Former Suncorp boss joins Star

Former Suncorp chief executive David Foster has been appointed to the board of Star Group, which owns casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney.

It follows mass resignations of directors and senior executives at the company following allegations of possible money laundering and other activity at the Sydney casino.

Foster is also a director of G8, the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and a council member of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Also joining the Star board was Anne Ward, the current chair of Redbubble.

MarchNet gets new leadership

Chris Hawke has been appointed chief executive of regional telco MarchNet, replacing Paul Torrisi who has stepped back to focus on other areas.

Hawke was most recently the chief operating officer of Gigagy.

MarchNet recently bought Spirit’s fixed wireless network and licensed 5G spectrum.

Hawke said because he was raised in regional Queensland he knew the importance of connectivity in the regions.

Education appoints Schimming

Sharon Schimming has been appointed to the inaugural role of associate director-general of early childhood and state schools in the Queensland Government.

She will work with director general Micheal De’Ath in the leadership team.

Schimming had been acting in the role.

Grains boss appointed

Richard Simonaitis has been appointed as chief executive of Grains Australia.

He will take on the role from November 1 and take over from Andrew Young who has been in an acting role since January.

Simonaitis had been chief executive of AEGIC.

BHP shuffles the deck

BHP has made significant changes to its executive leadership with Geraldine Slattery appointed president of its Australian operations and Edgar Basto moving into the chief operating officer role.

Chief legal, governance and external affairs officer will be Caroline Cox and chief financial officer will be David Lamont. Chief commercial officer will be Vandita Pant, chief technical officer Laura Tyler and Ragnar Udd will be president of the Americas. Chief development officer will be Johan van Jaarsveld and chief people officer is Jad Vodopija.

QBCC’s new chief building regulator

Angela Masson has been appointed as the chief building regulator for the Queensland Buidling and Construction Commission.

Masson is a qualified lawyer with 20 years of experience in government and statutory authorities.

She will lead and transform the regulatory operations of the QBCC and would be responsible for the Government’s reform agenda.

Tritium sales boss departs

Christian Hewitt has finished at Brisbane-based fast charging company Tritium after more than four years.

Hewitt was the company’s sales manager responsible for the Middle East, Israel and India.

Macarthur gets a new director

Brisbane-based Macarthur Minerals has appointed Ryan Welker to its board.

The appointment comes ahead of the moves to develop the Lake Giles magnetite ore project about 250km from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Welker has previously worked with Rio Tinto, Hancock Prospecting and Mineral Resources.

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