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CEO-designate Vanessa Hudson (pictured) is putting her stamp on Qantas ahead of her ascension to the top job in November, with the announcement of a major executive shakeup.
The reshuffle will include the creation of a chief people officer role to handle both human resources and industrial relations, which are currently separate portfolios. The Flying Kangaroo is undertaking a search for the executive who will fill the position.
“We have a deep bench of experience at Qantas, which means we’re able to recruit internally for many senior executive roles when they come up, and that makes transition a lot smoother,” said Hudson.
“The structural changes announced today are about increasing our focus on a few key areas as we move from recovery to growth, especially when it comes to things that matter most to our people and our customers.
“We have a lot of expansion planned in the years ahead and that will translate into thousands of new frontline jobs and millions of hours of training. Keeping our team engaged and supporting them to deliver for our customers is critical, and so is the dedicated Chief People Officer role.”
Among the other changes, Qantas Group’s executive of strategy, people and technology, Rob Marcolina, will step into the vacant CFO role once Hudson takes the reins in November.
Chief customer officer Markus Svensson will replace the retiring Andrew David as Qantas Domestic CEO, while executive manager of Qantas freight, Catriona Larritt, will be appointed chief customer and digital officer with an added responsibility for technology.
Qantas is also appointing executive manager of safety Andrew Monaghan to the newly-created role of chief risk officer, with the responsibility of unifying risk management across the group as a whole.
All other executives will keep their current roles, with the exception of John Gissing, who is retiring as QantasLink CEO in November.
“The success of our recovery plans means we’re in a strong position, and that will only stay true if we get the balance right for our customers, people and shareholders in the years ahead,” said Hudson.
After November, the Qantas executive bench will comprise (asterisks denoting new role or new to role):
