20 Influential People and Culture Leaders in Brisbane

Jonno White
Aug 5
14 min read

Last updated: August 2026

Brisbane's people and culture function has grown far beyond traditional HR administration. As of August 2026, the leaders below hold current chief people officer, head of people and culture, or equivalent senior roles across banking, health, education, resources, professional services and community organisations connected to Brisbane. This directory brings 20 of them together in one place, alongside their current roles and organisations, presented alphabetically by surname for easy navigation.

Reading this list helps you understand who is currently responsible for workforce strategy, culture and employee experience across a wide range of Brisbane-connected organisations. It is useful whether you are building a professional network, benchmarking your own people function, researching a potential employer, or simply want to know who leads people and culture work across the city.

The scope here is intentionally broad rather than narrow. These 20 leaders work across banking and financial services, health and aged care, education, resources and energy, professional services, aviation, insurance and community organisations. Some lead people and culture for a single Brisbane-headquartered organisation. Others lead the function for a national or state organisation from a Brisbane base or Brisbane office.

Each entry below names the person's current role and organisation, explains why they fit this Brisbane-connected scope, and includes one specific fact worth knowing about their work. The names are presented alphabetically by surname so the list is easy to scan and easy to return to as a reference.

This kind of directory changes over time as people move between organisations, so treat it as a current snapshot rather than a permanent record. Each entry links back to the person's current organisation so you can check the latest detail yourself before relying on it for a decision, an introduction or a piece of research.

Why people and culture leadership matters in Brisbane

People and culture leadership matters because Brisbane organisations are competing for the same relatively small pool of skilled workers across professional services, health, resources and financial services, and the people function increasingly decides who wins that competition. The person setting workforce strategy shapes hiring, retention, safety and how thousands of employees experience their work every day.

Several of the organisations represented here are the largest employers in their sector in Queensland, including a state government health service, one of the state's largest non-government schooling systems, and Australia's largest early learning provider. The decisions their people and culture leaders make ripple out to thousands of frontline staff, teachers, nurses and case workers, not just corporate head office employees.

Brisbane's people and culture leaders also work inside organisations facing genuine structural change: bank mergers and machinery-of-government transitions, new psychosocial safety obligations, workforce planning under commercial pressure, and the shift of artificial intelligence into everyday HR practice. Their work is a useful barometer for how seriously an organisation takes its people during a period of real change.

This matters beyond the HR profession itself. Anyone doing business with a Brisbane organisation, applying for a role there, or partnering with it on a project benefits from understanding who owns its people strategy, because that person's priorities shape the culture a customer, employee or partner actually experiences day to day.

The Brisbane people and culture leaders

1. Kerry Atkinson

Chief People Officer, BDO in Australia

Kerry Atkinson leads people strategy for BDO in Australia from Brisbane. She fits this list as the senior people leader for one of Brisbane's major professional services employers, with responsibility for the firm's people strategy and operations nationally.

Kerry joined BDO in 2019 as Head of People and Culture and was elevated to Chief People Officer as part of a new C-suite structure, after two decades of HR leadership including a role as principal of HR at BHP in Brisbane. That path from operational HR into a C-suite role marks how professional services firms are elevating the function.

2. Kellie Breen

Chief People Officer, SunWater

Kellie Breen has been Chief People Officer at SunWater, Queensland's state-owned bulk water supplier, since January 2018. Her role sits inside an essential-services organisation where workforce planning and safety carry real operational weight, making her a strong fit for a Brisbane people and culture list focused on organisations beyond the usual corporate examples.

Kellie was named in Diversity Council Australia's April 2026 Brisbane CEO roundtable, where Brisbane business leaders discussed inclusion, artificial intelligence and workforce planning. That kind of cross-sector conversation is useful for readers who want to see how essential-services people leaders are thinking about the same pressures as their corporate peers.

3. Gillian Bromley

Vice-President People and Chief People Officer, QUT

Gillian Bromley is Vice-President People and Chief People Officer at QUT, where she leads the People Services Portfolio across one of Brisbane's largest universities. Her remit fits this list well because it combines conventional HR with equity, health and safety, sport and student services, a broader scope than a typical corporate people role.

Gillian joined QUT from QSuper, where she led HR strategy, employee relations and remuneration. Moving from a major Brisbane financial institution into a university people role is a useful example of how transferable senior people leadership has become across very different types of organisation.

4. Nicole Bunning

Chief People Officer, Y Queensland

Nicole Bunning is Chief People Officer at Y Queensland, connecting people practice with youth services and community impact rather than a purely commercial mandate. That purpose-led setting makes her relevant to readers whose interest in people and culture extends beyond listed companies and professional services firms.

