CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento selected as SVA’s incoming chair
Impact consultancy Social Ventures Australia has selected CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento as its next board chair, with Cilento to take over from Rob Koczkar after six year from September.
Cilento has led CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia) for close to a decade, before which she was a commissioner at the Productivity Commission and deputy chief executive and chief economist of the Business Council of Australia.
Her appointment as the next chair of Social Ventures Australia (SVA) continues a period of transition for the social impact consultancy, with James Toomey taking over as CEO at the beginning of last year following the firm’s earlier brand refresh.
An economics masters holder from Australia National University, Cilento earlier in her career spent five years with the federal treasury followed by another five with the International Monetary Fund in Washington and as head of economics at Invesco Australia. She then spent eight years at the Business Council of Australia before ultimately joining CEDA as its CEO in 2017.
In addition, Cilento, who will continue in her think tank role, was the former co-chair of Reconciliation Australia and recently served as chair of the government-appointed Expert Council on University Governance, along with being a member of several other Commonwealth committees and previously serving as a director of Woodside Energy and Wesfarmers Insurance.
Cilento will take over from Adamantem Capital managing director Rob Koczkar, who has chaired SVA since 2020 after earlier serving as CEO. She is also joined on the board by new appointee Jesse King, a First Nations education expert who fills the seat vacated by Bain & Company veteran and now Tennis Australia chair Chris Harrop, while Robert Fitzgerald and Adam Davids are also set to depart.
“Good governance sits at the heart of every effective social purpose organisation, and a good governing body is made up of many things: a balance of skills, diverse perspectives, genuine interest, and a mix of tenure,” Koczkar said of the handover. “This is how a board stays innovative, and how we do the best job possible for SVA staff, stakeholders, and the communities we serve.”
Koczkar, himself a Bain alum, continued; “I’ve no doubt Melinda’s cross-sector fluency will amplify and enhance SVA’s purpose to connect partners across business, government, philanthropy and community, and change systems for good. This is an important time for SVA, and with future strategy work underway, leadership transitions take on particular significance.”
