Corporate Ladder: your weekly guide to executive appointments in South Australia
South Australia’s premier executive appointments column tracking the movements of those driving the state’s public and private sectors.
Nicolle Rantanen Reynolds (left, above), John Lloyd (left, below), Robert Taddeo (centre, above), Tara Bria (centre), Will Chapman (centre, below) and Carla Mellor (right) have all been appointed to new roles.
Good time to be wine
The South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) has appointed its 2023-24 Executive Committee.
Kirsty Balnaves is continuing her three-year term as the committee’s President.
Balnaves has been the Director of Balnaves of Coonawarra since 1989 and has served on the SAWIA Board since 2013.
She has served as a Member of the Coonawarra Vigneron’s Association Executive, the Lower South East Water Resources Committee and the Penola and District Medical Support Group.
Robert Taddeo of Pernod Ricard Winemakers has been re-elected as Vice President.
Taddeo is the Operations Director of Australia for Pernod Ricard Winemakers where he has worked for more than two decades.
He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a former Executive Mentor for the National Association of Women in Operations.
Other members of the SAWIA Executive Committee for 2023-24 are:
Jonathan Breach, Accolade Wines; Paul Zerella, Project Wine; Anthony Catanzariti, Treasury Wine Estates; Jeremy Blanks, Tarac; Louisa Rose, Hill-Smith Family Estates; Alex Trescowthick, RedHeads Wines, Adelaide Hills Wine Region; Matthew McCulloch, Langmeil Winery, Barossa Grape & Wine Association; Olivia Hoffmann-Barry, Jim Barry Wines, Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association; Tom Keelan, The Pawn Wine Co, Langhorne Creek Grape & Wine; Anna Fisher, Zonte’s Footstep, McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association; and Ashley Ratcliff, Ricca Terra, Riverland Wine Industry Development Council.
New non-executive director for Elders
John Lloyd has been appointed as Non-Executive Director of Elders Limited.
He serves as a Non-Executive Director for Meat and Livestock Australia, Wine Australia, and the Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council, and is a Council Member of Charles Sturt University.
He has formerly held Non-Executive Director roles with the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Agribusiness Australia.
He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Horticulture Innovation Australia and has held management roles with Case New Holland ANZ, Incitec Pivot and Wesfarmers Dalgety.
Star appointment for Fleet
Fleet Space Technologies has appointed Imelda Alexopoulos as Director of Exploration Strategy.
Prior to joining Fleet, Alexopoulos spent more than 15 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), including eight years as a Partner.
In 2019, Alexopoulos was named an InDaily 40 Under 40 for her success advising industry-leading companies on R&D, funding, government programs and growth strategy.
She is a former National Space Committee Member of AmCham Australia and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the State Opera of South Australia.
Corporate Position: the latest executive employment opportunities
Board Member(s) for the ambitious Kudos Services assisting children, young people and adults living with disability and their families.
Director of Development & Community Services for Mid Murray Council servicing an iconic region encompassing a diverse and picturesque landscape.
Senior Executive of Aged Care with UnitingSA, a respected and growing organisation assisting over 12,000 people a year with aged care, housing and community services.
Executive Manager of Residential Services for Resthaven, a highly respected leader in the rapidly growing aged and community services sector in South Australia.
Two appointments for Cochrane
South Australian family-owned express logistics business Cochrane’s Transport has appointed Kieren Tiller as Chief Financial Officer and Carla Mellor as General Manager of Human Resources.
Tiller has returned to Adelaide after more than two decades working interstate and overseas.
He was most recently Chief Financial Officer of the promotion specialist Opia – a subsidiary of Village Roadshow based in London.
From 2016 to 2018 he worked in Melbourne as General Manager of Finance Transformation for Edge – an advertising company recently acquired by Blackhawk Network Australia.
Tiller worked for almost a decade at Roadshow Films as Group Financial Controller.
Mellor joins the logistics business from Flinders Port Holdings where she was the Senior Human Resources Business Partner.
She has served as a Deputy Board Member for the Construction Industry Training Board and is the former Committee Chair of Education for the National Association of Women in Construction’s South Australia branch.
ADP appoints inaugural Adelaide leader
ADP Consulting – one of Australia’s largest privately-owned engineering and sustainability consultancies – has appointed Will Chapman as the inaugural Adelaide Office Leader to manage the consultancy’s newly-opened Adelaide office.
Chapman joins the consultancy from the science, technology and engineering solutions company KBR where he was Market Sector Manager of Buildings.
Over his career as an engineer, Chapman has worked on major projects including the Flinders University Health Medical Research Building, Adelaide Botanic High School expansion and Adelaide Oval redevelopment.
He is a former Council Member of Master Builders SA.
Leading growth and culture
Tara Bria has been appointed Director of Leadership Growth and Cultural Transformation at Ignite Purpose – a performance improvement, coaching, training and consulting practice.
Bria joins the consultancy from Westpac Group where she was Senior Manager of Sponsorships and Community Activations.
She worked at the Royal Automobile Association (RAA) for six years, starting as a Marking Coordinator before becoming Senior Marketing Coordinator of Insurance and then Marketing Manager of Insurance and Security.
Bria has formerly held roles with the marketing company Augmenta Digital, the Rundle Mall Management Authority and Southern Cross Austereo.
W for LLL
The charitable financial institution Lutheran Laypeople’s League (LLL) has made three appointments to its Board of Directors.
Current Vice Chair of LLL, Steven Podlich, has been appointed Chair of the Board.
Podlich is a Senior Relationship Manager at Westpac Group where he has worked for more than three decades.
Podlich takes on the role as current Chair, Graeme Hulf, retires after 23 years on the Board.
Director David Kalisch takes the reins as Vice Chair of the Board.
Kalisch is the Chairperson of the ACR Electoral Commission and an Independent Consultant for DWK Advisory.
He is the former Chief Executive Officer and Australian Statistician of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Nicolle Rantanen Reynolds – who currently serves as a Committee Member of the Audit and Finance Committees of the Local Government Finance Authority of South Australia and the City of Marion – has also joined the LLL Board.
She has served on the Boards of Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory, Clayton Church Homes, the University of South Australia, Credit Union SA and the Central Adelaide Waste and Recycling Authority.
She is the former Chief Operating Officer of the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance.