Nicole holds an MBA from QUT and brings prior experience from Anglicare Southern Queensland and Sunshine Coast Council, according to her professional profile. That community and local government background is a useful reference point for anyone building a people and culture career outside the corporate mainstream.

5. Lisa Burquest

Chief People Officer, Virgin Australia

Lisa Burquest is Chief People Officer at Virgin Australia, the Brisbane-headquartered airline, a role she has held since February 2021. Aviation brings its own distinct workforce challenges around rostering, safety and frontline experience, which makes her a useful addition to a list otherwise weighted toward banking, health and professional services.

Lisa spoke as Chief People Officer at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific in July 2026, discussing staff travel as a recruitment drawcard. That is a reminder that non-cash benefits remain a real lever in a tight labour market.

6. Paul Chasemore

Chief People and Culture Officer, QIC

Paul Chasemore leads the People & Culture team at QIC, the Brisbane-based global investment manager, with the role based in QIC's Brisbane office. His remit covers HR advisory, reward, talent, performance and diversity and inclusion for an organisation managing capital on behalf of institutional clients.

Paul was previously Chief People Officer at Perpetual Ltd, where he led a global team through major mergers and acquisitions and organisational transformation, according to his QIC profile. That transformation background is directly relevant to any Brisbane organisation currently working through significant structural change of its own.

7. Cathy Heffernan

People and Culture Executive, Brisbane Catholic Education

Cathy Heffernan is People and Culture Executive at Brisbane Catholic Education, one of Queensland's largest non-government schooling systems. Her scope covers the people function for a large, geographically dispersed workforce of teachers and school support staff, a different kind of complexity to a single corporate head office.

Cathy brings a career spanning Powerlink Queensland, the Queensland Department of Education and Training, and Queensland Rail, according to her professional profile. That mix of energy, government and transport sector experience is a useful example of how people leadership skills transfer across very different Queensland employers.

8. Vanessa Kissane

Chief Human Resources Officer, TAFE Queensland

Vanessa Kissane is Chief Human Resources Officer at TAFE Queensland, the state's vocational education and training provider. She leads workforce strategy, organisational design and TAFE Queensland's statewide Safety First health, safety and wellbeing programme across a large, dispersed regional and metropolitan workforce.

Vanessa has spent more than twenty years inside TAFE Queensland, moving through senior human resources roles before reaching the Chief Human Resources Officer position. That kind of long internal tenure is a useful counterpoint to the external-hire pattern seen at several other organisations on this list.

9. Tracey Lake

Chief People Officer, Great Southern Bank

Tracey Lake is Chief People Officer at Great Southern Bank, formerly CUA, which she joined in March 2017. Her team runs enterprise change, organisational development and engagement work that connects employee experience directly to customer outcomes for the mutual bank.

Tracey's work centres on listening at scale and turning staff feedback into action, a discipline that matters in a customer-owned bank where staff experience and member experience are closely linked. Her tenure through the CUA to Great Southern Bank rebrand also makes her a useful example of a people leader guiding a workforce through a full organisational identity change.

10. Kate Lindwall

Chief People & Culture Officer, Grant Thornton Australia

Kate Lindwall is Chief People & Culture Officer at Grant Thornton Australia, leading a national People & Culture Advisers team from the firm's Brisbane office. Her portfolio covers leadership and talent development, performance management, recruitment, HR policy and culture across the accounting and advisory firm.

Kate is nearing a twenty year career milestone at Grant Thornton, giving her an unusually long internal view of how the firm's culture and people practices have evolved. That depth of institutional knowledge is valuable for anyone studying how a professional services culture is built and sustained over time rather than reset with every leadership change.

11. Ben Mansour

VP People and Corporate Relations, Anglo American (Steelmaking Coal)

Ben Mansour is VP People and Corporate Relations for Anglo American's Steelmaking Coal business in Australia, based in Brisbane. His role sits at the intersection of workforce leadership and corporate relations for a major Queensland resources employer, a combination not seen elsewhere on this list.

Ben was named the 2025 Australian HR Director of the Year, recognised for leading the people function through significant industrial change, the rollout of new psychosocial safety obligations, and sustained pressure on regional talent pipelines. That combination of change management and compliance leadership is directly relevant to any resources-sector people function right now.

12. Lorna Morton

Acting Chief People and Culture Officer, Metro North Health

Lorna Morton is Acting Chief People and Culture Officer at Metro North Health, one of Queensland's largest public hospital and health services. Her role covers workforce strategy, governance and culture across a service that exists to enable safe, high-quality patient care, a mandate with direct public-safety stakes.

Lorna brings a career across Queensland Health, with deep experience leading people and culture functions across large, complex public health services. That internal health-system background is a useful reference point for any people leader working inside a large, safety-critical public organisation.

