Executive leadership

Liza Carroll
Director-General

BEd, MEd (Hons)

Liza joined the Department of Housing and Public Works in August 2015. In her role as the Director-General, Liza leads the department in the delivery of a range of housing, building, sports, digital and procurement services across Queensland. She provides impactful leadership in order to enable whole-of-government collaboration in delivering on government’s commitments and priorities.

Liza previously held the role of Associate Secretary, Head of Indigenous Affairs in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, where she was responsible for bringing together over 1,500 staff from 8 different departments to form the new Indigenous Affairs portfolio in 100 locations across Australia. Prior to this, Liza was the Deputy Secretary in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs with responsibility for housing, homelessness, families, children, women’s issues, gambling and community services.

Liza has a Master of Education (Hons) majoring in Sociology and a Bachelor of Education. She was awarded the Public Service Medal for her work leading ‘Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for Reform in the Australian Public Service’.

Trish Woolley
Deputy Director-General, Housing, Homelessness and Sport

LLB, BSocWk

Trish joined the Department of Housing and Public Works in September 2016. She has almost 20 years’ experience in public administration, working across a range of social policy and service delivery agencies in State Government (Queensland and Victoria) and the Commonwealth Government (Department of Human Services, Department of Social Services and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet).

Trish is an experienced leader of social policy reforms nationally, while contributing to the critical business transformation and modernisation of a number of social policy agencies to improve government delivery of key services and improve policy capability.

Graham Atkins
Deputy Director-General, Building Policy and Asset Management

BASc (Quantity Surveying), ADip App Sc (Building)

Graham has vast experience in the building and construction industry, spanning a number of decades. Graham has contributed to the Executive Leadership Team in his role as Deputy Director-General since joining the department in July 2011.

In this role, Graham has led the State’s primary building and construction service provider to deliver major projects, building maintenance, and facility management services for client agencies and departments.  With offices across Queensland, including regional and remote communities, he has been strongly focused on developing an agile, flexible workforce while driving a ‘customer’s first’ culture.  In addition, Graham has worked collaboratively with industry stakeholders to deliver on key legislative reforms for the building industry.

Graham has held senior executive positions within other government departments, including Deputy Director-General of the Department of Education and Training, where he was responsible for infrastructure planning and delivery. Graham holds a Queensland Open Builders Licence.

Paige Ridgewell
Assistant Director-General, QBuild

BLeisSt, MBA, MPP, MAICD

Paige’s 25-year Queensland public sector career has seen her working across a number of portfolios including infrastructure and planning, main roads, racing, national parks, social policy, and sport and recreation. She is known for her experience in successfully leading transformation within government through community collaboration and co-design and a strong focus on creating better futures for Queenslanders. She has extensive experience in managing and directing teams to achieve high-level outcomes in strategy, policy and program development.

Most recently, in her previous role as Assistant Director-General, Sport and Recreation, Paige led the delivery of the Queensland Government’s Activate! Queensland 2019–2029 sport strategy. The strategy channels investment across the Queensland Government to build and activate infrastructure and social environments that support communities across the state and inspire physical activity. Paige brings her many years’ experience as an athlete, coach and administrator to the work environment by applying the principles of high performance, training and teamwork.

Sharon Bailey
Acting Assistant Director-General and Chief Advisor, Queensland Government Procurement

BSocWk, BA, PgD-Arts

Sharon joined Department of Housing and Public Works in April 2019 and brings extensive policy implementation experience across Federal and State jurisdictions of government.

Most recently, she spent 7 years with the Australian Government, undertaking both corporate and policy roles within the Department of Social Services. This followed numerous economic and social policy roles across the Queensland Government, including the Departments of the Premier and Cabinet, Public Works and Families and Communities.

Richard Cassidy
Assistant Director-General, Building Legislation and Policy

BCom

Richard Cassidy commenced as Assistant Director-General, Building Legislation and Policy in February 2019 and brings many years’ strategic leadership experience within public sector environments. Richard’s approach is characterised by a strong focus on outcomes and a demonstrated ability to develop policy and strategy solutions, which meet the needs of diverse stakeholder groups.

