Smith-Gander's profile available on LinkedIn
Correction: This story originally reported that the LinkedIn profile of new National Broadband Network Company board member Diane Smith-Gander had been removed. That is incorrect. The profile is currently available.
update The LinkedIn profile of former Westpac senior technology executive and new NBN board member Diane Smith-Gander (formerly Sias) had appeared to have been removed from the professional networking site last week, however, it is currently available.
Diane Smith-Gander (formerly Sias)
(Credit: Westpac)
The former head of Westpac's Business & Technology Solutions & Services (BTSS) division, Smith-Gander was previously known as Diane Sias. Yesterday she was named as one of five new directors on the board of the National Broadband Network Company.
Although details of the NBN Co director's professional history had appeared to have been removed from LinkedIn last week, with the profile still temporarily residing on a cached page held by Google, in fact Smith-Gander has several profiles; one under that name, and one under her previous name, Diane Sias.
Banking sector insiders have speculated on Sias's activities since the executive left the bank last year. Following the St George-Westpac merger and appointment of Gail Kelly as its CEO, Sias's department BTSS was dissolved, with Sias leaving the bank just one year into what sources have said was a three- or four-year contract. Westpac appointed long-time Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief information officer Bob McKinnon to the top technology spot.
Sias's return to Westpac in 2007 was to replace outgoing chief information officer Michael Coomer and had followed her seven-year stint as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. McKinsey, along with KPMG, was yesterday announced as the consortium to lead the Federal Government's $53 million NBN implementation study.
Other career highlights that were on the high profile banking technology executive included a current spot on the board of Basketball Australia alongside Telstra chief executive David Thodey. Her appointment to its board came shortly before her departure from Westpac last July.