13. Dominic O'Brien

Executive General Manager and Company Secretary, New Hope Group

Dominic O'Brien is Executive General Manager and Company Secretary at New Hope Group, the Brisbane-based coal producer, where he oversees the company's People, Legal, Company Secretary, Corporate Affairs and Health and Safety functions together. That combined remit reflects how people leadership is increasingly bundled with legal and governance responsibility in resources companies.

Dominic joined New Hope Group in December 2020 after 24 years as a legal practitioner, including senior roles at Allens Lawyers, MIM Holdings, Xstrata and Peabody Energy. His background across major resources companies gives him a distinctive lens on how legal, safety and people risk intersect in an operational business.

14. Scott Orpin

Chief People Officer, Cancer Council Queensland

Scott Orpin is Chief People Officer at Cancer Council Queensland, one of the state's most recognised community health charities, based in Fortitude Valley. His role brings corporate-grade people leadership to a not-for-profit whose workforce spans fundraising, research support and community services.

Scott hosted a gathering of fellow Brisbane Chief People Officers at Cancer Council Queensland after joining the organisation in October 2025. Bringing peer leaders together so soon after starting is a useful sign of how connected Brisbane's people and culture community already is.

15. Jess Richardson

Chief People Officer, Youi Insurance

Jess Richardson is Chief People Officer at Youi Insurance, the Brisbane-based insurer, overseeing human resources strategy for a company built around a distinctly customer-facing brand. Her role covers the full employee lifecycle for an insurer whose culture is closely tied to its customer service reputation.

Jess was promoted to Chief People Officer in September 2024 after serving as Executive General Manager People at the same insurer, according to HR trade press coverage of the appointment. That internal promotion path is a useful example of how insurers are building people leadership talent from within rather than only hiring externally.

16. Alison Sherry OAM

Chief People Officer, DCWC

Alison Sherry OAM is Chief People Officer at DCWC, a Brisbane project and infrastructure consultancy, where capability and delivery confidence depend directly on the strength of the people function. Her OAM recognises distinguished service, adding a public-service dimension to her private-sector people leadership.

Alison led the people function through DCWC's combination with RP Infrastructure and the roll-out of the combined organisation's new executive leadership structure. Guiding a workforce through a merger while keeping delivery confidence intact is a distinctly practical test of people leadership.

17. Belinda Speirs

Chief Executive People, Legal and Corporate Services, Suncorp Group

Belinda Speirs is Chief Executive People, Legal and Corporate Services at Suncorp Group, the Brisbane-headquartered insurer and former banking group. Her role brings together People, Legal, Company Secretariat, Procurement, Real Estate and Partnering under one executive remit.

Belinda was appointed to this newly created role in September 2024 after leading the completion of the Suncorp Bank sale and transition to ANZ. Steering a people function through that scale of corporate divestment is a useful case study in managing workforce uncertainty during a major transaction.

18. Alexandra Taylor

Chief People Officer, Bank of Queensland

Alexandra Taylor is Chief People Officer at Bank of Queensland, whose Group headquarters sit in Brisbane City. She joined BOQ in March 2024, bringing more than 25 years of people and culture experience in financial services to the role.

Alexandra previously held a Chief People Officer role across two of NAB's largest business divisions and senior HR roles at Citi spanning the APAC and EMEA regions, according to BOQ's own executive profile. That breadth of large-bank experience is a useful benchmark for readers thinking about what a modern regional bank's people function needs to look like.

19. Natalie Townsend

Chief People & Culture Officer, Goodstart Early Learning

Natalie Townsend is Chief People & Culture Officer at Goodstart Early Learning, which is Australia's largest early learning provider. She leads the organisation's people and learning teams, with a remit that touches both employees and the children Goodstart serves.

Natalie brings HR transformation experience from Queensland Treasury and the Queensland Audit Office, plus a prior Chief People Officer role at the Residential Tenancies Authority. That public-sector transformation background is a useful lens for readers interested in how government HR experience translates into a large not-for-profit setting.

20. Cathy Wilks

Chief People, Culture and Learning Officer, Mater

Cathy Wilks is Chief People, Culture and Learning Officer at Mater, the Brisbane hospital and healthcare group. She leads the development and execution of Mater's people, culture and learning strategies for a large healthcare workforce.

Cathy was appointed in August 2025, bringing cross-sector executive experience from a national private hospital group as well as leadership roles in aged care and oil and gas. That cross-industry background is a useful example of how transferable senior people leadership has become across very different operating environments.

