19 October 2016
A highly experienced leader with proven expertise in people and talent development, culture transformation and change management, Jane Booth brings a wide range of skills and knowledge to a new role at the University of South Australia as Executive Director, People, Talent and Culture.
Ms Booth is joining UniSA at an exciting and challenging time and is keen to ensure that both people and culture at UniSA are developed to their highest potential and positioned to ensure the University delivers on its ambitious agenda for the future.
University of South Australia Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd says he is delighted with the appointment of a person who has had such broad experience across disciplines and industries.
“Managing people is at its heart about managing diversity and potential and we are delighted to welcome Jane into the role because she has had such a breadth of experience, across industries, across job roles and in different countries and cultures to share,” Professor Lloyd says.
“As UniSA moves from its 25th anniversary year and into an expansive and ambitious future, Jane will bring her strengths in talent attraction, development and retention and fostering an enterprising and resilient culture to what is set to be a rapidly changing environment for us as a university.
“We need to ensure our people, who are the heart and soul of our University, are able to rise to the challenges ahead and to embrace the opportunities for new skills, new ways of working and new ways of thinking, to ensure UniSA continues to set the agenda for our city and South Australia.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Jane and look forward to working with her as part of the leadership team committed to strengthening the positive and enterprising culture for which UniSA is known.”
Ms Booth says she is thrilled to be joining a high performing and ambitious leadership team and moving formally into the education sector by working for one of the State’s most dynamic and progressive organisations.
“This is exciting new territory,” she says.
“There is so much scope to ensure UniSA not only attracts the best talent to deliver the best education and research in the State, but also contributes to South Australia’s economic prosperity and diversity by developing and releasing the potential of our people, wherever they sit in the University.”
Ms Booth joins UniSA from SA Health where she was Executive Director of People, Health and Culture.
Prior to that, she led a broad portfolio of responsibilities for Adelaide City Council.
As General Manager City and Organisational Development, she worked across economic development, strategy and innovation, ICT and people and culture.
Her track record also includes more than 20 years in the media in the United Kingdom, working first in magazines, then for both independent commercial television and the BBC.
For many years, she worked in production as a TV producer across current affairs and documentaries, and leisure and lifestyle programs, before moving into senior management roles and eventually joining the corporate centre of the BBC as Head of Talent Management.
She moved to Adelaide with her family in 2010, initially joining the Adelaide City Council as a change consultant to develop a leadership framework.
She joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2011 as Director, People and Change within management consulting working across local and State Government, including structural reviews and culture change for organisations such as DMITRE, PIRSA, Tafe SA and DECD.
But Ms Booth says she won’t be a complete newcomer to the higher education sector.
“At Adelaide City Council I enjoyed a strong working relationship with StudyAdelaide,” she says.
“I was the inaugural chair of the South Australian Educational Leadership Board for DECD and was a Governor of Stafford University in the UK, also sitting on its Employer Engagement Board.
“I’m delighted to be joining a university that has strong philosophy of enterprise and excellence at its core, and one that is committed to leveraging the potential of its people to deliver on that.”
Jane Booth will take up her new role in December, allowing for a smooth transition from UniSA’s retiring Executive Director, Human Resources, Ruth Blenkiron.
Media contact: Michèle Nardelli mobile: +61 418 823 673 email: michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
