Nous Group appoints new principals across Australian offices
Australian management consultancy Nous has added three new principals to its Canberra headquarters and offices in Brisbane and Sydney: David Hallinan, Jean-Paul Cardoso, and Craig Hutchinson.
The trio bring more than five decades of consulting and public sector experience to Nous Group, with Cardoso and Hutchinson both joining after ten-plus years at Deloitte and Hallinan crossing from his most recent senior role at the Australian Submarine Agency.
They follow the mid-year promotion of Paul Kennedy in Melbourne and Sarah Connelly’s return to Nous Group’s Brisbane office as principals – the top-level ‘partner’ equivalent at the firm – taking its overall number across Australia to beyond the six dozen mark.
“We are thrilled to welcome David, Craig and Jean-Paul to Nous,” founder and CEO Tim Orton said of the firm’s latest recruits. “These appointments come at a pivotal time for clients, as businesses and governments navigate emerging AI technologies, complex reforms, and evolving markets. They will bolster Nous’ existing capabilities to partner with clients in responding to these challenges.”
Craig Hutchinson
Hutchinson joins Nous in Sydney after spending the past eleven years with Deloitte’s strategy consulting wing Monitor Deloitte, where he most recently led the firm’s energy, resources & industrial practice as a director supporting some of Australia’s largest energy organisations on major assignments. He altogether adds two decades worth of professional advisory experience.
Jean-Paul Cardoso
Also crossing from Deloitte after more than a decade is Jean-Paul Cardoso, previously a member of the Big Four’s team in Brisbane focused on digital strategy and operational transformation for asset-intensive sectors such as utilities, transport, and public services. Prior to Deloitte, Cardoso spent over a decade between local HLCTech acquisition DWS and Accenture in the UK.
David Hallinan
Hallinan meanwhile comes to Nous in Canberra following decades of service in the Australian public sector, most recently as deputy director general of the Australian Submarine Agency and with previous executive roles and strategy and implementation work covering projects for the defence, infrastructure, transport, communications, health and finance departments among others.
Sarah Connelly
Recently returning after an eighteen-month chief of staff stint at Griffith University, Connelly, a specialist in strategy, organisational performance and transformation, first joined Nous in 2011 while completing an MBA from Melbourne Business School after kicking of her strategy consulting career with eight years at PwC, including time in the Big Four firm’s New York office.
Paul Kennedy
Having joined the firm in 2017, Kennedy was the sole principal-level elevation among Nous’ 83 mid-year promotions in Australia and abroad. Previous to Nous, Kennedy was CEO of telecommunication tech start-up Biarri Networks, before which he worked in various senior strategy and product management roles at Boeing across a digital tech career dating back more than 20 years.
