New CPO arrives after company draws flak for outsourcing roles
Financial services firm Westpac has appointed Kate Dee as its newest chief people officer, with plans to have her onboard later this year.
Dee is currently the chief people officer at Bupa Asia Pacific, a position she has held since April 2018. She succeeds Christina Parker, who retired last year after nearly two decades with Westpac.
Prior to Bupa, she was also the General Manager, Talent at the National Australia Bank, as well as the Executive Director, Global Organisation and Leadership Development at Time Warner in London.
Dee, who is a New Zealand national, is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the United Kingdom and holds degrees in Psychology and German from Victoria University.
Dee will be reporting to Westpac CEO Anthony Miller, who called her a "great addition" to the group executive.
"Kate is a highly accomplished leader who has successfully steered people and culture teams in a range of industries around the world," Miller said in a statement. "At Westpac, we have 35,000 wonderful people and we are on a mission to make this the best place to work. Kate will help us reach that goal."
Dee's appointment comes after a string of recent leadership changes announced at the financial services firm.
Peter Herbert joined Westpac on March 3 as chief transformation officer after being announced in late February. Last month, the firm also announced the appointment of Nathan Goonan as Chief Financial Officer, subject to regulatory approval.
Dee's arrival to Westpac also comes on the heels of the company receiving backlash from the Financial Services Union (FSU) for outsourcing Australian jobs overseas.
According to the FSU, approximately 190 roles from Mortgage Operations, Westpac Institutional Banking and Customer Solutions will be offshored to the Philippines.
Workers who are expected to be affected include those at Lockleys in South Australia, and Kent Street in New South Wales.
"Our members who work at Westpac have told us about their concerns not just for their own jobs, but for customers and the security of their data," said Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the FSU, in a statement.
"We've seen what can happen when important work goes offshore, something as important as ethics being offshored can create dangerous implications and have flow on effects."
