Shane West, Amy Callan-Webb and Emma Bell join Ora Advisory

Canberra-based consulting firm Ora Advisory has recruited PwC’s former federal government consulting lead Shane West as its third partner, with West joining co-founders and respective chief executive and operating officers Lisa Milin and Ross Lawler.

Ora Advisory, which is closing in on its first anniversary, has also hired former Deloitte senior advisor Amy Callan-Webb as a general manager and Emma Bell as a senior consultant.

Previously part of the leadership team at fellow Canberra consultancy Cordelis, Milin and Lawler launched Ora Advisory at the beginning of the year, with a number of former staff since crossing to bring the firm’s headcount to almost a dozen professionals.

Former PwC partner Shane West is the firm’s first partnership recruit. He previously spent over 16 years at the Big Four firm.

After more than half a decade in a financial management and analysis role with the Department of Defence, West joined PwC in 2004, before being admitted to the firm’s consulting partnership in 2016 and going on to serve as national government consulting COO. In this capacity, West was later dragged into the senate inquiry into consulting over PwC’s buried report on the ill-fated Robodebt scheme.

The emerging firm has also recently bolstered its leadership ranks with the appointment of Amy Callan-Webb as a general manager. Callan-Webb crosses after a brief executive director stint at yet another local management consultancy, Interaction, before which she served as a senior workforce transition manager at Deloitte. Earlier, she spent over a decade with Department of Communications.

Milin, who prior to joining Cordella was a director at Noetic before its acquisition by FTS (now Atturra), said she was excited to have the pair join the firm, together with new senior consultant Emma Bell, who comes on board following a two-year innovation leadership stint at global engineering and tech services firm KBR and earlier executive assistant roles with the Australian Public Service.

Having previously spent two decades in border protection up to ABF chief superintendent level, Milin in launching Ora Advisory and discussing its ‘be bold’ mantra states that she felt like a square peg in a round hole for much of her career, until she embraced her true self: “So that’s why I want the Ora Advisory team to always be bold. Because when we are truly ourselves, we are happier, work smarter, and shine for our clients.”

Catering to both public and private sector clients in equal measure, Ora Advisory provides a range of services across the consulting spectrum, including strategy and execution, change management, business model and operations innovation, CFO advisory, and learning and development among other areas. The firm is also keen to continue its growth, and is currently on the hunt for an additional consultant to join the team.