Communications News

Australian Government appoints new chair and director for NBN Co Board

Eliza Sayon Nov 23, 2021

2 min read

New changes are happening in the country’s broadband industry as the Australian Government appoints a new chair and director to the NBN Co Board.

The new appointments have brought current NBN Co Board member Ms Kate McKenzie to the role of Chair and Ms Nerida Caesar to the role of Non-Executive Director for a term of three years, effective 1 January 2022.

Ms McKenzie joined the Board in 2019 as a Non-Executive Director. During her first term, she has served as a member of NBN Co’s Audit and Risk Committee, Financing Committee, Nominations Committee, and People and Remuneration Committee.

Ms McKenzie brings a strong understanding of government and regulatory environments with having over 30 years of experience in government and senior executive leadership.

Her extensive communications sector experience, which was acquired during her time as former CEO of national telecommunications firm Chorus New Zealand, provides a strong experience of oversight on a large operational telecommunications firm.

Ms Caesar is currently a non-executive director of Westpac, a member of its technology committee, and legal, regulatory and compliance committee. She was formerly a senior executive at Telstra and CEO of Equifax. Aside from these, Ms Caesar has also held several executive and senior management positions with IBM.

The new appointments are said to add to the strength of the diverse leadership that made up the NBN Co Board. Ms McKenzie and Ms Caesar’s knowledge and experiences will also help focus NBN Co on its transition to its operational phase after the completion of the network build.

The Australian Government also thanked Dr Ziggy Switkowski for his years as Chair of the Board. Dr Switkowski will continue in his role until January 1 2022 in order to ensure a smooth transition of position to Ms McKenzie.

As Chair, Dr Switkowski oversaw the completion of the initial build of the network and the beginning of the transition to a mature operating company. He also oversaw NBN Co’s approach to private debt markets and the substantial reduction in the Commonwealth loan.

Source: Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Media Release

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.