20 CEOs of Listed Companies in Australia and NZ

Chief executives set the tone for how large organisations make decisions, learn and respond when the pressure rises.

A listed company leader has to hold several time horizons at once. Customers need dependable service, employees need clear priorities, investors need confidence and communities need responsible choices. The people below are not presented as a ranking. They are a current, cross-border starting point for anyone interested in how senior leadership works across Australia and New Zealand.

Why these leaders matter

The chief executive role is often described as setting strategy, but the daily reality is more human. Leaders translate complexity into choices, decide what the organisation will stop doing and create the conditions for other people to do their best work. That is why the quality of the leadership system around a CEO matters as much as the person at the top.

1. Vanessa Hudson

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Qantas

Vanessa Hudson is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Qantas, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. Her remit spans a national airline, a customer promise and a workforce spread across a complex operating system.

What makes Vanessa Hudson worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

2. Brandon Craig

Chief Executive Officer, BHP

Brandon Craig is Chief Executive Officer at BHP, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His move into the top role brings deep operational experience to one of the region’s most consequential resources businesses.

What makes Brandon Craig worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

3. Rob Scott

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Wesfarmers

Rob Scott is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Wesfarmers, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. He leads a group whose portfolio spans retail, industrial businesses and long-term capital decisions, so clarity has to travel across very different teams.

What makes Rob Scott worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

4. Matt Comyn

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Matt Comyn is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His leadership sits where trust, technology, risk and everyday customer experience all meet.

What makes Matt Comyn worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

5. Vicki Brady

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Telstra

Vicki Brady is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Telstra, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. She leads a business that has to make complicated technology feel dependable and human for millions of customers.

What makes Vicki Brady worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

6. Frank Calabria

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Origin Energy

Frank Calabria is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Origin Energy, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. Energy leadership now requires the patience to manage reliability, affordability and a changing system at the same time.

What makes Frank Calabria worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

7. Greg Goodman

Group Chief Executive Officer, Goodman Group

Greg Goodman is Group Chief Executive Officer at Goodman Group, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His work shows how a listed property business can turn patient investment and operational detail into a much bigger platform.

What makes Greg Goodman worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

8. David Koczkar

Chief Executive Officer, Medibank

David Koczkar is Chief Executive Officer at Medibank, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. He works in a sector where leadership is measured not only by performance, but by how clearly people understand the value they receive.

What makes David Koczkar worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

9. Steve Johnston

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Suncorp Group

Steve Johnston is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Suncorp Group, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. Insurance leadership asks for calm judgement when customers, communities and teams are dealing with uncertainty.

What makes Steve Johnston worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

10. Matt Halliday

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ampol

Matt Halliday is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Ampol, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His brief sits across transport energy today and the practical transition questions that will shape mobility tomorrow.

What makes Matt Halliday worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

11. Ian Narev

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, SEEK

Ian Narev is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at SEEK, a listed company operating in Australia. SEEK’s current governance record identifies the role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His brief sits where technology, employment markets and the human meaning of work meet.

What makes Ian Narev worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

12. Cameron McIntyre

Chief Executive Officer, REA Group

Cameron McIntyre is Chief Executive Officer at REA Group, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His experience brings a useful pattern to digital leadership: understand the platform, then keep the customer problem in view.

What makes Cameron McIntyre worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

13. Damien Nicks

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, AGL

Damien Nicks is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at AGL, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. He is leading through a period when energy companies need strong operating discipline and a credible path through change.

What makes Damien Nicks worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

14. Trevor Croker

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Aristocrat Leisure

Trevor Croker is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Aristocrat Leisure, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His leadership combines a global product business with the responsibility to keep culture and control strong across jurisdictions.

What makes Trevor Croker worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

15. Michelle Jablko

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Transurban

Michelle Jablko is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Transurban, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. Her role makes the connection between major infrastructure, public trust and long-range decision making impossible to ignore.

What makes Michelle Jablko worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

16. Jolie Hodson

Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Spark New Zealand

Jolie Hodson is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director at Spark New Zealand, a listed company operating in New Zealand. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. She leads a connectivity business where the quality of the customer experience depends on both technology and the people behind it.

What makes Jolie Hodson worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

17. Carrie Hurihanganui

Chief Executive, Auckland Airport

Carrie Hurihanganui is Chief Executive at Auckland Airport, a listed company operating in New Zealand. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. Her leadership is about making a large physical system feel welcoming while delivering a demanding, long-term build programme.

What makes Carrie Hurihanganui worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

18. Mike Fuge

Chief Executive Officer, Contact Energy

Mike Fuge is Chief Executive Officer at Contact Energy, a listed company operating in New Zealand. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. He leads at the intersection of generation, retail energy, customer trust and the need to build a more resilient system.

What makes Mike Fuge worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

19. Mike Roan

Chief Executive Officer, Meridian Energy

Mike Roan is Chief Executive Officer at Meridian Energy, a listed company operating in New Zealand. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. His path from strategy and wholesale markets to the top role gives him a close view of both the system and the customer.

What makes Mike Roan worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

20. Gordon Naylor

Interim Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, CSL

Gordon Naylor is Interim Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at CSL, a listed company operating in Australia. The official company source identifies the current role and gives a useful starting point for understanding the scope of the job. An interim appointment still carries a real leadership task: create steadiness, make the next choices clear and prepare the organisation for what follows.

What makes Gordon Naylor worth watching is the leadership tension inside that brief. The work is not only about setting direction. It is also about helping people make good decisions when customers, communities, investors and employees need different things at once. For senior teams, that is a practical reminder that clarity is built through repeated choices, not a single speech.

What to notice across the list

The strongest common thread is not industry. It is translation. Each of these leaders has to turn a complicated environment into a small number of priorities that people can understand and act on. That translation work is where culture becomes visible.

A second pattern is the importance of the operating system around the chief executive. Boards, executive teams and frontline leaders all shape whether a strategy becomes real. When those relationships are clear, people can move faster without guessing what matters.

Frequently asked questions

What does a listed company CEO do?

A listed company CEO leads the organisation within the strategy and oversight set by the board. The work commonly includes allocating attention and capital, building the executive team, communicating with stakeholders and making sure the organisation can deliver for customers and shareholders.

Are these leaders ranked?

No. This is a current selection, not a ranking or rating. The list is designed to give readers a useful cross-section of chief executive roles across Australia and New Zealand.

Why include an interim CEO?

Interim leaders can have an important role in creating steadiness during change. Gordon Naylor is included with the interim title stated clearly, so readers can distinguish the current appointment from a permanent succession outcome.

Related reading

If you are thinking about how senior teams work together, you may also find these practical guides useful: Working Genius for Executive Teams, Executive Team Offsites and Finance and Accounting Leaders in ANZ.

A practical next step

Look at the leadership team around your own chief executive. Ask one simple question: where are people still guessing what matters most? The answer often points to a conversation that would make the whole organisation easier to lead.

About the author

Jonno White helps leaders build organisations people would move cities to work at. He is the founder of Consult Clarity, a leadership consultant, keynote speaker and author who works with teams on clarity, culture and practical ways of working together.