Les is a Company Director and Corporate Advisor and has had a diverse career spanning the fields of education, mining, manufacturing and financial services. He has held senior executive leadership roles in both line and human resources management in Australia and internationally. Les has also served as a Board Director in the various sectors he has worked.
During his 10 years in academia Les specialized in labour economics, employee relations and human resources and enjoyed senior teaching and research appointments in Australian, UK and American universities.
In 1982 Les joined CSR as Corporate Industrial Relations Policy Advisor and in 1984 moved to CRA/Rio Tinto as Chief Advisor Organization Development. He became Chief Advisor Employee Relations in 1986 and in the following year Vice President Organizational Effectiveness for the CRA Group. Les held this role until 1994 when appointed Managing Director of Comalco Extruded and Foundry Products responsible for businesses in Australia, New Zealand and America.
Les joined the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 1996 with responsibility for Human Resources. He led the transformation of CBA’s leadership, workplace and people systems to enable the former government owned business to compete successfully as a private sector organization.
His responsibilities at the Bank extended beyond Human Resources. Les served 10 years as a Director of ASB Bank and Insurance companies in New Zealand and 7 years as Chairman of Commonwealth Investments Pty Ltd, the Bank’s infrastructure investment company. He was appointed Chairman of the Bank’s Australian Staff Superannuation Fund in 1997 and a Trustee of the UK Staff Fund in 2003. Les retired from the Bank in November 2006 but has continued in his superannuation governance roles. He is also a Non Executive Director of ING Investment Management Australia Limited.
In late 2006 Les established Invisible Hand Consulting Pty Ltd to provide corporate advisory services to CEO’s and their senior leadership teams. Invisible Hand specializes in CEO/ Board governance, people leadership and capability assessment, organization effectiveness, and executive search and development services.
Les holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons), a Master of Economics and a Graduate Diploma of Education (Tertiary). He is a Graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard University (USA) and is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute.
