Corporate Ladder: your weekly guide to executive appointments in South Australia
South Australia’s premier executive appointments column tracking the movements of those driving the state’s public and private sectors. Plus the latest executive recruitment opportunities.
Solstice Media founder announced as next Fringe chair
Solstice Media founder Paul Hamra has been named as the chair of the Adelaide Fringe board.
Paul Hamra
Hamra takes over from Kate Costello, who has been chair for the past five years.
Hamra is the managing director of Solstice Media – the publisher of InDaily SA and Qld, SALIFE, CityMag, InReview, The New Daily, Premium Property, The Post and The Weekend Editon – which he founded in 2004.
He brings to the role board experience as the former deputy chair of The Australian Film Commission (now Screen Australia) and was previously ran the public relations agencies, Hamra Management and Hamrahead.
Adelaide Fringe CEO Heather Croall said she was “thrilled” to welcome Hamra to the role, adding that he has been “a longtime supporter of Fringe and the arts and understands the importance of a thriving creative sector in South Australia”.
The Adelaide Fringe is the largest arts festival in the southern hemisphere and in 2025 included some 1300 shows at 500 venues ranging from circus to cabaret, dance, variety, comedy, magic, theatre and more.
Chair appointed at Southern Launch after “significant” funding round
Jeremy Hallett has been appointed chair of the Southern Launch board following the close of a “significant” funding round, which the company said would contribute to its build-out capabilities and service offerings.
Jeremy Hallett
Hallett has 20 years of experience as a space and defence executive and was previously CEO at Clearbox Systems.
He is currently chair at the Space Industry Association of Australia, executive director of Brindabella & Company and CEO of Atto Devices.
“We are excited that this funding round will build out our infrastructure as we increase our cadence of activities at our ranges, and highlight Australia as a global space and high-tech industry development hub,” said Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp.
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“Securing Jeremy to the board will help accelerate our growth and be the leading provider of test ranges and associated services.”
Southern Launch is an Adelaide-based launch and range service provider that owns and operates Australia’s only Australian Space Agency-approved rocket launch ranges.
Long-serving SACOSS CEO steps down
Ross Womersley has announced he will step down as CEO of the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) after 15 years in the role.
Ross Womersley
Womersley has led SACOSS since November 2009 and will have his final day on June 30.
“His unwavering commitment to fairness, equity, and social justice has shaped SACOSS into the influential organisation it is today,” said SACOSS.
“[My resignation] is not in any way to suggest I intend to stop my work in support of SACOSS and all those things that address justice, inequality and poverty – just to say I will stop that work in my current role,” said Womersley.
“It’s been a huge privilege to serve in this role but I really do want to work less and much more flexibly. That’s simply not possible to do in a role such as SACOSS’s CEO.
“I’ve always been disappointed whenever we haven’t been able to do enough to change things for the better but be in no doubt, I am also extremely proud of the impact the SACOSS team and I have been able to make – not just in my term as CEO here but for more than 78 years.”
SACOSS has now begun a search for a new CEO and will appoint a recruiter soon.
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Business Partner People & Culture for respected and forward-thinking local government entity, City of Mitcham. A diverse generalist role that will also contribute to a range of P&C project initiatives. |
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Passing on the reins at Beyond Bank
Beyond Bank will farewell its interim CEO Wayne Matters after almost 24 years at the bank.
Wayne Matters
Matters was appointed interim CEO after previous CEO Jake Bromwich’s tenure came to an end late last year.
Before this, he spent 12 years as deputy CEO of the bank, as well as nearly 12 years as chief financial officer of Community CPS Australia and finance and eight as business risk manager of the Australian Central Credit Union.
Matters will hand over the reins to David Marshall on Wednesday, and will officially retire on April 24.
David Marshall
“It is with both sadness and gratitude that we say goodbye to Wayne but we wish him all the very best for a long, healthy and happy retirement,” said Sam Andersen, who is chair of Beyond Bank.
“Wayne’s commitment to diligent financial governance has kept our financial position strong over many years, and we are truly grateful to him for leading this area so capably.
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“He has also made a substantial contribution to our culture across more than two decades, championing diversity and inclusion as well as advocating strongly for the Bank’s leadership development initiatives.”
New CEO Marshall has been CEO of software developer Ultradata for the past year.
Before this, he spent more than six years as CEO of Defence Bank and was also a member of the board of trustees at the Defence Bank Foundation and an advisory board member of Afterpay.
Beyond Bank is headquartered in Adelaide and said it is one of the largest 100 per cent customer-owned banks in Australia.
Former Crows player heads back to Triple M
Former AFL footballer Andrew Jarman has returned to 104.7 Triple M Adelaide, where he will present its Saturday morning program, Dead Set Legends, alongside Callum Ferguson and Mark Thomas.
Andrew Jarman
Jarman played for the Adelaide Crows from 1991-1996 and received two Magarey Medals while playing for North Adelaide and Norwood in the SANFL.
“Jars made Saturday mornings an institution for over a decade. It’ll be great to have him back. Jars’ energy, passion and the fact that not even he knows what he’ll say next will make Dead Set Legends a must-listen,” said Triple M Adelaide content director Matthew O’Reilly.
As reported in InDaily, Triple M bounced back to top spot for the final radio ratings of 2024, with listenership growing by 1.1 per cent.
Oracle Insolvency Services founding partner registered as trustee in bankruptcy
Oracle Insolvency Services has announced that its founding partner Yulia Petrenko has officially become a registered trustee in bankruptcy.
Yulia Petrenko
The insolvency firm said this marks a “significant milestone” in Petrenko’s career and strengthens the firm’s expertise in corporate and personal insolvency, adding that Petrenko is one of only three female registered trustees in South Australia.
In addition to being a founding partner of Oracle Insolvency Services, Petrenko is a registered liquidator and chartered accountant.
She is also a member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association, the Institute of Public Accountants and the Australian Institute of Credit Management.
Oracle Insolvency Services now has two registered trustees and three registered liquidators.
Oracle Insolvency Services is a boutique firm of chartered accountants based on Flinders Street and specialising in corporate and personal insolvency, as well as forensic accounting services.
A new face at Solstice Media
Ella Wagner has joined Solstice Media as sales coordinator and social media producer.
Ella Wagner
In this role, Wagner will work across SALIFE to produce social media content, with a focus on its event program.
Wagner, who recently completed a bachelor of marketing and communications, comes to Solstice Media from Home Basics & Design, where she was social media manager.
Before this, she spent seven months at Adelaide Airport Limited, firstly as a marketing intern and then as social media coordinator.
She also has retail experience at KOOKAI Australia, Priceline and DION LEE.
