Appointments July 30, 2021

Our weekly appointments wrap includes Tania Cheng, Byron Watson, Michele Villa, Stephen Edwell, Stephen Unerkov, Debra Osborn, Pierce McMahon, Reece McMahon, Adam Rompotis, Marcus Solomon and Kerry McCurdy.

OreCorp has promoted Tania Cheng as chief financial officer. A chartered accountant, Ms Cheng worked with the company in 2012 as a consultant and worked as group financial controller from 2016 to 2018. She returned to the company in 2019 to take the position of general manager finance. Ms Cheng has previously worked for ASX-listed Myanmar Metals and Apollo Group.

Byron Watson has been made partner, corporate finance at accountancy and professional services firm BDO. Mr Watson joined the company in 2019 as associate director, corporate finance. He previously worked for more than a decade at EY as associate director in transaction advisory services.

Michele Villa is joining GHD to lead its D-Lab in WA and grow its environment, health, safety and sustainability services. Most recently, Mr Villa was running his own start-up consultancy NexStep which supports organisations reach their sustainability goals. Previously, he was a director at DuPoint Sustainable Solutions and a partner at EY, leading the climate change and sustainability services team operations in WA.

Stephen Edwell has been appointed chair of the Economic Regulation Authority, succeeding Nicola Cusworth. Mr Edwell recently completed a term as chair of the Energy Transformation Taskforce and has experience in the reform and access regulation of utility services, having previously served as chair of the Australian Energy Regulator and a member of the ERA governing body from 2006 to 2017.

K-TIG has hired Stephen Unerkov as chief financial officer. Mr Unerkov has previously served in senior finance roles with companies including Itron and Schlumberger and was most recently chief financial officer at not-for-profit organisation Greening Australia.

Jones Day has added four lawyers to its global dispute practice in its Perth office. The new arrivals previously worked at Quinn Emanuel and follow the arrival of Michael Lundberg who also joined from Quinn Emanuel. The new additions include Debra Osborn as counsel and Pierce McMahon, Reece McMahon and Adam Rompotis as associates.

Marcus Solomon has been appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Mr Solomon is a barrister, a member of the Legal Practice Board and has taught advocacy to junior barristers for the Australian Bar Association and the Western Australian Bar Association. He is an ordained Rabbi and established the Beit Midrash of WA in 1993.

Perth-based PR and digital agency Gilligan Group has welcomed Kerry McCurdy as general manager people and operations. Ms McCurdy most recently worked as proposition manager at Thomson Reuters. She previously held positions at Frontier Software, Wesfarmers and SKG Radiology.