Urbis picks strategist as managing partner

Brisbane-base d futurist and urban strategist James Tuma as managing partner.

The company said Tuma would support chief executive Ben Pollack to realise its strategy.

He has 25 years of experience in strategy and sits on the board of Urbis and Cistri.

McCullough Robertson adds two

Two women have been appointed partners at McCullough Robertson.

The firm said Meg Morgan and Naomi Omundson had been promoted to partners in its Brisbane office. Both had started at the firm as graduates.

Morgan has been a corporate lawyer in unregulated mergers and acquisitions while Omundson has had a focus on equity and capital markets.

ART’s new chief of retirement

The Australian Retirement Trust has appointed industry veteran Kathy Vincent to the newly created role of chief of retirement.

She has 30 years of experience in the finance industry including at Macquarie Group, MLC and NAB and most recently at BT where she was chief strategy and product officer.

Her role with ART will be to focus on the execution of the retirement strategy.

SOCO loses director

IT consultancy SOCO Corporation said Carlo Liviani had announced his retirement from the board for personal reasons.

Liviani holds a 15.8 per cent stake in the company which he would retain.

Tritium adds two executives

Brisbane-based Tritium has promoted Glen Bethel to chief technology officer and appointed Brian Johns as vice president of product development.

Bethel joined the company in 2022 and was recently vice president of operations engineering. Previously he worked with Boeing and was the chief information officer at the Land Warfare Development Centre in the Australian Army.

Johns had 20 years of experience across Australia and Asia and was previously with Disc Brakes Australia and Innova Products.

Avada snaps up ex-Virgin exec

Dan Crowley’s Avada Group has appointed Courtney Black as a non-executive director.

Black was previously chief executive of Virgin’s Velocity Frequent Flyer and chief marketing and loyalty officer for the airline.

She has also been managing director of Shine Lawyers and chief strategy officer and corporate services for Queensland Rail.

Skills Qld gets CEO

Manufacturing Skills Qld has appointed Rebecca Andrews as chief executive.

Andrews previously worked for the Australian Industry Group where she was state head. She was also the deputy director general for small business at the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.

New chair for Poolwerx

Poolwerx has appointed Russ Reynolds as its chair.

Reynolds has 30 years of experience in retail and services across multiple franchise networks including Batteries Plus and Spotless.

He replaces Troy Hazard.

AIMS boss quits

The Australian Institute of Marine Science announced its chief executive, Dr Paul Hardisty, would leave the organisation on July 30.

Dr Hardisty joined AIMS in June 2017 as CEO and departs the institute to re-commence his literary career.

PeopleIn founder moves on

PeopleIn founder and director Declan Sherman will step back from the company following the November general meeting.

The company said he would pursue other commercial ventures.

He was previously chief executive but relinquished the role to Ross Thompson.

A search has started for a replacement director.

Destination GC gets interim boss

Former journalist Rachel Hancock has been made interim chief of executive of tourism organisation Destination Gold Coast.

Hancock was previously the head of stakeholders and strategy for DGC and before that was editor of the Gold Coast Bulletin and deputy editor of The Courier-Mail.

Three join Beaten Zone

Venture capital fund Beaten Zone has appointed Ryan Parsons as its chief operating officer after 14 years of working in private equity, including London-based LetterOne Holdings.

He was also chief financial officer at Go1 and Swyftx.

Alexandra Grigg joins as investment manager. She previously worked at Ten13, Artesian Venture Partners and Duxton Capital.

Eliza Davies was also appointed as executive assistant after working for AirTree Ventures and Ten13.

Leaf turns over a new chair

Leaf Resources has appointed Pai-Heng (Henry) Cheng as its chair.

He is also chair of Formosa Group Australia, Formosa Resources and Arizona Global Transaction Management.

Murdoch joins GEA

The Gladstone Engineering Alliance welcomed Alison Murdoch as its Operations Manager.

She was previously the general manager of the Gladstone Seafarer’s Centre and was also vice president of the local chamber of commerce and industry.

Metarock’s new broom

Mining services company Metarock has promoted Jeff Whiteman from chief financial officer to chief executive, replacing Paul Green, who has left the company.

Wayne Price has also been appointed as executive general manager of Mastermyne and would be accountable for all coal contracting services in NSW and Queensland.

Peter Barker has also been made an advisor to the company.

De Graff gets federal call up

Brisbane Airport chief executive Gert-Jan de Graff has been appointed to the Federal Government’s Jet Zero Council which has a goal of helping to provide a sustainable aviation sector.