Accenture boosts AI and security practices with new senior appointments
Technology consulting giant Accenture has recruited Stela Solar as its new Generative AI and AI transformation lead, with Mary Attard recently taking over as A/NZ head of cybersecurity.
Solar joins Accenture after departing her role as general manager of the National Artificial Intelligence Centre following an earlier decade at Microsoft, and will also head up the firm’s health & public service practice.
Meanwhile, Attard has recently taken over the top security job from Jacqui Kernot, who has moved on to Thales as CEO of its local Tesserent acquisition. Alex Trott and Danielle Malone also take up senior data & AI leadership roles.
As if almost written in the stars, Stela Solar was appointed as the inaugural general manager of the federal government’s National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC) upon its establishment at the beginning of 2022, before which she spent a decade at Microsoft between Sydney and the tech giant Seattle headquarters, latterly as global director of AI solutions sales & strategy.
On departing NAIC, Australia’s federal minister for industry & science, Ed Husic, described Solar as an absolute powerhouse; “Stela’s knowledge and leadership helped shape Australia's approach to AI from the ground up. She reached thousands of organisations through the establishment of the Responsible AI Network, and educated and up-skilled several thousand industry figures.”
Accenture has also boosted its data & AI division with the addition of managing directors Alex Trott and Danielle Malone, the former who is an almost three-decade company veteran and switches from his former role as banking sector and client account lead, and the latter who joins from KPMG, where she served as head of AI after crossing from Big Four rival PwC in 2021.
The firm last week launched a new AI studio in Canberra, attended by some serious brass, such as A/NZ CEO Peter Burns and Accenture executive committee member and public service lead Louise May. Others on site for the celebrations included AI managing partner Kelly Brough, Singapore-based APAC advanced AI hub leader Ramine Tinati, and APAC responsible AI lead Tej Randhawa.
Meanwhile, among the AI festivities, Mary Attard has taken up the crucial A/NZ security lead role at Accenture following the departure of Kernot, with Attard having joined the firm from PwC earlier in the year. She previously led PwC’s niche digital identity & access management team, with EY making a fresh play on the market just last week through the purchase of specialist J Group.
