Jason O’Brien
Kensington,NSW
Summary
Seasoned IT Leader with a finance background, bringing extensive experience in shaping and executing IT and digital strategies that deliver tangible business outcomes. Proven track record in delivering multi-million-dollar SAP, Salesforce and digital change programs in multiple countries. Adept at optimising IT service and project delivery costs and harnessing emerging technologies to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. Skilled in leading geographically dispersed teams, with a strong emphasis on building cyber resilient services. Known for clear and effective communication and ability to engage stakeholders across all levels of an organisation.
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
APAC Director of Digital and Information Technology
Linde
05.2021 - 03.2025
- Company Overview: Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company that manufactures and distributes atmospheric gases and is the world's largest industrial gas company by revenue and market share.
- Reporting to the APAC COO (Singapore) and member of the APAC leadership team, leading the digital innovation program to enhance customer and employee experience, improve operational efficiency, and deliver a reliable IT environment across 14 countries. supporting 10,000 employees with an annual budget of $45M.
- Achievements
- Drove the digital innovation and transformation program through the education and upskilling of 15% of APAC workforce, resulting in annualised savings of $75m, representing 34% of APAC productivity.
- Delivered a range of application solutions that enabled step change improvement in customer experience and at the same time delivering tangible business benefits. For example:
- Implemented Salesforce Field Service module enabling a 15% efficiency improvement in maintenance scheduling and reliability.
- Designed and developed a proprietary application empowering customers to track and manage gas cylinders at their own sites, which significantly strengthened customer retention
- Successfully completed IT integration to support ANZ business acquisition and divestments, for example:
- Created a program to enable infrastructure and application integration of welding equipment businesses across Aust and NZ (6 companies completed in 12 months).
- Integrated LPG acquisition to existing core applications in 4 months doubling the size of NZ business
- Implemented infrastructure standardisation program and improved service management processes to improve cyber security settings, enabling a 15% reduction in infrastructure support costs.
- Developed a data management framework that harmonised data definitions resulting in 40% decrease in errors in key business metrics enabling better and more timely decision making across business units.
- Achieved employee engagement score exceeding 85% for 3 consecutive years, a result double digit higher than organisational score. Total voluntary employee turnover below 10% over same period.
- Delivered the China Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS) compliance program, including risk assessments, gap analysis, remediation, and third-party audits, ensuring regulatory alignment to support continued business operations and digital initiatives in a complex regulatory landscape.
APAC Director of Information Technology
Linde
06.2012 - 04.2021
- Reporting to Global CIO (Germany) responsible for IT operations supporting 9,000 employees and 37,000 daily orders, underpinning US$6B in annual revenue through a robust and high-performing technology environment.
- Achievements
- Following global merger of Linde and Praxair in 2018, created IT strategy covering application and IT infrastructure, aligning global standards with regional and country requirements to support business growth and performance objectives.
- Responsible for the design and delivery of the IT technology consolidation and harmonisation program across APAC countries.
- Completed divestments across 4 countries covering 425 IT users and annual sales of US$270m
- Managed identity management, cyber security alignment and ERP consolidation covering 750 IT users across 3 countries with annual sales of US$900m
- Implemented SAP across Asia Pacific to standardise systems; supported growth in China, leveraging SAP for Joint Venture (JV) integration; with lowest roll-out costs in the Group.
- Developed and implemented continuous improvement program for enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution and electronic trading platform resulting in the proportion of customer sales orders increasing from 41% to 65% over 3 years.
- Designed and built an innovative technology solution involving infrastructure and software that reduced the cost to monitor liquid tank levels by 60% resulting in a 25% improvement in distribution efficiency
Head of Information Technology - South Pacific
BOC
09.2007 - 06.2012
- Company Overview: BOC is the leading provider of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related equipment across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Through its subsidiary Elgas, it is also the largest distributor of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Australia and New Zealand, serving residential, commercial, and light industrial markets.
- Reporting to the South Pacific Managing Director and a member of the regional management team, lead a team of 40 IT professionals supporting 2,500 users across 150 locations with an annual budget of $20m
- Achievements
- Spearheaded the shift to the function being business outcome focussed, including the establishment of a dedicated team to drive the electronic trading agenda which resulted in BOC being recognised as the leading digital industrial gases company in the region.
- Responsible for the design and implementation of new ERP solution, enabling the simplification of the application landscape. The project enabled step change in customer key metrics and productivity improvements. For example:
- Stock availability improved 9% and timely customer order fulfilment by 8%
- Cost per cylinder filled improved by 12%
- Improved the IT Service Management and application support model resulting in improved reliability and resilience, evidenced by an 80% reduction of critical system issues and improving end user satisfaction by 28% over a three-year period
- Reviewed technology and sourcing options to optimise the total cost of IT services, resulting in IT cost per user reducing by 25% over 4 years.
- Led the development and deployment of a mobile and web application that transitioned the 1,000 distributors across ANZ that significantly improved operational efficiency, order accuracy and cash flow cycles whilst also improving distributor engagement and customer experience.
SAP Program Manager
BOC
03.2006 - 09.2007
Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Compliance Manager
BOC
06.2004 - 02.2006
Business Process Manager – Order to Cash and Finance
BOC
11.2001 - 06.2004
National Revenue Manager
BOC
04.1998 - 10.2001
Various Accounting Roles
CIG
12.1991 - 03.1998
Education
Bachelor of Business - Accounting and Information Systems
University of Technology
Sydney, NSW04.1992
Skills
- Digital Automation and Transformation
- Cyber Security Management
- Customer Centric Mindset
- Strategy Design and Execution
- Business Acumen
- M&A Strategy and Integration
- Stakeholder Relationship Management
- Programme and Risk Management
- Building and Managing High Performing Teams
- Change Management
- Vendor Relationship Management
Certification
- Company Directors Course – AICD (in progress)
- Linde Executive Management Program - Oxford University
- Leadership Program - INSEAD University, Singapore
- CPA - CPA Australia
Accomplishments
- Digital Transformation - Led the program that optimised business processes and boosted operational efficiency, responsible for delivering cost savings equivalent to 4% of the total cost stack.
- Customer Experience and Retention - Designed and developed proprietary applications that directly contributed to driving improvements in customer retention and tangible operational efficiency gains.
- Cyber Security Improvements – Reduced security incidents by 27% by implementing proactive threat detection and response measures, updated security protocols and employee education programs.
- Optimising IT Operations – designed and implemented a technology standardisation program that reduced IT supports costs by 15%.
- Employee Engagement - Enhanced IT service experience resulting in a double-digit rise in employee satisfaction scores.
Community Service
Member of Homecare providers Consumer Advisory Committee, Trustee Director BOC Superannuation Fund, Life Member South Sydney Rugby League Referees Association, President of Souths Sydney Rugby League Referees Association, NSW Rugby League Referee Coaching and Development assessor
Timeline
APAC Director of Digital and Information Technology
Linde
05.2021 - 03.2025
APAC Director of Information Technology
Linde
06.2012 - 04.2021
Head of Information Technology - South Pacific
BOC
09.2007 - 06.2012
SAP Program Manager
BOC
03.2006 - 09.2007
Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Compliance Manager
BOC
06.2004 - 02.2006
Business Process Manager – Order to Cash and Finance
BOC
11.2001 - 06.2004
National Revenue Manager
BOC
04.1998 - 10.2001
Various Accounting Roles
CIG
12.1991 - 03.1998
Bachelor of Business - Accounting and Information Systems
University of Technology
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