Executive Director, ServiceFirst
Department of Services, Technology & Administration
I was recently appointed Executive Director at the NSW Department of Services, Technology and Administration (DSTA) responsible for leading the ServiceFirst (SF) business through a challenging reform and growth agenda. SF provides back office process outsourcing across the areas of Finance, Procurement, HR, IT, Office, Fleet and Facilities management to many NSW Government agencies.
Prior to joining DSTA, I was Head of Business Transformation for a global FTSE 100 firm (based in London) responsible for delivering sustainable change across a varied, business critical portfolio. I was also tasked with delivering an enhanced transformation capability by attracting talent, designing the change methodology and establishing governance structures focussed on benefits delivery and cohesive business engagement.
My career to date has afforded me the opportunities to lead business change across the public and private sectors in EMEA, North and South America, India, Australia and South East Asia. My specialisms include Corporate Strategy and Business Transformation, Value Generation, BPO / Shared Services and deploying Lean Six Sigma to deliver improved business performance.
When I applied for the Master of Business in IT Management (MBITM) at UTS, my career was anchored in IT and I was looking to complement my skills with additional knowledge to progress to the next level. The MBITM had a great reputation, relevant content and a timetable that allowed me to fit my study around a demanding work schedule. Studying the MBITM, I gained a new set of business skills, enhanced my ability for self-analysis, improved my strategic thinking and broadened my perspectives on the “art of the possible”. The program has been critical to my career thus far.
Ken Dovey (MBITM Course-Co-ordinator) has been a strong influence on me and I am grateful for his support, mentoring and encouragement to pursue excellence. I also really valued the different learning experiences throughout the course, such as the dynamic and collaborative class discussions, and access to the accomplished, experienced lecturers teaching in the program.
Apart from my current role, which is incredibly diverse and complex, my most interesting project to date was with the UK Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office driving a global change program aiming to streamline its corporate practices. This program affected over 20,000 employees in 180 countries which made for an impressive set of legal, cultural and language barriers to overcome.
Right now, I am still settling into my new role, which I believe has the potential to deliver a paradigm shift for Government administration. I am focussed on developing SF into a high performing organisation by embedding a continuous improvement ethos into the culture and by the effective deployment of a revised operating strategy.
I also have two children under the age of four whom I try to spend as much time as possible with, so my hands are pretty full right now!
That said, I am keen to continue my relationship with the MBITM. It’s a great program providing real value to participants and I am keen to see it continue to deliver.
