Phil O’Toole is a respected strategist, advisor, and thought leader in legislative compliance, business improvement, risk management, probity, assurance, and ethical conduct across the public, private and not for profit sectors. With over 30 years of experience—including more than 25 years in the NSW Public Sector and several years as a Director in the NSW Attorney General’s Department—Phil has developed deep subject matter expertise in investigations, conduct reviews and fact-findings, probity and governance, ethical conduct, risk management, and strategic planning.
Penny is a highly experienced and qualified internal and risk management professional, with strong communication and relationship-building skills. She leads a team of auditors, project managers and senior consultants in delivering service excellence across audit, risk, governance, organisational analysis and strategy, Workforce Planning and WHS. Her experience spans Local, State and Federal Government operations. Penny has a Master of Business in Organisational Analysis and Strategy and a Graduate Certificate in Internal Auditing.
Scott is a highly experienced Cyber, IT and information management Executive. He successfully led multiple IT functions in one of NSW Government’s largest departments, where he was also the Chief Information Security Officer for over 2 years. In these roles, he managed and led large-scale, complex, multi-million-dollar programs that delivered improved experiences for millions of users. Scott is passionate about helping organisations and their leaders to deliver better and more secure digital services to their customers.
Scott comes to Centium from a background of working in clinical, academic, and senior management and leadership positions in the public health system. Scott has 18 years of experience operationally managing large mental health services. More recently, Scott worked in central office roles managing complex and sensitive complaints and investigations.
Susan is a qualified professional internal auditor with extensive experience that spans a diverse range of values-based corporate, financial, not-for-profit organisations, state and local government. Prior to joining Centium, Susan managed a shared service internal audit function for six Councils in Sydney for 5 years. Susan is a non-executive Director of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Australia.
Chris specialises in complaints management, public interest disclosures, and code of conduct and fraud and corruption awareness and training. Previously, Chris was the NSW Deputy Ombudsman for 25 years. In that role, his responsibilities and achievements included:
Developing guidelines and related training programs on ethical conduct
Managing and personally conducting numerous management, misconduct and legal investigations
Conducting hearings exercising Royal Commission powers
Regularly presenting at conferences, seminars and training sessions.
Peter is an accomplished investigator and respected adviser who has conducted and led many investigations and reviews of complex and sensitive matters. Previously, he had 25 years’ experience in the public sector, including Executive Management positions within Utilities, Justice and Gaming Regulatory agencies. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Investigators and a former President of its NSW Chapter.
Graham is a highly skilled practitioner with decades of experience in providing legal advice and acting on behalf of corporate and commercial clients. Graham has specialist expertise within the gambling industry, where he has assessed regulatory systems and improved governance for both Federal and State Regulatory bodies, including controls relating to Anti-Money Laundering. Areas of law include: Commercial transactions, Conveyancing, Sale and Purchase of Businesses, Litigation, Criminal Law and Corporate Governance.
Aaron has considerable HSEQ audit experience, having completed over 150 audit assignments in Australia and internationally as Lead Auditor or as part of an audit team. He has also been involved in the development of commercially available audit protocols and tools as well as custom audit tools and support packages. Aaron has assisted in the development and certification of safety, environmental and quality management systems for over 50 clients in a wide range of industries nationally and internationally.
Sarah is a highly experienced local government specialist in the areas of strategic leadership, good governance, performance improvement, and innovation and she has a Masters of Public Policy. She has held senior management roles within and across the local government sector for over twenty years with responsibility for research, teaching and consulting. In recent years Sarah has led the design and delivery of major sector-wide capability and performance initiatives for elected and professional leaders on key topics of sector relevance - including good governance and financial performance, amalgamating councils and local government reform
Robert has 17+ years of experience across diverse industries in the private and public (federal, state, and local government) sectors, in various capacities as Internal Auditor, Senior Internal Auditor, and Head of Internal Audit. He has held roles in allied disciplines such as accounting, taxation, performance assurance, risk management, controls, investigations, and compliance. He has extensive experience performing and managing financial, operational, compliance, and performance audits, and advisory work.
