Our weekly appointments wrap includes Stuart Smith, Hilary McKenna, Daymon Joseph, Catherine Bell, Andrew Strelein, Sara Prendergast, Nick Foulkes, and Briony Pole.
Stuart Smith will start his five-year term as Director General of the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions on July 10. His appointment includes being chief executive of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, Rottnest Island Authority and Zoological Parks Authority. For eight years from 2014, Mr Smith was the chief executive of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority. Prior to NOPSEMA, Mr Smith served as the Department of Fisheries director general for nearly six years. He also serves as a board member at arts and culture body FORM and is a councillor at the Institute of Public Administration Australia WA.
Co3 Contemporary Dance company has appointed Hilary McKenna as its executive director, starting July 31. Mr McKenna joins from West Australian Ballet where he has been artistic administrator for more than five years. His career in arts and culture spans more than 20 years, with roles including Perth Festival program administrator and FolkWorld Inc Fairbridge Festival dance program director. Mr McKenna started his career as a professional dancer and specialises in Irish and folk dancing. He serves on a variety of non-for-profit boards and is vice president of FolkWorld Inc.
Rocky Bay will welcome new chief clinical officer Daymon Joseph to its executive team on July 10. Mr Joseph was recently a regional general manager WA at Regis Aged Care, a role he held for two years. He has previously been executive director – regional at Hall & Prior and WA general manager at Opal Specialist Aged Care. Mr Joseph has 30 years of leadership experience in the health and aged care sectors.
RSM Australia has recruited Catherine Bell as a partner, joining the national ESG sustainability services team based in its Perth office. Ms Bell moves from accounting advisory firm BDO, where she had been for more than five years. She was recently a principal in sustainability advisory at BDO’s Perth office. Ms Bell was BDO Global BD lead in sustainability and ESG & Energy Transition in Singapore before moving to Perth. Her career in consultancy has spanned more than 20 years and across the world.
St Barbara will undergo top-level staff changes following the sale of its Leonora assets to Rayleigh Finlayson’s Genesis Minerals. Andrew Strelein will start as the ASX-listed gold producer’s managing director and chief executive on July 1, replacing Dan Lougher. Mr Strelein joined St Barbara as chief development officer in mid-2021. Sara Prendergast will also take over from Lucas Welsh as chief financial officer from September 1. Ms Prendergast has been St Barbara’s general manager of finance and procurement since October 2020.
Nick Foulkes will join national law firm Piper Alderman as a Perth-based Partner in the projects, infrastructure, and construction team on July 3. Mr Foulkes has two decades of experience, particularly in commercial business law, having worked at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Herbert Smith Freehills. Most recently, he spent time as a general counsel in-house at advisory company Alaris. Mr Foulkes has also acted for government departments, publicly listed companies, and multinational entities.
MinterEllison has announced 91 senior appointments, including promoting special counsel Briony Pole as a partner. Ms Pole will be based in Perth, in the law firm’s workplace team. Prior to joining MinterEllison in 2016, Ms Pole spent about six years at Allion Legal where she held various roles in the Workplace Relations and Safety team, including as senior associate. She joined MinterEllison as a senior associate in its workplace team.