KRISTINE DE NAVA
Melbourne
Summary
Over 18 years of experience driving organizational growth and effectiveness by aligning HR strategies with business objectives to foster a high-performance culture. Specializes in developing and implementing innovative HR practices, enhancing employee engagement, and facilitating transformational change. Successfully integrated HRIS systems to improve data accuracy and streamline decision-making. Comprehensive knowledge of Australian employment legislation including Awards, Enterprise Agreements, Workers' Compensation, Fair Work, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), and Work Health and Safety (WHS). Demonstrated strong leadership in change management across technology, media, engineering, and financial services sectors, leading transformational initiatives and organizational restructures. Passionate about ensuring HR strategies align with business objectives to enhance compliance standards, organizational culture, and employee engagement through a strategic yet practical approach.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of People, Culture & Finance
Nationwide News Ltd
, Victoria
07.2021 - Current
- Company Overview: Nationwide News, a subsidiary of News Corp, is one of Australia's largest media organisations, with a diverse portfolio that includes newspapers, magazines, publishing, and digital media, supported by approximately 8,000 employees.
- As a senior lead reporting directly to the CEO, I play a key role in the Consumer Content division, overseeing both strategic and operational aspects of Human Resources and Finance.
- I lead a team of six direct and eight indirect reports, driving initiatives to enhance company performance while managing the People, Culture, and Finance departments.
- Our team collaborates with various functions, including Technology and Operations, Editorial, Content Creation, Product, Audience Growth, Sales, Marketing, Strategy, and Human Resources.
- In my role, I cultivate partnerships and foster a collaborative culture to advance strategic, people-focused HR initiatives.
- This commitment has helped us maintain recognition as a Great Place to Work and achieve high engagement scores.
- I build alliances with senior executives to reinforce HR's role as a strategic partner and drive continuous improvement throughout the employee lifecycle.
- I have a proven track record of facilitating discussions that strengthen a high-performance culture through expert HR support.
- My experience encompasses leading organisations through significant change and growth, establishing tailored people partnering models, enhancing culture and engagement, advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives, integrating HR and finance technologies, and managing employee and industrial relations effectively.
- Nationwide News, a subsidiary of News Corp, is one of Australia's largest media organisations, with a diverse portfolio that includes newspapers, magazines, publishing, and digital media, supported by approximately 8,000 employees.
- Responsibilities: Strategic Leadership, Executive Support, Team Management, Strategic Initiatives, Change Management, HR Operations, Contractor Management.
- Achievements: Successfully developed and implemented innovative HR strategies that doubled employee engagement from 4.3 to 8.6 in two years, drove cultural transformation, streamlined HR processes, secured certifications for News Perform, managed company-wide Workday and Finance integration projects, developed and executed a focused learning strategy, successfully managed three company restructures within two years, aligned EBA agreements for the Editorial team, transitioned the business to a Pod operating model with the Senior Leadership team.
Senior HR Business Partner / Director of HR
Latitude Financial Services
, Victoria
03.2020 - 07.2021
- Company Overview: Australia's largest non-bank lender, serving over 2.4 million customers, specialises in consumer finance, retail finance solutions, credit cards, personal loans, car loans, and personal insurance across Australia and New Zealand, employing around 1,800 staff.
- In my role, reporting to the General Manager of People & Culture, I led the HR function across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand.
- My focus was on driving a cultural shift towards Customer Obsession and expanding the Latitude Insurance business to ensure growth in a competitive market.
- As the Director of HR for Latitude Insurance, I reported directly to the CEO while also serving as Senior HR Manager for the broader organisation.
- I provided coaching and strategic direction to leadership teams, ensuring alignment between HR initiatives and business goals.
- I worked closely with business leaders to cultivate a desired organisational culture, focusing on enhancing employee engagement.
- By utilising people metrics, I guided strategic decision-making, resolved complex employee relations issues, and led investigations.
- I directed the COVID-19 response plan, collaborating with senior leadership to foster a customer-focused and performance-driven culture.
- I partnered with recruitment to design talent management strategies, managed the people plan for the Insurance function, and led talent development and succession planning efforts.
- Additionally, I supported health and wellbeing initiatives in alignment with key strategic priorities.
- Australia's largest non-bank lender, serving over 2.4 million customers, specialises in consumer finance, retail finance solutions, credit cards, personal loans, car loans, and personal insurance across Australia and New Zealand, employing around 1,800 staff.
- Achievements: Successfully developed and implemented innovative HR strategies that improved employee engagement and performance, led the separation and change management strategy to divest the Insurance business from the rest of Latitude, managed the COVID-19 response, integrating large customer service and sales teams into remote work within a short timeframe, oversaw the shutdown of two offices during the COVID period and transitioned 20% of roles to fully remote positions, managed an organisational operational model change, resulting in significant reporting line, structural, and role changes.
- Coached managers on effective communication techniques, promoting greater transparency within the organization.
- Oversaw employee engagement surveys and action plans, addressing areas of concern proactively to improve satisfaction rates.
- Introduced company-wide diversity and inclusion programs, fostering a more inclusive workplace culture.
- Provided updates on HR policy changes to employees to satisfy compliance and state laws.
Group Human Resources Manager
Comdain Infrastructure
, Victoria
01.2015 - 12.2020
- Company Overview: Comdain Infrastructure, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Service Stream Ltd, provides end-to-end engineering and asset management services to leading utility and energy providers across Australia, employing approximately 2,500 staff across 13 operational service centres.
