Steven Thomson Email & Phone Number

Sydney, NSW, AU

• Member of Senior Executive Leadership Team.
• Leadership of corporate functions including People and Culture, Finance and Procurement, Legal and Governance, Program Management, Information Technology and Intergovernmental Relations.
• Co-ordination and leadership of Commission wide projects including corporate planning processes, development of Strategic Planning ‘Plan on a page’, response to budget reductions and functional review of the Commission.
• Work closely with senior executives and Commissioners on key governance functions including Audit and Risk Committee and Finance and Governance Committee.

• Established and recruited Project Management Team.
• Established project initiation procedures for Senior Executive Team to ensure alignment of priorities across the Commission.
• Oversaw project management support for Strategic Planning and Innovation District Teams.
• Led review of Discussion paper drafting process including consultation with Commissioners and Senior Executives to identify lessons learned.

Sydney, Australia

• Overall responsibility for corporate and strategic planning, including annual preparation of four-year corporate plan in accordance with the PGPA Act. This includes aligning portfolio budget statement materials.
• Work closely with CEO and Board on strategic direction and priority setting, including thought leadership for the Board's annual strategic planning retreat and broader stakeholder engagement to inform and animate.
• Program Director for significant business systems transformation program, overseeing the wholesale shift of Australia Council IT systems from an on premises arrangement to cloud based solutions in line with current.
• Chair of quarterly assessment meeting to decide on funding allocations based on more than 5,000 funding applications annually.

Sydney, Australia

• Overall responsibility for the program management of Australia Council grants, with a grant budget of approximately $55m per year.
• Responsible for overall program shape, including eligibility requirements, assessment criteria and assessment processes.
• Ongoing management and monitoring of program data, including analysis of trends and issues arising, to inform amendments to program design.
• Government briefing on funding outcomes across all programs, including regional engagement programs delivered on behalf of the Federal Government.
• Line management of three Program Management staff.

Sydney, Australia

• Director of the most significant reforms in Council's history, leading a cross Council effort to overhaul the governing structure, organisational structure, grants programs, assessment criteria and assessment.
• Key contributor to drafting the Australia Council Act, 2013 and architect of the subsequent governance overhaul. Included a move from a representative governing Board with standing sub committees to a modern.
• Led organisational restructure with a central focus on client service replacing a disparate and siloed model in place since the 1970s.
• Simplification of more than 145 grant programs into a core suite of 5 programs offered quarterly with consistent assessment criteria, eligibility and assessment processes.
• Introduction of a rotating pool of peer assessors in place of static 'art form' boards to carry out assessment.

Sydney, Australia

• Ongoing analysis of corporate performance, including monitoring funding decisions, budget allocations and overall governance.

London, United Kingdom

• Central role in the Development of the strategic direction of the HLF with responsibility for the implementation of business processes, including integrating carbon foot printing requirements for applicants.
• Program Manager of £1m grant scheme All Our Stories in partnership with the BBC.
• Leading on internal and public facing grant management system development and delivery, including managing IT contractors.
• Central role in internal communications across Management Board and 12 regional offices, including advising staff on procurement, recruitment and project management.
• Member of strategic planning board, branding committee, records management group and digital technology group.

London, United Kingdom

• Assessment and monitoring of a diverse range of heritage and community projects individually worth up to £2 million and presenting papers to HLF Board of Trustees.
• Advising national institutions including Tate Britain and The British Museum.
• Monitoring successful applications (totalling in excess of £10 million) during delivery.

London, United Kingdom

• Providing administrative support to grant making process.

Master Of Arts (Ma), Archaeology

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Archaeology