Executive profiles

Ahmed Fahour

Ahmed Fahour is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Australia Post. He brings to the role extensive experience as a successful leader and dynamic reformer at corporations in Australia and overseas.

Ahmed commenced his professional career at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 1987, where he consulted on a range of major commercial projects including mergers, acquisitions, corporate vision and strategy. He became a director of BCG in 1997.

In 2000, Ahmed was recruited to be Head of Corporate Development at Citigroup, based in New York, where he also served as a member of the company's Global Management Committee. He was subsequently appointed as Citigroup's CEO for Australia and New Zealand.

In 2004, he joined the National Australia Bank (NAB) as an Executive Director and Australian CEO. Under his leadership, there was a major turnaround in the bank's performance and its wealth management subsidiary (MLC). In early 2009, he left the NAB to take up the role as interim CEO of the Australian Business Investment Partnership. He subsequently served as CEO at Gulf Finance House (Bahrain).

Ahmed returned to Melbourne in early 2010 when he was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Australia Post. Within three months, he announced Future Ready, a major business renewal program that involves implementing a more customer-focussed business model designed to capitalise on Australia Post's reputation as a trusted services provider.

He is currently the Chairman of the Rip Curl Group; Chairman of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations; Australia's Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; and a Director of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australian air Express, Star Track Express, the International Postal Corporation, Kahala Post Group and Sai Cheng Logistics.

 

Steve Ousley

Steve Ousley commenced at Australia Post in 1978 and was appointed Executive General Manager for Mail Services in August 2011.

In this role, Steve will drive the Mail Services agenda to return this important part of the business to a self-sustaining position. He will do this by leading the development of new products and services and identifying broader revenue streams to offset the decline in the letters business - this will be achieved by encouraging genuinely collaborative and supportive behaviours. Steve will also utilise his extensive background in driving efficiency gains and productivity increases to achieve further improvements in the network.

Steve brings a wealth of experience to his current role having worked in other key parts of the Enterprise and in four mainland States, including as General Manager Network & Transport, and as a State Operations and Delivery Manager. In these roles, he has worked across production management, productivity improvement, network and systems design, cost control and measurement, and people and change management.

 

Richard Umbers

Richard Umbers is Executive General Manager Parcel Services at Australia Post, with responsibility for delivering the enterprise parcels strategy. Richard joined Australia Post in 2010 as Executive General Manager eServices, where he was responsible for developing Australia Post's digital offering, and delivering new online initiatives to drive business growth.

Richard has previously held a range of senior and General Management positions in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailing, most recently at Woolworths where he was General Manager Customer Engagement. Prior to this, Richard was Managing Director of supermarket chain Progressive Enterprises Ltd in New Zealand, and Managing Director (North West UK and Republic of Ireland) for supermarket discounter Aldi.

His strong international retailing experience gives him a great insight into supply chain management and he has a strong track record of developing innovative programs that deliver new revenue streams.

Richard has an honours degree in Geology and Geography from Exeter University (UK), and a Masters in Finance from the University of Leicester (UK).

 

Christine Corbett

Christine Corbett is the Executive General Manager for Retail Services at Australia Post.

In this role Christine is responsible for Australia Post's extensive network of over 4,400 retail outlets across Australia. A key priority for Christine is to continue to build and extend the range of trusted services that Australia Post provides on behalf of over 750 businesses and government bodies across bill payment, banking, money transfer and identity services. The Retail Services portfolio also includes the management of our retail merchandise, philatelic and post office box product suite.

Providing customers with greater access, convenience and choice is integral to building our trusted multi-channel services offering to consumers with new outlet formats being developed to provide customers with greater self service and 24/7 access to critical services.

Since joining Australia Post Christine has held a number of key leadership roles including Manager Strategy, Governance and Major Change for the Commercial Division, State Retail Manager NSW/ACT, State Retail Manager QLD and Marketing & Communications Manager QLD.

Prior to Australia Post she worked at a public relations consultancy in Brisbane.

Her successful background in managing large complex teams and strong business experience in engaging staff to deliver results will support Australia Post to deliver what customers want today and in the future.

Christine has a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Business (Communication) from the Queensland University of Technology.

 

Catriona Larritt

Catriona joined Australia Post in 2010 and is the Acting General Manager for eServices and General Manager for Corporate Strategy.

In eServices, she leads a business unit which is vital to the future of Australia Post. eServices is the business development engine and the function's aim is to enable Australia Post customers to do everything they do physically, digitally and to work across Business Units to build capability in the digital space. Catriona will lead the function as we look at new ways of engaging customers in the online world; developing offerings including secure digital services and communications. eServices currently includes the auspost.com.au website, digital & contact centres and our existing portfolio of digital investments.

In Corporate Strategy, Catriona is responsible for guiding Australia Post's strategic direction and driving better coordination and alignment of Enterprise strategies.

Prior to joining Australia Post, Catriona held senior executive roles at The Boston Consulting Group and British Airways. At these organisations she specialised in driving the development and execution of group strategies and improving efficiency and service.

