New HR director has strategic vision

Edward O'Daly

Leone Gregory Photo: Edward O'Daly

31 October 2006: The University’s research expertise was part of the lure to Canberra for new human resources (HR) director Leone Gregory.

Ms Gregory joined the University six weeks ago, moving from Townsville, where she worked in HR in the electricity industry and before that for the Australian Institute for Marine Science.

“One of the exciting things about working at the University of Canberra is this is an organisation that’s actually researching HR,” she said.

“Communication is a key part of what we do and there’s a whole school of communication here.”

Also appealing about her new job is the opportunity to practise strategic HR – often restricted to corporate head offices in Sydney and Melbourne – without giving up the joys of rural living.

Having lived in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland the ACT allows her to tick another of Australia’s states and territories off her list – and to indulge her passion for bird watching with a new region’s worth of species.

At the University, Ms Gregory intends to align the work of the HR team closely to the University’s strategic goals and will revisit the area’s policies and processes to make it more service-oriented.

“We’ll look at the strategic plan and the HR processes needed to underpin that,” she said.

So far she’s found staff enthusiastic about repositioning HR as a “business partner” to the rest of the University.

“We’re just starting out on the journey, but the feedback I’ve had from staff has been very positive.”