Our weekly appointments wrap includes Catherine Elliott, John Poynton, Marion Fulker, Julie Drago, Ross McEwan and Noel Quinn.
Rural Health West will welcome Catherine Elliott as its new chief executive from February 24, bringing more than 25 years of experience in clinical practice, medical research and health care. Professor Elliott will transition to her new role after a four-year service as deputy executive director and director of research at The Kids Research Institute Australia (formerly Telethon Kids Institute). She also worked at Child and Adolescent Health Service for two decades, holding several roles including senior occupational therapist, director of research, and professorial chair.
John Poynton has been appointed as the chair of biotech company Lixa after serving as a board director since late 2024. Mr Poynton also holds active roles as co-founder and chair of corporate advisory firm Poynton Stavrianou, chair of Strike Energy and non-executive director of Perth Airport. He has vast experience as a board director, working across the public company, government, education and not-for-profit sectors. This included stints with Multiplex, Alinta and Austal. Mr Poynton was named WA Citizen of the Year in 2006 and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2016.
Salary packaging and novated leasing business SmartGroup has announced Marion Fulker as WA chair, a role in which she would offer strategic advice on educating Western Australians about Smart’s services. Ms Fulker has vast executive, board and governance experience and currently serves as Perth Zoo chair, The University of Western Australia adjunct associate professor, and Australian Institute of Company Directors member. She formerly worked as Committee for Perth chief executive for 16 years until early 2023. Ms Fulker works as a freelance contributor for Business News.
Julie Drago will step up as the Property Council of Australia WA Division president, taking over from Hawaiian chief operating officer Richard Kilbane. Ms Drago is the founder and chief executive of industrial property fund Realside Ovest, which has $375 million of assets in Western Australia and South Australia. She has spent most of her life around industrial property, helping with her family’s fabrication business and in their transition to property development in the 2000s. Ms Drago launched Realside Ovest in 2021, with fund manager and commercial property owner Realside. She joined the Property Council in 2017 on its industrial lands and infrastructure committee and climbed the ranks to become WA vice president in 2023. Ms Drago is also on the industrial and logistics committee of the South Australian Property Council, which she joined in 2023.
Two ex-bank bosses have taken up key roles with Fortescue and BHP, with the Big Australian appointing former National Australia Bank chief Ross McEwan as its new chairman. BHP today formally announced its long-standing chair Ken MacKenzie will retire at the end of March to be succeeded by experienced banking executive and current board director Mr McEwan. Incoming chair Mr McEwan has been on the board of BHP since April 2024, serving as an independent non-executive director. He picked up the role after running National Australia Bank from 2019 to April 2024, and prior to that was group chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Meanwhile, Andrew Forrest-led Fortescue has tapped former HSBC group chief executive Noel Quinn as a non-executive director. The new board member was previously chief executive of HSBC's global commercial banking division.
