Appointments May 17, 2019

Our weekly appointments wrap includes Maria Saraceni, Katrina Lane, Robert Cunningham, Wayne Crofts, Ellen Wang, Deirdre Pennock, Tony Le and Todd Richardson.  

Maria Saraceni has been appointed president of the Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention board. Ms Saraceni is a barrister practising in regulatory and compliance law with a special focus on workplace health and safety and industrial relations. She works as a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers and has been an adjunct professor at Murdoch University since 2005.

Katrina Lane will be the new state commission of Girl Guides Western Australia. Ms Lane has previously held volunteer positions with Girl Guides WA as assistant state commissioner, unit leader, international manager, program manager and learning partner. Professionally, she works at the Aboriginal Legal Service. Ms Lane is replacing the outgoing Linda Elezovich whose term finishes on July 1.   

Robert Cunningham has been appointed dean and head of Curtin Law School until 2022. Professor Cunningham is an academic and barrister with Murray Chambers. His academic expertise lies in law, technology and intellectual property.

Automotive Holdings Group has appointed Wayne Crofts as executive general manager at AMCAP. Mr Crofts most recently served as managing director and chief executive of Heritage Seeds. Prior to this role he worked across the agriculture, retail and industrial sectors, including 16 years in senior commercial roles with Wesfarmers and its businesses. Mr Croft will begin his new role at AMCAP in mid-July.

HFW has hired Ellen Wang as an associate in its energy and resources practice. Ms Wang was a senior contract specialist at CITIC Pacific Mining and previously worked for the Beijing government, Lintang & Co and Mills Oakley. She is a fluent Mandarin speaker, which HSF hopes will enhance the group’s cross-border capabilities.

Deirdre Pennock has joined HBA as a senior associate after 10 years with Sparke Helmore. Ms Pennock will focus primarily on motor injury insurance work. Tony Le was also appointed as a solicitor. Mr Le previously worked at AJ Gallagher as a workers compensation consultant.

Australian Vanadium has appointed Todd Richardson as chief operating officer. Mr Richardson has over 20 years’ experience in vanadium operations in Australia, Canada and the United States. He has previously worked for AMG Vanadium, VanadiumCorp, Midwest Vanadium and Evraz Stratcor in both production and technical roles.