A Masterclass in Contract Management: Achieving Value Through Best Practice

Nadine Lennie is a finance professional with more than 25 years of experience in procurement across large-scale programs to deliver projects in both the public and private sectors. Nadine brings to the position of chairperson extensive financial acumen, experience working in government policy frameworks along with expertise in leadership and board management. 

Nadine is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer at Transgrid, having previously held the position of Group Chief Financial Officer at Atlas Arteria, an international toll road company based in Melbourne. 

Helen is the Interim Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability for Victoria, an independent statutory role appointed in June 2024. Helen has had various senior Victorian Public Service roles, most recently as the Deputy Secretary Water and Catchments in the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

Helen has extensive experience over three decades in public policy, service delivery, and regulatory reform mainly focussed on natural resource and emergency management. This experience has reinforced the importance of good governance approaches to assist working collaboratively with stakeholders across government, business and the community to achieve outcomes.

Helen is a member of the Victorian Government Purchasing Board and is co-Chair of the Deakin University School of Engineering Advisory Board. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration, is an Alumnus of the Australian Rural Leadership Program and was recognised as one of Victoria’s Top 50 Public Sector Women in 2020.

Helen holds a Bachelor of Science (Forestry) from the Australian National University and received a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service in policy and program delivery in natural resource management in 2022

Paul Vorbach is a Director, AcademyGlobal, Councillor of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (NSW Council), Adjunct at the University of New South Wales and Member of the Commonwealth Government supported Australasian Procurement and Construction Council. He previously held senior management roles at Deloitte and Citigroup and in academia at UTS.  

Paul has developed and delivered training in procurement and contract management throughout Australia for all levels of government including the PSP50616 Diploma and PSP60616 Advanced Diploma of Procurement and Contracting for UQ Skills, at the University of Queensland. 

Paul’s recent training assignments cover Commonwealth, state and local governments and include; the Victorian Public Sector Commission, Victorian Department of Education, Victorian Agency for Health Information, NSW Treasury, NSW Department of Premier, Audit Office of NSW and the Independent Commission Against Corruption NSW. 

Saz is a Director in KPMG’s Contract Assurance and Performance team, supporting clients gain confidence in contract performance, enhancing contract management maturity and navigating through outsourcing complexities. She has over 15 years of experience in procurement and contract management, spanning across the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Australia, USA, and UK. She enjoys developing people-focussed solutions to governance, risk and compliance challenges.   

Hayley Baxter is the Executive Director, Government Procurement at the Victorian Department of Government Services.

Hayley’s Division is responsible for providing whole of government procurement solutions to achieve best value for money for the Victorian Government. This includes:

• Procurement policy leadership, whole-of-government intellectual property policy, and support for the Victorian Government Purchasing Board.
• Management of the Standard Motor Vehicle Policy and VicFleet operations including the transition to Zero Emissions vehicles.
• Management of 36 goods and services state purchase contracts valued at $2.4billion.
• Corporate procurement for Department of Government Services, Department of Treasury and Finance and Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Prior to joining the department Hayley has held roles in consulting having worked with private and public sector clients in Australia and the United States.