Australian Military Bank Announces New CEO
Australian Military Bank Chairman John Brooks today announced its new CEO positioned to leverage the Bank’s investment in digital and lead the next chapter with a focus on Member Experience.
Darlene Mattiske-Wood to take up the role of CEO Australian Military Bank.
“Following an extensive national search, we can announce that Darlene Mattiske-Wood will succeed John Ford as the new CEO from the 2nd March 2020,” Chairman John Brooks said. “We consider that we are very fortunate to welcome Darlene, who has more than 20 years experience in strategic and executive leadership, 15 of these within the Mutual sector, most recently as the acting and then deputy CEO for People’s Choice Credit Union,” he said.
“Darlene’s extensive experience in strategic leadership and transformational change, with strong expertise in people strategy and culture within one of the largest Mutual Banks in Australia will support Australian Military Bank as we continue to operate in an extremely competitive environment with a demanding regulatory regime,” said John Brooks. “Darlene’s direct experience in leading, developing and delivering an aligned internal culture to deliver a member focused operating model. This will give strength to our recent business model transformation including our digital and technology investments.”
“We see Darlene’s strong member values and experience as a natural fit to take us into our next phase of growth, as we continue to transform to meet the current and future expectations of our members,” said Chairman Brooks.
Chairman Brooks also thanked former CEO John Ford for his valuable contribution to the Bank over the past 7 years. “John has been very committed to the success of Australian Military Bank and has positioned the Bank strongly for the future. During his tenure as CEO we successfully converted to mutual bank status, returned to positive net membership growth, successfully re-tendered for the DHOAS scheme, lead a digital transformation journey, converted to a modern and open banking system (on time / on budget) and attracted an investment grade corporate rating. In the interest of a smooth transition, John has agreed to remain with the Bank until the end of February 2020.”
Darlene Mattiske-Wood
Darlene was appointed as People’s Choice Deputy Chief Executive in February 2016. Along with the deputy CEO role, her position included Chief Strategy, Marketing and People Officer responsible for the development and implementation of the People’s Choice Strategic Plan as well as the leadership of the credit union’s strategies for People and Culture, Marketing, Member Strategy, Product Governance and Member Segmentation, Communications & Public Affairs. In addition, Darlene has played the lead role in the People’s Choice Transformation for the development, roadmap and delivery of the multi, million dollar digital and member centric target operating model.
Darlene has extensive Strategic, Operational and People and Culture expertise. She has also held several Board positions including current director with COBA (Customer Owned Banking Association) and previous Chair of Mutual Market Place representing People’s Choice in the Joint Venture Procurement Company between CUA, the largest Mutual Bank in Australia and People’s Choice.
Darlene’s qualifications include: The advanced management program with Harvard University in 2018, a Diploma in Management and a Bachelor of Management as well as a graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management. She has received the following external recognition:
- The 2016 Telstra Business Women’s Award, Corporate & Private South Australia;
- Finalist in the 2017 National Retail Banking Awards for Executive of the Year;
- Two AHRI Awards (Australian Human Resource Institute) for People Leadership and People Strategy.