Richard has previously worked for the department as the Executive Director, Office of the Chief Advisor Procurement, where he led the development and implementation of the Buy Queensland procurement policy to deliver broader economic, social and environmental outcomes for Queensland through the government’s procurement spend.

Richard has also spent time as a management consultant providing infrastructure advisory services and prior to that working for Queensland Health implementing large system-wide reforms.

Chris Fechner
Chief Customer and Digital Officer

Exec MBusAdmin, BAppSc Computing, GradDipProjMgmt

Chris became Queensland’s first Chief Customer and Digital Officer in February 2020. A key focus for Chris in this role, is driving customer and digital transformation across government. Chris brings to the department a wealth of digital and ICT experience as a Senior Executive in both the Queensland and NSW Public Service.

Most recently as Chief Digital and Product Officer, Service NSW, Chris was the driving force behind the implementation of the global standard in customer service and digital excellence in delivering customer centric technology and services.

Andrew Spina
Deputy Director-General, Services Delivery and Operations

BSc (Comp)

Andrew has worked in the Queensland public sector for more than 35 years and has extensive experience in leading the delivery of digital transformation, digital service delivery and shared government services.

Andrew has undertaken a number of Deputy Director-General and Chief Information Officer roles providing strategic digital leadership in the Department of Communities, Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Department of Public Works and Housing; and roles in CITEC and Treasury.

Dallas Stower
Acting Deputy Director-General, Transformation and Enabling Technologies

BBus (Comp), GradCert (PSM) GAICD

Dallas has over 30 years' experience in the ICT industry across a range of senior leadership positions. In his role as Deputy Director-General Transformation and Enabling Technologies, Dallas leads the development and implementation of initiatives that strengthen Queensland's ICT service delivery. Dallas is r​esponsible for CITEC Enabling Services, CITEC Integration & Enabling Technologies, Data and Information Services, ICT Strategic Sourcing, Transformation Projects and Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Dallas commenced his ICT career with the Department of Defence in Canberra and followed up with a number of roles in the Australian Public Service before returning to his home state of Queensland. His senior leadership roles in Queensland include Assistant Director-General, Strategic ICT; General Manager, CITEC; Executive Director, Telecommunications and Digital Economy Coordination Office; and Chief Information Officer, Queensland Rail.

Irene Violet
Acting Deputy Director-General, Strategy, Policy and Engagement

BHSc, BA (Psych), MBA, GAICD

Irene leads the Strategy, Policy and Engagement division and has been part of the Executive Leadership Team at Housing and Public Works since 2017. Most recently, Irene, as Deputy Director-General, Customer and Digital Strategy, lead the government priority to develop and deliver responsive government services. This included whole-of-government digital and ICT policies, designed to improve the lives of Queenslanders. During that time, Irene also participated in a 6 month interchange with the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as acting Deputy Director-General, Investment where she was responsible for the investment in the government’s vocational education and training programs, small business and employment grants and programs, as well as training infrastructure.

Previously, Irene was the Assistant Director-General, Queensland Shared Services with responsibility for modernising and optimising the shared services used by 25 Queensland Government agencies and departments. She has also held several senior executive roles at WorkCover Queensland, with responsibilities for corporate services, customer services and specialist advisory teams.

Irene is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Robyn Turbit
Assistant Director-General, Corporate Services

BCom, BEcon

In her career spanning over 40 years, Robyn has worked in various public and private sectors, predominantly in accounting, auditing and governance functions and has undertaken roles using many employment styles, including full-time, part-time, telecommuting and contracting.

Robyn has worked in various iterations of the Department of Housing and Public Works for more than 30 years. Robyn was appointed as the first Internal Audit Manager for the department and went on to fill a variety of positions until her appointment to the Assistant Director-General, Corporate Services position, which she has held since 2007.

Last updated: 

7 August 2020