Jim McDowell appointed South Australia’s new Department of Premier and Cabinet chief executive

FORMER defence industry executive and University of South Australia Chancellor Jim McDowell has been appointed to the most senior role in SA’s public sector.

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FORMER defence industry executive and University of South Australia Chancellor Jim McDowell has been appointed to the most senior role in SA’s public service.

The former chief executive of BAE Systems Australia will head up the Department of Premier and Cabinet for the next five years — earning an annual salary of $550,000.

He will remain on the board of the Adelaide Crows, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and his son’s school — the prestige St Peter’s College, but resign all other roles.

Mr McDowell will begin as chief executive on September 1. He said he would be paid less “by a factor” in the public service than he was in private enterprise.

He will replace Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri, who has been acting in the role since Don Russell was sacked shortly after the election.

Premier Steven Marshall said it was a “happy day” for SA, because he had “press-ganged” Mr McDowell into accepting the role.

New Department of Premier and Cabinet chief executive Jim McDowell (right). The University of SA chancellor is pictured with Flinders University Chancellor Stephen Gerlach (left) and Adelaide University Chancellor Kevin Scarce. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe

“Jim comes with an incredible CV and a great wealth of experience, both in the private sector, within global businesses, and of course within the not for profit sector,” he said.

“He’s currently the Chancellor of the University of South Australia, the largest university in our state, a wealth of experience in defence and space, which are critical sectors for our state going forward.”

Mr McDowell said he had not applied for a job in “a long time” but had instead been “press-ganged” into accepting the role by Mr Marshall.

He said he’d leverage his corporate experience to get the best out of the state’s public servants.

“Obviously I’ve run large complex organisations and I’ve got the most out of them and whether it’s a private sector or a public sector organisation, leadership all through the organisation is the key to performance,” he said.

“So my major focus will be on some of the major strategic decisions and negotiations and leading and developing the talent and the skill that exists in the public service and hopefully we’ll create some more.”

Mr McDowell said he was yet to identify any areas he’d like to improve as “I haven’t walked through the door yet”.

“I’ll have an outsider’s opinion of things but like most opinions you’re probably best to keep them to yourself until you have the facts to substantiate them,” he said.

Mr Marshall said Ms Ranieri’s role as Commissioner for Public Sector Employment would be extended for a further three years, and have a strategic focus on “workforce development” across the public service.