Appointments October 27, 2023

Former Western Australian Minister Dean Nalder has been appointed to the DevelopmentWA board, effective in late December. Mr Nalder was elected as a member of the WA Parliament in 2013 and became Transport Minister and Finance Minister in 2014. He served as the Shadow Treasurer of WA for four years between 2017 and 2021. At DevelopmentWA, Mr Nalder will take over as board member from outgoing Reg Gillard who has served on the board for just over two years.

Subiaco-based Norfolk Metals has recruited Mark Couzens to oversee its Orrooro Uranium Project’s maiden drill program in South Australia. Mr Couzens is an experienced uranium geologist and has been working as a freelance consultant in uranium and base metals for the past nine years. Before this, he was exploration manager at Cauldron Energy for four years until mid-2014. Mr Couzens has also previously held roles with Heathgate Resources, Mega Hindmarsh, Cameco Australia and OZ Minerals.

As part of its effort to strengthen its capital markets capability, Ray White Commercial Western Australia has employed commercial property broker Andrew Woodley-Page. Mr Woodley-Page has 25 years of experience in the industry and has previously worked as director investment sales at Axia Corporate Property for 3.5 years and as director commercial and institutional sales at Knight Frank Australia for two years. Mr Woodley-Page has been involved in property transactions valued at a combined $4 billion including Raine Square, Kings Square and stakes in QV1, Central Park, Exchange Tower and 108 St Georges Terrace.

Perth-based Australian Finance Group has promoted Them Lam to head of sales and distribution, taking over the position from Chris Slater who has been appointed as chief executive at AFG's subsidiary Fintelligence. Melbourne-based Mr Lam has worked at AFG since 2009, working in a suite of roles and most recently serving as general manager aggregation for the past seven months and as head of strategic partners and recruitment before that. Over the past 12 months, Queensland-based Mr Slater had been working with the team at Fintelligence as a board member and his appointment as its CEO is set to help accelerate the company's growth plans. Mr Slater had worked at AFG for 16 years.

Grains Australia has appointed Andrew Young as chair following the resignation of the organisation's inaugral chair Terry Enright. Mr Young brings his expertise as an experienced Western Australian agribusiness senior executive and director to Grains Australia, which is an initiative of the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Mr Young currently serves as chair of Westpork, non-executive chair of grain export business Plum Grove and non-executive director of the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre. Outgoing Mr Enright served as Grains Australia chair since the initiative's establishment in 2020.

One of WA’s most senior mining executives with more than 35 years’ experience Mike Erickson has taken a corporate advisory role at Indigenous contractor Carey Group. This builds on a long term relationship, with Carey having provided mining services at AngloGold’s WA gold mines for 27 years. Mr Erickson retired as AngloGold Ashanti boss in August.

Water Corporation chair Ross Love will exit the organisation after three years to take up an overseas role. Mr Love had been in the role for just over three years after being appointed in September 2020. Deputy chair David Lock will step up as interim chair until a replacement for Mr Love has been found.

ASX-listed Southern Cross Electrical Engineering Group has appointed Karl Paganin as chairman following Derek Parkin’s retirement from the role after eight years. Mr Parkin formally stepped down as chair at the end of October but would continue as an independent non-executive director. Newly appointed Mr Paganin had been on the SCEE board as an independent non-executive director since 2015.

Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas retained his seat in City of Perth with 56.5 per cent of the 5,777 votes received, beating Sandy Anghie and Will Leyland. The Town of Cambridge welcomes its new mayor Gary Mack, who has replaced Keri Shannon, while in the City of Greater Geraldton, deputy mayor Jerry Clune took over from Shane Van Styn. City of Nedlands mayor Fiona Argyle has retained her role for another term of four years. Local brewer Dan Scott is the next mayor of City of Karratha, booting incumbent Peter Long after 10 years in the role. Former Greens MLC Alison Xamon was declared the next mayor of City of Vincent, replacing Emma Cole who did not run for re-election.