive director people culture and communications Jimmy Mastorakos as its inaugural chief AI officer.
Federal financial safety regulator the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has appointed Therese McCarthy Hockey and David Bradbury as deputy chairs for five-year terms.
Trade and Investment Queensland has named Jeff Pfaff its new deputy chair and appointed QUT chief commercialisation and development officer Erin Rayment to its board.
Innovation not-for-profit the Queensland Manufacturing Institute has welcomed Michael Swart as its new CEO.
The Digital Transformation Agency is on the hunt for an IT security advisor to lead its internal cybersecurity strategy, governance and operations.
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