Revealed: Second high-profile woman who lost trade gig to John Barilaro
A global commercial executive with experience from around the globe lost the job of NSW’s trade commissioner to New York to John Barilaro.
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A second woman – who had decades of commercial experience – lost out the role of NSW’s
New York trade commissioner to John Barilaro, after being called the “preferred” candidate in internal emails.
Documents made public by Labor have revealed Investment NSW interviewed candidate Kimberley Cole for the role in the second round of recruitment.
Her application to the job came after senior public servant Jenny West had her offer withdrawn.
Ms Cole’s name is quoted in an email on March 16 2022 titled “Minister phone call meet and greet with preferred STIC US candidate Kimberley Cole ‘’ between staff at Investment NSW who were arranging for her to meet with Trade Minister Stuart Ayres.
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However, just five days later Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown sent a follow up email, saying Ms Cole was one of three short-listed candidates and there was no preferred candidate.
The application by Ms Cole progressed as far as meeting with Trade Minister Stuart Ayres.
”Further to our correspondence last week regarding the scheduling of this meet and greet, I’d like to clarify that we don’t currently have a preferred candidate for the STIC US role,” Ms Brown said the email.
”We currently have 3 short-listed candidates, and the Minister is meeting Kimberley in her capacity as short-listed candidate only.”
Investment NSW and the state government have repeatedly said that there was no other better candidate for the job.
But a CV attached in the bundle of documents – which matches with Kimberley Cole’s public LinkedIn profile – shows she had extensive international commercial experience including in New York.
As The Daily Telegraph has previously revealed, senior public servant Michael Pratt ranked candidates highly if they had “international exposure”, “in-depth NY (New York) and markets exposure” and commercial experience.
Among the roles listed on Ms Cole’s CV are senior positions at media company Thomas Reuters and networking giant Lynk.
“Global Business Executive with 25+ years leadership experience in Technology and Financial Services. Currently, Global Chief Commercial Officer at Lynk Global building the sales, account management and marketing functions of a Series B scale up,” the CV reads.
“Working across the globe including the UK and the US, with significant time in Asia, from
Australia to Japan, India to Taiwan, has given me insights on how to operate and adapt to new markets and localise global approaches to maximum effect.”
Kimberley Cole has been contacted for comment.
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