What these leaders show us about people and culture in Brisbane

Looking across these 20 profiles, a few patterns stand out. The first is sector breadth. Brisbane's people and culture leadership is not concentrated in banking and professional services alone. It spans health, education, resources, insurance, aviation and community organisations, each with its own workforce risks and priorities.

The second pattern is how often the role now bundles people with adjacent functions. Several leaders on this list combine people and culture with legal, corporate affairs, health and safety, or even sport and student services. That bundling suggests Brisbane organisations increasingly see people leadership as inseparable from governance, risk and organisational identity rather than a standalone administrative function.

The third pattern is career mobility between sectors. Multiple leaders here moved from banking or professional services into universities, not-for-profits or the public sector, and vice versa. That cross-pollination of people leadership talent is a healthy sign for the discipline in Brisbane specifically, because it means practices developed in one sector regularly find their way into another.

Finally, several of these leaders are relatively new to their current organisation, having started in 2024 or 2025. That turnover reflects a genuinely active senior people leadership market in Brisbane right now, not a static one.

Taken together, these patterns suggest that people and culture leadership in Brisbane is maturing into a genuine profession with its own internal mobility, rather than a series of isolated corporate appointments. A person who leads people and culture well in one sector increasingly carries that credibility into a very different sector a few years later.

How to use this list

Start with the leader whose organisational setting is closest to your own. If you work in financial services, Tracey Lake, Alexandra Taylor or Belinda Speirs will be more directly relevant than a resources-sector leader. If you work in health, education or the not-for-profit sector, Lorna Morton, Cathy Heffernan, Vanessa Kissane, Gillian Bromley, Cathy Wilks, Scott Orpin or Natalie Townsend are better starting points.

Read a leader's current organisation page before reaching out or referencing their work, so you understand their actual current priorities rather than relying on an old headline. If you are researching a potential employer, use this list to identify who currently owns people strategy there, then look at what that organisation has publicly said about its people priorities this year.

If you are building your own Brisbane people and culture network, use this list as a starting point rather than an endpoint. A specific, thoughtful comment on a leader's public work is far more useful than a generic connection request, and it is worth verifying current details independently before you rely on them for anything important.

If you organise events, panels or professional development sessions, this list is also a practical way to identify speakers whose day-to-day remit genuinely matches your topic, rather than defaulting to the same small handful of well-known names every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a Chief People Officer do?

A Chief People Officer leads an organisation's workforce strategy, covering hiring, culture, performance, learning and employee experience, and typically sits on the executive leadership team alongside finance, operations and legal peers. In practice, the role shapes how an organisation attracts, develops and retains the people it needs to do its work well.

Is people and culture the same as traditional HR?

People and culture builds on traditional HR administration but adds a stronger focus on culture, employee experience and workforce strategy, positioning the function as a driver of business outcomes rather than a purely administrative service. Many organisations on this list use the title specifically to signal that broader remit to staff and candidates.

Which sectors are represented in this Brisbane list?

This list spans banking and financial services, health, education, resources, professional services, aviation, insurance and community organisations, reflecting how broadly people and culture leadership is now spread across Brisbane's economy. No single sector dominates the list, and several of the organisations represented are among the largest employers in their field in Queensland.

Do all the leaders on this list work only in Brisbane?

Most lead people and culture from a Brisbane head office or Brisbane-based role, though a small number lead the function for a national organisation from a Brisbane office rather than working exclusively on Brisbane-only operations. Where that distinction matters, it is noted directly in the person's entry above.

How can I connect with a Brisbane people and culture leader?

Read their current organisation's public priorities first, then reach out with a specific, relevant comment or question rather than a generic message, since senior people leaders respond better to context than to a cold, general request. A shared professional interest, event or piece of published work is usually a better opening than a request to connect alone.

Conclusion

Brisbane's people and culture leadership is broader and more varied than a single sector snapshot suggests. The 20 leaders in this directory run people strategy for banks, hospitals, universities, resources companies, a state-owned water authority, an airline, an insurer and community organisations, each shaping how thousands of employees experience their work.

If you take one thing from this list, let it be that strong people leadership now shows up everywhere in Brisbane's economy, not just in head offices of large corporates. Whether you are hiring, benchmarking your own function, or simply curious who is behind the workforce decisions at a Brisbane organisation you care about, this directory is a practical starting point.

This is also, by design, a snapshot rather than an exhaustive one. Brisbane has more people and culture leaders doing genuinely good work than any single article can cover, and this list represents 20 of them at the time of writing.

The next useful step is to pick two or three leaders whose organisational setting is closest to your own situation, read what their organisation has said publicly about its people priorities this year, and use that as the basis for a genuinely informed connection or comparison.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Brisbane-based leadership consultant, keynote speaker and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. He works with schools, corporates and nonprofits around the world. To enquire about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

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