Long-serving ACCC CIO Walkden to depart

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chief information officer Adrian Walkden is departing after close to eight years, and retiring from the Australian Public Service.

Walkden joined the ACCC in 2011 from Australian Government and Defence Force employee superannuation body ComSuper – now the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation – where he had served since 2004.

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His career has seen him in various roles at the Department of Defence, Department of Social Services, Centrelink, and the then Australian Customs Service.

“It has been a great pleasure to work at the ACCC for the past eight years and at other Australian Public Service departments and agencies throughout my 40 year career. I have enjoyed the challenge and am proud of my team’s achievements in contributing to the success of the ACCC,” Walkden told CIO Australia.

The commission published a CIO vacancy last month. The role is “complex and diverse requiring innovative, delivery focused and cost effective solutions to business problems” the post notes.

The role is responsible for the “development and delivery of the organisation’s ICT vision and strategic plan, for all aspects of security, and for championing ICT investment priorities across the agency” it adds.

The commission’s ICT Strategy 2017-20, noted the ICT group “must keep its costs to a minimum” when fulfilling ICT needs.

“This will be achieved by being a service broker rather than a service provider and will require establishing procurement systems that provide ready access to the required skills in the market,” the strategy said.

Among the strategy’s areas of focus are; data management to allow intelligent data analysis; enabling mobile and remote working; establishing a ‘digital innovation framework’; delivery of collaborative technologies; and efficient user interfaces to reduce “the number of times information or data is stored, and ensuring the same information is only entered once”.

The ACCC says it is open to candidates working from Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Townsville.

The role sits within the commission’s People and Corporate Services department, and reports to chief operating officer Rayne de Gruchy.

“The commission has an exciting program of ICT projects in the pipeline and is committed to utilising technology to keep it at the forefront of competition and consumer protection issues. It’s a great time for a new CIO to be joining the ACCC,” Walkden added.

Applications close on January 20.