Canberra-based Synergy promotes nine to executive director

Canberra-based public sector consultancy Synergy has made dozens of promotions, including nine of its professionals to executive director level.

Synergy Group has made four dozen mid-year promotions across its ranks, including ten professionals who have been elevated to executive director in its business and tech consulting divisions out of Sydney and Canberra. The latest additions follow the three director promotions made at the beginning of the year, while a further 17 advisors have now stepped up from senior consultant to manager level.

“Our people are our stars and we are delighted to come together to recognise and extend heartfelt congratulations to our Synergites on their recent promotions,” the firm stated. “At Synergy we pride ourselves on coming together as a team and drawing on the diverse range of skills, expertise and experiences across our firm to help our Government solve the big problems that our country is facing.”

Saskia Keenan
A specialist in strategic sourcing, Keenan worked in a variety of public sector roles prior to joining Synergy in Canberra in the back half of last year, including most recently for the Australian Sports Commission and ACT government. Earlier, she spent time in commercial-focused roles with the Australian defence department and NSW Health, before which she spent over a decade with the Border Force.

Erica Graham
Graham joined Synergy in Canberra at the beginning of 2019 after a two-year stint at Ernst & Young, prior to which she worked in research and marketing for among other organisations the University of Queensland, University of Newcastle, and the Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance. She now serves government and public sector clients as a consultant in the areas of people and organisational change.

Stuart Brown
Promoted to executive director in Synergy’s defence strategy and industry group in Canberra, Brown first joined the consultancy at the start of 2019 after a four-year period with the Defence department’s joint operations command headquarters, including as a deputy director of campaign management and lead operational planner. Earlier, he was a Southwest Pacific attache with the NZ Defence Force.

Sian Wrigley
Like Brown, Sian Wrigley also takes the step up to the senior leadership team within Synergy’s defence practice, listed among a dozen other executive directors and partners including former Australian Defence Force director general of military strategy and March On participant Michael Mahy and his fellow Synergy partners and recent Vinnies ‘CEO sleep-out’ fundraisers Sally Dorsett and Mandy Hill.

Andrew Jackson
Along with four of his colleagues, Jackson becomes an executive director in Synergy’s tech division. Based out of Canberra, Jackson joined the consultancy in late 2021, bringing a decade of SAP experience within the public sector, including with the Australian government finance and human services departments. He also gained UK experience as a SAP analyst with local law firm Shoosmiths.

Colin Hoekstra
Currently based in Sydney, Hoekstra joined Synergy in March of 2018 straight out of the Australian Army, where he had spent a decade or so, including as a learning and development specialist and as a senior manager focused on business practice implementations in areas such organisational design, inter-departmental communications,, professional development, and operational preparedness training.

Ryan Hardie
Hardie becomes an applications, cloud and architecture executive director in Sydney after first joining Synergy in Sydney mid-last year, before which he spent two years as a cybersecurity and cloud applications manager with the terrorism and cyclone-focused Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation. Earlier, he spent over five years as an IT service desk officer with the Parliament of Western Australia.

Daniel Myles-Abadoo
Myles-Abadoo is a specialist in strategic sourcing and project and vendor management, serving government agencies out of Synergy’s Canberra office. Prior to joining the firm, he spent more than half a decade at local public sector advisory rival Callida Consulting, before which he was a manager at KPMG for over three years and a senior consultant at Oakton, since bought by multinational NTT.

James Fernance
Another to join Synergy in Canberra from Callida, in the middle of 2019, is new executive director James Fernance, described as a data management consultant “with a passion for holistic, structural approaches to problems.” Prior to Collida, Fernance spent the best part of a decade as a software developer and senior consultant and between Fujitsu and US-based AI and analytics firm SAS.