Soon has over 20 years’ professional experience in both Internal and External Audit, predominantly working various Local Councils, State and Australian government agencies, and Not for Profit organisations. His experience spans the education, transport, health, media, utilities and hospitality sectors.
Greg’s career spans territory, state and federal government. He is an experienced Internal, Operational and Performance audit professional with proven expertise in managing, planning, conducting and reporting on assessments focussed on identifying opportunities for improvement. He is also an experienced governance, risk and compliance professional with proven expertise in engaging stakeholders in the implementation and maintenance of frameworks that strengthen organisational governance and risk management.
Ruchira has 15+ years of experience in Risk, Internal and External Audit. Her portfolio predominantly spans the insurance and banking sectors covering a range of audits including, financial, compliance, frameworks, manufacturing, and end-to-end operational processes.
With over nine years' experience in internal audit and risk management, together with four years in Finance, Thomas brings a proven track record of delivering risk-based internal audits in both the public and private sectors in Australia and abroad. He has also partnered with complex organisations to enhance risk management internal controls. Thomas has worked with in outsourced, co-sourced and in-house internal audit functions. He also brings an operational understanding from his previous roles, including as a business owner, to risk and assurance assignments.
Nathan is an experienced Senior Auditor with a background in both internal and external audit. His portfolio spans mainly the Government, Insurance, and Banking sectors, along with clients in legal, food, agriculture and wholesale organisations. Nathan has previously worked with the NSW Audit Office and large accounting firms, and he holds a Bachelor of Commerce.
Ben is an experienced Senior Auditor with experience in the civil construction industry and the aged care sector. He has experience in delivering complex audits for an ASX 200 listed entity as well as aged care providers of all size, not for profit and federal government agencies. Ben holds a Bachelor of Accounting and is also working toward becoming an Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Certified Internal Auditor.
Rachelle joined Centium as our Office Manager. With over 20 years of experience in Information Technology, Rachelle has extensive knowledge in Project Management and enjoys a fast-paced environment. The office manager role is rapidly changing in today’s Corporate Culture. In the past, the Office Manager was primarily responsible for administrative tasks. However, in her new role Rachelle has rapidly assumed the role of an active behind-the scenes powerhouse to Senior Level Management, contributing both on the administrative side, day-to-day business operations and long-term business development planning.
Sherry's journey took a pivotal turn when she transitioned to Centium as our dedicated in-house Marketing Officer, overseeing all social media channels and creating compelling marketing materials for our business.
Michael Courtney is committed to developing strong local government organisations throughout Australia, particularly through improving infrastructure, financial management and service provision. He has a Master’s in Business Management, Post Graduate in Management, is a Certified Practicing Accountant and is qualified as a Municipal Clerk. Michael’s speciality is assisting clients in the area of financial sustainability, corporate management and service planning.
Rod has over 25 years experience in Business Continuity, Resilience, BCP, ITDRP & Information Security projects across Asia Pacific, for 140+ clients and over 420 client consultancy projects. Rod is Country representative of Disaster Recovery Institute International and chairs the Adaptive Business Continuity Advisory Group. An international think-tank committed to developing new resilience and business continuity methodologies and practices. He is a regular speaker at Asia Pacific and USA Continuity Conferences such as CIMC, DRI and BCI.
Howard is an independent non-executive director, business adviser, coach and mentor. He helps boards, CEOs and senior leaders of public, private and Government enterprises to thrive by assisting them to navigate strategic, financial, operational, organisational and personal challenges. He has an excellent track record as a Divisional CEO in creating, delivering and capturing value for customers, employees and shareholders in complex businesses, in different geographies and industries, and at different stages of the business and product life cycle.
Lindsey Alford is published author in probity, a Barrister-at-Law, and is considered an expert in the field of probity advisory and auditing. His article, ‘Tendering for Government Businesses: process contracts, good faith, fair dealing, and probity’ appeared in the Australian Law Journal and is cited in Seddon’s Government Contracts text. His experience, over 20 years in probity, has resulted in him having obtained the confidence of the highest levels of the State Government executive branch.
