Steven Casey joins Quantium Telstra as head of government

Quantium Telstra has recruited former KPMG partner Steven Casey to head up its government and public sector division.

Steven Casey has taken up a new post as head of government for Quantium Telstra, a joint venture between telecom giant Telstra and Quantium launched at the end of 2022. Casey crosses after more than a decade at KPMG, where he was a leader in its Policy, Programs & Evaluation practice out of Sydney.

Established by former Deloitte partner Adam Driussi alongside colleague Greg Schneider and Tony Davis in 2002, Quantium specialises in developing data & analytics solutions for clients across a number of industries, including the retail, banking, health and public sectors.

Already a major investor, retail giant Woolworths in 2021 picked up a controlling stake, installing BCG veteran Amitabh Mall as group chief analytics officer and head of its new ‘Q-Retail’ unit.

Since then, Quantium has added both the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra to its roll-call of joint venture partners, the latter in a deal signed in 2022 to accelerate the data-rich telco’s deployment of AI-driven products and solutions for Telstra enterprise customers in line with its mammoth T25 transformation strategy. As part of the arrangement, Quantium shifted its government & public sector division across to the new business, Quantium Telstra.

Casey comes in as Quantium Telstra’s new head of government after spending close to the past decade and a half at KPMG across two stints – with a one-year interval as an advisor to the Federal Government in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. He initially joined KPMG in 2009 following an earlier career start as a policy analyst in the Department of Finance, and returned to the firm as a partner at the start of 2011.

Casey also advised consecutive federal finance ministers on pivotal social and economic reforms such as the NBN and NDIS, while at KPMG he led the firm’s Policy, Programs & Evaluation practice and projects across Australia and in the UK, Middle East, Singapore, and Canada. He also held a number of consulting leadership roles during his time at the firm, with a focus on the government, infrastructure, and healthcare sectors.

“As the world grapples with how to solve some of its major challenges – including cyber and identity fraud and supply-chain disruption – making use of the latest technology in areas such as AI and data to deliver better services and outcomes is part of the solution,” Casey said on crossing to Quantium Telstra. “I’m really looking forward to working with the team to build something that is truly exceptional and unlock this value for both government and business.”

Casey follows former Westpac boss Brian Hartzer’s recent move to Quantium as CEO of its healthcare offshoot following his two-year stint as a senior adviser at Sayers, while a number of Quantium’s board also bring a big-league consulting background. Current and former chairs Peter Tonagh and Brad Banducci were both partners at BCG before later heading Foxtel and Woolworths, while non-executive director Natalie Davis is a former McKinsey partner.