- In my role, reporting to the General Manager of People & Culture, I managed the complete HR function across Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, overseeing a team of four direct reports.
- I supported the Leadership Team in workforce planning, engagement strategies, and fostering collaboration among leaders nationwide.
- My experience includes managing employee relations, performance management, mediation, grievance procedures, and conflict resolution for both blue- and white-collar workforces.
- I have successfully navigated organisational changes, including restructuring and the merger between Comdain and Service Stream.
- I led the people strategy and organisational development initiatives while supporting leaders during periods of change, including project management of the Workday and JobAdder integration.
- Additionally, I developed and executed the recruitment strategy, managed skilled migration sponsorship, and provided industrial relations guidance.
- I monitored and reported on HR/IR legislative changes, contributed to tenders and workplace plans, and prepared regular HR reports for the Executive team.
- Comdain Infrastructure, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Service Stream Ltd, provides end-to-end engineering and asset management services to leading utility and energy providers across Australia, employing approximately 2,500 staff across 13 operational service centres.
- Achievements: Successfully developed and implemented innovative HR strategies that enhanced employee engagement and performance, managed union negotiations during EBA collective bargaining arrangements, oversaw the change management initiative during the transition to ASX-listed Service Stream.
- Enhanced employee engagement by implementing innovative HR programs and initiatives.
- Managed benefits administration, optimizing offerings to attract top talent while controlling costs.
- Collaborated with senior management to design compensation packages that effectively incentivized high performance across departments.
- Created detailed reports analyzing key workforce metrics such as turnover rates, demographics, or compensation trends.
Human Resource Consultant
Swinburne University of Technology
01.2008 - 12.2015
- Company Overview: A leading tertiary provider in science, technology, business, law, design, and innovation, offering courses in higher education and vocational education, with a workforce of over 4,500 staff.
- In my role, reporting to the Director of Human Resources, I managed various HR functions and ongoing projects.
- I led investigations into incidents, implemented recommendations to enhance organisational culture, and provided HR support to the Student Services Unit and Corporate Services.
- I participated in senior recruitment panels, delivered presentations at events such as O Week and Careers in the Curriculum, and conducted training on internal HR initiatives.
- Additionally, I managed a team of four direct reports, overseeing their development and performance.
- A leading tertiary provider in science, technology, business, law, design, and innovation, offering courses in higher education and vocational education, with a workforce of over 4,500 staff.
- Participated on local and organization-wide committees that focused on projects that moved organization forward and towards meeting strategic goals.
- Partnered with senior leadership to establish and develop corporate and HR policies and procedures.
- Contributed to business and HR functions by identifying, prioritizing and building organizational capabilities, behaviors, structures and processes.
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Hays Specialist Recruitment
01.2006 - 12.2008
- Company Overview: Leading global recruitment specialist with 39 locations across Australia and New Zealand, employing approximately 11,000 staff members.
- In my role, reporting to Human Resources Recruitment Manager, I specialised in end-to-end recruitment for permanent and temporary HR vacancies across various sectors.
- I led team of five recruitment specialists, conducted daily stand-up meetings, and supported team members in their recruitment campaigns.
- I managed communications with internal and external stakeholders, recruiting HR professionals across Victoria, from graduates to senior roles.
- I implemented sourcing strategies, collaborated with clients to explore alternative candidate markets, and coordinated HR events and seminars.
- Additionally, I managed end-to-end recruitment projects, ensuring successful placements across multiple industries.
- Leading global recruitment specialist with 39 locations across Australia and New Zealand, employing approximately 11,000 staff members.
- Optimized use of recruitment software to improve data tracking, reporting, and analysis capabilities for better decision-making processes.
- Established strong relationships with industry professionals through networking events and social media outreach.
- Served as trusted advisor to both clients and candidates in all stages of recruitment process, ensuring clear communication and expectations management.
Education
Graduate Diploma of Commerce - Human Resource Management
Swinburne University of Technology
Hawthorn, VIC01.2018
Graduate Certificate of Commerce - Human Resource Management
Swinburne University of Technology
Hawthorn, VIC01.2016
Bachelor of Business Administration -
RMIT University
Melbourne, VIC01.2003
Skills
- Strategic HR Leadership
- Employee Engagement & Recognition
- Change Management
- Talent Management
- Workforce Planning
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Compliance Management
- Organisational Development
- Leadership Coaching
- Organisational Structure Design
- Workplace Culture
- HRIS: Workday
- HRIS: ELMO
- HRIS: Employment Hero
- HRIS: JobAdder
- HRIS: Culture Amp
- HRIS: 15five
Key Proficiencies
- Strategic HR Leadership
- Employee Engagement & Recognition
- Change Management
- Talent Management
- Workforce Planning
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Compliance Management
- Organisational Development
- Leadership Coaching
- Organisational Structure Design
- Workplace Culture
- HRIS: Workday, ELMO, Employment Hero, JobAdder, Culture Amp, 15five
Timeline
Head of People, Culture & Finance
Nationwide News Ltd
07.2021 - Current
Senior HR Business Partner / Director of HR
Latitude Financial Services
03.2020 - 07.2021
Group Human Resources Manager
Comdain Infrastructure
01.2015 - 12.2020
Human Resource Consultant
Swinburne University of Technology
01.2008 - 12.2015
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Hays Specialist Recruitment
01.2006 - 12.2008
Graduate Diploma of Commerce - Human Resource Management
Swinburne University of Technology
Graduate Certificate of Commerce - Human Resource Management
Swinburne University of Technology
Bachelor of Business Administration -
RMIT University
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