Rennie hires Emily Readhead to lead new Social Sustainability arm
Australian sustainability and impact consulting firm Rennie has appointed Emily Readhead to lead a new practice focusing on social sustainability.
Rennie Co-CEO’s Matt Rennie and Simone Rennie today formally announced the opening of a new practice area, which focuses on collaborating with organisations that are working through the magnitude of social, economic, health, and environmental challenges to continually improve outcomes for people and their communities across Australia.
Former Scyne Advisory partner, Emily Readhead, has joined Rennie to lead the new practice, with a focus on the public sector, the community services sector and higher education.
Matt Rennie, who chaired the national organization Bravehearts for more than six years, said: “Impact for us has always been about more than adaptation to climate change, and we are thrilled to announce this new extension of our mission into social sustainability. We look forward to extending our ESG focus into such a critical area.”
Rennie has experienced strong growth since its inception three years ago, and has moved into the mid-market space with offices across Australia and now targeting new locations in the Asia Pacific region by acquisition.
The firm recently welcomed Pemba Capital Partners as minority shareholders in December 2023, and in May this year appointed industry veteran and previous EY Global and National Vice Chair Tim Eddy as Board Chairman.
Readhead acknowledges that social sustainability is increasingly on the agenda of governments and organisations. “Demand for services to the community has never been higher and resources are increasingly stretched. This rapidly evolving environment requires collaboration across all stakeholders to foster innovative thinking to navigate through future uncertainties and ultimately deliver better outcomes for Australian people and their communities.”
The decision to open this new capability within Rennie comes at a time of escalating reliance on government services, coupled with changing expectations for delivery and increasing workforce challenges. “At Rennie, we believe that there is a growing need for advisors to collaborate with social-focused organisations, operating at a system level to enhance resilience, sustainability and outcomes delivered,” Matt Rennie said.
Readhead’s perspective on these issues builds upon a successful history of working at all levels of organisations from strategy through to execution across a diverse portfolio including; housing and homelessness; education; child protection; universities; health and mental health; and public sector administration.
