The Oceania team was delighted to host HKA’s Chief People Officer and Partner, Kate Wood, in Australia in July.

Kate had an action-packed schedule for her first HKA visit to Team Oceania, including many one-to-one catch-ups with colleagues in Sydney, a day with our Melbourne team, a session with our Executive team, and a variety of workshops with our Oceania People team.

At our quarterly meeting for all of our Oceania colleagues, Kate participated in a Q&A session with the Head of Oceania, Alistair Mein. We heard about upcoming people priorities to support HKA’s growth and our passion for continuing to make HKA a great place to work, grow and play for all our brilliant and diverse colleagues, including our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Alistair Mein said, “I’ve worked closely with Kate over the last two years, and our people team has had a phenomenal impact on the business. It’s been wonderful having Kate here and finally meeting in person.”

Kate confirmed, “HKA is 100% committed to Australia and New Zealand. We know our people are our biggest treasure. We continue to make improvements to retain our brilliant people and attract more diverse and talented colleagues. I have seen the wonderful talent we have in Team Oceania and know we have a bright future. Thank you for your warm welcome. I look forward to working with you to make HKA better and bigger.”

Kate is a keen rugby supporter, as she enjoys watching high-performance teams work together to succeed. Kate joined our HKA clients and colleagues, including Alistair Mein, Kourosh Kayvani, Mike Pitt, Phil Kienstra, and Head of New Zealand, Amelia East, at a rugby lunch hosted by the Australian British Chamber of Commerce. Attendees at lunch heard from guest speakers, including former Wallabies and NSW Waratahs players Phil Waugh and Al Baxter.

However, the speaker that Kate thought had the greatest impact on the business audience was Sam Bailey. Sam is a person with quadriplegia who has conquered his disability to become a successful farmer, ultralight pilot, inspirational speaker, best-selling author, and role model for children. His story has touched thousands of Australians of all ages and walks of life. His next goal is to become the first quadriplegic in the world to fly a helicopter and use it to inspire children to follow their dreams no matter the obstacles they encounter.

Kate maintains the view that she and our HKA colleagues can continue to learn from the high-performance world of elite sports and the honest, amazing role models like Sam Bailey.