A former Westpac New Zealand general manager of human resources (HR) has been promoted to head of HR at parent Westpac Group in a move that makes her part of the bank's executive team.
Westpac Group CEO Gail Kelly has appointed Christine Parker as group executive for HR & corporate affairs effective October 1. She replaces Peter Hanlon who is shifting to a role as group executive for transformation & productivity.
Parker was general manager for HR at Westpac New Zealand from 2007 to 2010 and has most recently been the Westpac Group's general manager of HR.
"Christine has extensive human resources experience in both Australia and New Zealand, and also has deep knowledge of the Westpac Group,” said Kelly.
Parker's appointment comes ahead of what may be a challenging time for the Westpac Group's HR department. In a recent quarterly trading update Kelly hinted at job cuts over the next two years saying: "Net-net I would say staff (numbers) will come down somewhat over the year that we're in and will come down somewhat again next year. But there are quite a few moving pieces." See more here.
Kelly said Parker, who trained as an accountant and has post graduate qualifications in HR management, leadership and quality management, will have leadership responsibility for the HR, corporate affairs and sustainability functions across the Westpac Group.
"Her focus for human resources at Westpac is to build a workplace where Westpac’s people are the organisation’s competitive advantage. Under her leadership in human resources, Westpac is on track to achieve its women in leadership target of 40% by 2014," Kelly added.
Prior to joining Westpac, Parker was group HR director at Carter Holt Harvey. Before that she was director of HR at Restaurant Brands, whose fast food franchises include KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks.
Meanwhile, Kelly also said the Westpac Group's chief strategy officer of the past five years, Jon Nicholson, will step down from his full time role on December 15 but continue on a part time basis.
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