The New South Wales government has tapped Sydney Metro enterprise security leader Marie Patane to take over the challenging role of securing the state’s critical systems and data holdings.
Ms Patane will join the Department of Customer Service as NSW chief cybersecurity officer and executive director of Cyber Security NSW on Monday after more than four years overseeing the systems that operate Sydney’s driverless trains.
She replaces acting NSW chief cybersecurity officer Andrew Karvinen, who assumed the role after Tony Chapman tapped out to become deputy national cybersecurity coordinator last July.
The appointment was revealed in a blog post on Thursday and confirmed by InnovationAus.com. In a LinkedIn post the same day, Ms Patane said she would be taking a “very short break”.
“Ms Patane will commence her new role on 24 February 2025, where she will lead Cyber Security NSW in delivering robust security strategies to protect the people of NSW and its critical systems,” a Customer Service spokesperson said.
Ms Patane comes to the role with extensive experience in security, risk management and crisis response, including at Qantas, the Star Entertainment Group and, most recently, Sydney Metro.
At Sydney Metro, she has worked for almost three years as executive director of enterprise security, a role that makes her the “single point of contact” for all security matters, and two years as chief security officer.
Dan Lloyd has been appointed the new chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia, replacing interim CEO Lisa Vitaris, who stepped into the role when Maria MacNamara exited last July.
Mr Lloyd comes to the role with 20 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors, most recently as a group executive at ASX-listed regional telco Field Solutions Group, which entered administration earlier this week.
He has previously held multiple executive roles at Vodafone, including in London and Mumbai, and has worked at TPG, Uniti Group and as a senior adviser to Communications minister Michelle Rowland.
“Dan brings an unusual breadth of experience across policy, regulation, strategy, governance, commercial leadership and international business which will be invaluable to SIAA, its members and key stakeholders,” SIAA chair Jeremy Hallett said.
Scale up specialist Peter Rossdeutscher is the new chair of the federal government’s top innovation advisory group, Industry Innovation and Science Australia, as reported by InnovationAus.com.
Mr Rossdeutscher replaces Andrew Stevens, who departed in December, having reached the limits of his term. Several key seats on the 15-member board remain unfilled.
Public sector stalwart and current Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry chief information officer Mark Sawade has been confirmed as its new CIO of the Australian Taxation Office, as revealed by The Mandarin.
Mr Sawade steps into the role vacated by long-time CIO Ramez Katf last May and held down by Matthew Hay in the months since, bringing with him decades of experience running the IT shops of some of Canberra’s biggest agencies.
ANDHealth CEO Bronwyn Le Grice will chair a new committee to advise the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Medical Research Advisory Board on industry and philanthropic involvement and strategies to drive commercialisation.
The 14-member committee also consists of Chris Nave, the founding partner and managing director of Brandon Capital/BioCatalyst, and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute CEO and director Fabienne Mackay.
Eva Balan-Vnuk, the South Australian government CIO, has left the role after seven years, as reported by iTnews. SA government chief information security officer Will Luker is acting CIO.
Former federal privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton and Indigenous health expert Scott Winch have joined Services Australia’s Independent Advisory Board led by former NSW minister Victor Dominello.
The board’s eight other members, including Edward Santow, the former Australian Human Rights Commission and UTS Human Technology Institute director, and Tech Policy Design Institute executive director Johanna Weaver.
AI robotics innovator Advanced Navigation last week appointed Maximilian Doemling as its head of product management. Mr Doemling has spent the last three years working in Japan at Toyota subsidiary Woven, which is developing self-driving systems.
Quantum physicist Dominic Williamson will spend the next three months working as a quantum architect at quantum startup PsiQuantum, before taking up a faculty position in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney in May.
LaunchVic last week named former DoorDash general manager Puji Fernando as its new chief operating officer. He will take charge of programs designed to scale startups operating in Victoria, including the 30×30 program and Basecamp program.
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