Defence consultancy Coras transitions to sector-focused model
Defence consultancy Coras has rejigged its operational model to better reflect its current profile and enhance client service, with regional management giving way to segment-specific leadership.
The move sees Neill Morgan take up a new role leading ‘Maritime Sustainment’, while Brett Rylance will oversee ‘Maritime Capability’ and Michelle Todd takes on the ‘Land, Air, National Security and Enabling’ segment.
As part of the transition, the trio become partners at the firm. Meanwhile, the former regional general manager roles in Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide have been abolished in an effort to streamline operations.
“As the Coras team grew beyond 60 and our client base extended beyond defence, regional management was leading to a duplication of effort, confusion for our clients and a less efficient service delivery outcome,” noted Coras CEO Phil Cutts. “By adopting a market sector model, each partner and their team can focus on a group of clients within their segment.”
Cutts further said the nationalised sector leadership approach would better align the knowledge within the team and enhance the platinum-level consultancy’s ability to understand and address the unique requirements of each client. While there would be no day-to-day change to support for current projects, Coras says clients will now have a single partner focused on them.
Morgan, Rylance and Todd all bring upwards of two decades of private and public sector experience to their new roles, with ex-Beca government & defence principal consultant Rylance among Coras’s 2015 founding team and Morgan joining from the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation as the firm’s first employee. Todd meanwhile crossed from Noetic in 2021.
Proudly veteran-founded (Cutts, Rylance and fellow director Carl Oberg each spent between 14 and 24 years in the Royal Australian Navy), Coras provides a range of services to defence sector clients across business & commercial advisory, asset management, governance & assurance, and program & project delivery. The Sydney-based firm expanded to Canberra and Adelaide in respectively 2020 and 2022.
“Unlike other consulting firms, Coras is not reducing its workforce,” Cutts said of the organisational restructuring. “Instead, we are redistributing our talent and resources to better meet client needs and enhance our service quality. We are proud to be continuing our growth trajectory in a challenging market and look forward to building relationships with new clients.”
