SOURCE: MELBOURNE AIRPORT
10 February 2021
Melbourne Airport has announced a reorganisation of its executive leadership team following a year of successfully navigating the challenges wrought on Australia's aviation industry by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Executive, Lyell Strambi, said the new structure would help keep the company focused on the right strategic priorities as the world continues to wrestle with the disruption to global aviation.
"We have repeatedly said throughout 2020 that we must recognize when our circumstances change and respond to these changes responsibly and thoughtfully," said Mr Strambi.
"As we've done this day by day for the past year, it has become increasingly clear now that we will emerge a different business on the other side of COVID-19.
"The Melbourne Airport executive team has worked tirelessly to lay the foundations for our long-term success in the rebound 'post-COVID', making numerous tough calls and strategic investments to ensure our organisation can emerge in the best shape possible," said Mr Strambi.
Shane O'Hare, Chief of Aviation, will leave the organisation in March to pursue his own business interests.
"Shane joined us last January to deliver the next phase of aviation growth for Melbourne Airport well before the unprecedented impacts of COVID reached our business. In his short time with our business he has left a lasting legacy for our Aviation business, intensely focused on meeting the needs of our customers, and fostering a caring and thoughtful culture within this critically challenging moment in history," said Mr Strambi.
Mr Strambi said Mr O'Hare's departure had created the opportunity for a significant reorganisation of the executive group.
"These changes to our Senior Leadership Team reflect the renewed priorities of our business as we journey out of COVID, out of recession, and into a future that remains filled with uncertainty," said Mr Strambi.
The changes to the Senior Leadership Team are:
- Lorie Argus will move from Chief of Landside Access to become Chief of Aviation.
- Jai McDermott will move from Executive, Corporate & Public Affairs, to become Chief of Ground Transport.
- Mari Ruiz assumes the role of Chief People Experience & Marketing Officer, adding Marketing and Internal Communications to her former portfolio following a reorganisation of the corporate affairs functions.
- Simon Gandy, formerly Chief of Strategy & Development, will add Facilities Management and Utilities to his portfolio, in a new role designated Chief of Infrastructure.
- Justin Portelli, Head of Strategy, will now report directly to CEO Lyell Strambi.
"I'm pleased to appoint Lorie Argus to the role of Chief of Aviation. Lorie brings immense experience in operations across airlines in Canada and Australia, utilities and of course our airport. She has also demonstrated the commercial capability to continue the work we have been doing to rebuild our aviation business from the impacts of COVID.
"Jai McDermott joined us in June 2017 as our Executive of Corporate and Public Affairs, leading our government relations, media, communications, marketing and events functions. As we look to rebuild our Landside Access business, we do so knowing a long-awaited airport rail link will become a part of our future transport mix. I am pleased that Jai will be taking on the Chief of Landside Access role at such a critical time for our business, where he can bring his strategic and commercial capabilities to bear," said Mr Strambi.
"Our internal communications capability has grown significantly including through COVID. At the same time, its importance to our business is greater than ever before as we continue our digital transformation and adapt to our modern ways of working as we design our 'Future of Work'.
"Mari Ruiz's leadership of Internal Communications recognises this strategic priority for the business and will set us up for the next phase of our business. When Mari joined us in 2018 she brought extensive experience in Marketing and Communications having previously held roles as Chief People & Customer Experience, and Chief Marketing Officer roles at BankVic and Dun & Bradstreet. In her expanded role she will also continue to lead our People Experience function," said Mr Strambi.
"Simon Gandy joined the Melbourne Airport team in 2007, bringing a wealth of expertise from Heathrow and Gatwick Airports in the UK. As Chief of Infrastructure Simon will guide a major shift in our infrastructure strategy – from building to support customer growth, to optimising our asset portfolio for extreme efficiency. Central to that strategy will be our role as an energy generator for the airport community as we explore opportunities to expand our investment in renewables as well as driving efficiency gains in new and existing infrastructure," said Mr Strambi.
The airport is undertaking an internal and external recruitment process to appoint an Executive to the newly reshaped government relations, external communications and community engagement functions. Head of Government & Stakeholder Relations, Kathryn Hodges, is leading the group functions in an acting capacity.