Global technology consultancies appoint public sector leaders

A number of the world’s biggest technology consultancies have installed new public sector leaders in Australia.

As the Australian federal government continues to clamp down on its advisory spend, a number of the world’s biggest tech consultancies have made local leadership appointments in the space, including Lysandra Schmutter as head of DXC Technology’s federal government business and Darren O’Shannassy as Infosys A/NZ public sector lead.

Other recent public sector appointments include Simon White as Tech Mahindra vice president, and Arash Dadras as Chief Technology Officer at Wipro.

Lysandra Schmutter
Based out of Canberra, Schmutter crosses to DXC Technology after spending the past four years as federal government practice vice president at Capgemini, before which she served for almost nine years at Unisys, latterly as public sector leader for the Asia Pacific where she worked with the Federal departments of defence and immigration among others. She altogether brings three decades worth of industry experience to her new role.

“I am very excited to be joining a team with a rich history in supporting mission-critical services to government in Australia and partnering with DXC’s customers to accelerate their transformation to meet the needs of citizens,” stated Schmutter, who in addition to overseeing the financial management and performance of DXC Technology’s public sector business will also help to develop the firm’s next generation of talent, a role she says she’s looking forward to.

Darren O’Shannassy
Infosys associate vice president Darren O’Shannassy has been tapped to lead the consultancy’s A/NZ public sector practice after close to twelve years at the firm, which he first joined as its first employee in Canberra in 2012 following half a decade with Logica (prior to its acquisition by CGI).

Earlier in his career, O’Shannassy spent six years at Capgemini and more than a decade at Ernst & Young over a thirty-year career dating back to 1989.

Arash Dadras
IT industry veteran and entrepreneur Arash Dadras meanwhile joins Wipro in Sydney as CTO of the consultancy’s A/NZ public sector practice, having previously served as the IBM and Red Hat growth markets leader of Accenture’s hybrid cloud practice.

In addition to a senior role at Red Hat, Dadras has across his 25-year career spent further stints at the Sydney Airport Corporation and NSW Police Force, and last year established edtech start-up L-earn.io.

Simon White
Another new leader in the public sector tech consulting space is Simon White, who was recently appointed as vice president and head of Tech Mahindra’s public sector practice for Australia and New Zealand.

White joins after half a decade between IBM spin-out Kyndryl and Infosys, before which he spent nine years in strategic emerging services and business development roles with Hewlett Packard and Verizon’s enterprise wing.