Callida Consulting kicks off the year with three senior leader appointments

Canberra-based public sector consultancy Callida has kicked off the year with two partnership promotions, Emily Canning and Lesley Le, while Daryl Sadgrove recently joined as the new Chief Operations Officer.

A leader within the CFO Advisory practice, Canning has been with Callida Consulting for the past three and a half years, while Le joined in 2019 and is credited with helping to significantly grow the Procurement capability.

Meanwhile, former Melbourne Polytechnic executive director and long-time senior innovation leader Daryl Sadgrove was recruited as Callida’s new Chief Operations Officer toward the end of last year, adding decades of experience.

In announcing the promotions, Sadgrove noted the contribution of both new partners in growing the business, while adding specifically the wealth of connections and credibility Canning had brought to the firm’s finance advisory offering as a highly respected practitioner in her field, and the key role Le had played in shaping the culture of the team and organisation more broadly.

Emily Canning
The credibility Canning brings to Callida is courtesy of a distinguished earlier career in the Australian Public Sector, including as general manager of the Department of Social Services prior to joining the firm in 2021 and previous stints as CFO of the agriculture & water resources and human services departments. She also served as ACT division president for CPA Australia.

Lesley Le
A law and actuarial graduate of the Australian National University in Canberra, Le has been with Callida since mid-2019 after more than a decade at KPMG rising to associate director, and is described as having been integral to helping double the growth of its strategic sourcing practice during her five-year tenure at the firm.

Daryl Sadgrove
Meanwhile, Sadgrove joined Callida as COO toward the end of year after three and a half years at Melbourne Polytechnic. Across a diverse career which kicked off in the field of health sciences, including as the founder of his own sports medicine business, Sadgrove has also since headed various strategy & innovation functions at CA ANZ, Telstra, and Australia Post.

In 2024, Callida Consulting was named one of Australia’s leading consulting firms in an industry benchmark.