Catriona has a Masters of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

 

Nic Nuske

Nic Nuske was appointed to the new role of General Manager, Enterprise Sales and Marketing and became a member of the Australia Post's Executive Committee in August 2011.

As General Manager, Enterprise Sales and Marketing, Nic leads a team that has been aligned to foster greater collaboration and coordination, enable the development of deeper customer relationships and transform the customer experience. The team is focused on corporate and business customers' sales for mail and parcel products and services, and also important corporate sales opportunities to support the Retail and eServices businesses.

Nic joined Australia Post in April 2011 as General Manager, Sales after having spent 25 years at IBM.

In his last role at IBM he was Vice President Growth Market Unit of ibm.com from January 2009. He led a 1,500-person team responsible for sales missions that covered about $4.5B of IBM's revenue in the geography. This included all of IBM's Tele-Coverage, Tele-Sales and Web sales for Growth Markets. Prior to this he spent two years in the role of Vice President ibm.com Asia Pacific.

Nic was also the Executive Sponsor for the Sales Profession in IBM Australia and New Zealand from 2003 to 2007.

Throughout his career at IBM he held a number of financial, sales and executive positions including Client Managing Director of the IBM Integrated Telstra account, General Manager Global Financing Asia Pacific and General Manager - Industrial and Distribution Sectors for Australia and New Zealand.

Nic has a Bachelor of Business from Victoria College.

 

Ewen Stafford

Ewen Stafford joined Australia Post in August 2010 and is the Executive General Manager Finance & Business Services, which incorporates Finance, Real Estate, Information Technology, Business Efficiency & Quality and Procurement. Ewen also oversees the organisation's Governance & Assurance area.

After beginning his career at KPMG, Ewen completed his MBA and moved in to the Property industry working for Colliers International in Adelaide and then Sydney. He subsequently moved to MLC in the life insurance and funds management industry, predominantly as Chief Financial Officer. In 2004 Ewen moved in to the banking side of NAB, where he was Chief Financial Officer of NAB's Australian operations and subsequently became Chief Operating Officer with a similar portfolio of units as Finance & Business Services at Australia Post.

Ewen has extensive experience in leading transformations and driving strategic change within large and complex organisations. This strong commercial and financial experience will assist him developing and executing Australia Post's Future Ready strategies.

 

Alison Harrop

Alison Harrop was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Australia Post in August 2011. Alison brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked both in Australia and overseas at organisations including Macquarie Group, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston and Ord Minnett Group.

At Macquarie, Alison held numerous roles including Head of Global Finance Services and Finance Director of various business units (including Real Estate, Funds, Banking Services, Treasury and Commodities).

Prior to working with Macquarie Group, Alison was Chief Financial Officer at Deutsche Bank (Australia and New Zealand) and has also held senior finance roles at Credit Suisse First Boston in Sydney and Hong Kong.

Alison has a depth of experience across multidisciplinary teams such as finance, risk, human resources and throughout her career has focused on developing capabilities and services to support growth, ensuring operational platforms are aligned to business strategy. Alison is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and holds a Mathematics degree from Loughborough University in England.

 

Chris Blake

Chris Blake joined Australia Post in July 2010 and is the Executive General Manager Corporate Affairs. He is responsible for leading strategy, cultural change, internal and external communications, Government relations, International and Regulatory Affairs and stakeholder management. Chris also oversees the organisation's Corporate Responsibility and community engagement programs.

Before moving into this role, Chris was the Executive General Manager People and Community at Australia Post.

Prior to joining Australia Post, Chris worked in senior executive roles at the National Australia Bank (NAB) including the Executive General Manager People and Organisational Development and the Executive General Manager, Business Strategy & People for NAB's Global Wholesale Banking Division, where he led the development of a new global business strategy for the wholesale bank following the Global Financial Crisis.

Chris has a wealth of experience in overseeing complex organisation-wide change programs following his work in senior roles in banking and with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was partner for 10 years.

 

Catherine Walsh

Catherine joined Australia Post in 2001 and is the General Manager for Human Resources (HR).

In this role, she has end-to-end accountability for executing the people program of work across the Enterprise.

HR comprises of Business Advisory Areas supporting our Business Units and supported by several centres of excellence, including: Safety, Capability & Talent, Workplace Relations & Policy, HR Strategy & Organisational Development, Performance, Recruitment and Remuneration & Benefits.

Catherine is committed to providing a clear and consistent national approach to HR across the Enterprise, which encourages collaboration and information sharing across teams, Business Units and States.

Catherine has also worked as a Senior Workplace Lawyer in the Legal Services Team and as the Manager of Employee Relations at Australia Post.

Prior to joining Australia Post, Catherine was a Senior Associate in the Employment Law section at Clayton Utz Lawyers.

Catherine specialises in leadership and strategic management, with a focus on employee and industrial relations, workplace diversity and culture, and workplace regulation and structuring.

Catherine has a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.