Athalie Williams

About Me

Seasoned C-Suite executive with over 30 years of global expertise in business and workforce transformation. This profile demonstrates exceptional leadership in driving complex enterprise-wide transformation programs across telecommunications, mining, and financial services sectors. With deep specialisation in Human Resources, this executive has successfully led digital transformation initiatives, cultural change programs, and strategic workforce planning for major corporations including BT Group and BHP. Proven track record in delivering measurable business value through talent management, diversity & inclusion, and organisational redesign at the highest executive levels.

Certifications

Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute

2016

Accredited Executive Coach I Level 2 Certification

2021

Experiences

- Aligned the workforce strategy with BT's Telco to Techco transformation, with a plan to reduce total headcount by ~45K to 55K heads by 2030, while also ensuring the organisation is equipped to deliver on a multi-year, capital-intensive program with digital innovation at its heart
- Reset diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities to delivering improvements in gender and ethnic diversity at senior leadership levels and foster a culture of belonging during a period of significant change
- Launched integrated strategic workforce plan to identify critical future workforce and skilling requirements, with a focus on upskilling employees in critical areas, including digital capabilities, product development, and customer service excellence, supporting the company's tech transformation goals
- Successfully navigated complex organisational challenges, including implementing hybrid working models and change management strategies, while maintaining productivity and performance during a period of significant transformation

COVID-19 Response
- Key member of BHP's Global COVID-19 Crisis Management Team
- Led the rapid response to continuously changing requirements regarding people impacts, which encompassed moving substantial numbers of people, changing rosters and protecting our people
Leadership & Culture
- Embedded an interconnected system of culture and capability development where culture is seen as a key enabler of business results
- Launched new Engagement and Perception Survey (shifting from an annual survey to one every 100 days using Qualtrics), coupled with leader dashboard and analytics support to drive faster local action
Industrial Relations
- Designed new IR strategies to support Chile and Australia and guided successful negotiations of multiple employee agreements which were concluded within mandate and with zero negative impacts on production
CEO & Executive Succession
- Defined CEO talent and succession process with the Chair and the Board in preparation for future CEO change when it arose, subsequently supported the succession, selection and transition of new CEO and executive team
- Partner with the CEO to maintain a robust and current slate of successors for Executive leadership roles, ensuring all have appropriate development plans in place
Future Skills
- Led Board and management to define the strategic capabilities needed to execute BHP's business strategy, including sourcing, development and access to critical skills
- Identified as an area of concern the widening gap between current skills and future requirements to successfully mine in the future. Assessed the baseline, and developed and launched the Digital Fluency learning program
Inclusion & Diversity
- Spearheaded BHP's aspirational goal to achieve gender balance by 2025. In the 5 years since setting the goal female representation has increased from 17.6% in FY2017 to 29.7% at the end of FY2021 and a quarter of leadership positions are now held by women
  - Redesign of roles and work tasks to ensure universal accessibility, improved safety and efficiency and enable genuine flexible working options
  - Building inclusion and diversity into supply chain through industry engagement with partners
  - Mitigating bias through an annual gender pay gap review along with an ethnicity pay review pilot
  - Increased focus on eradicating sexual harassment and assault including improvements in security and facilities at residential camps
HR Transformation
- Drove end to end redesign of HR function, established partnership with Accenture to outsource delivery of HR operations services, defined HR Digital (technology and data) roadmap and deployed leading HR technology solutions to transform HR delivery, Talent Acquisition, Learning and HR analytics
- Focused on improving both customer experience and HR service delivery through a "zero based redesign" of the HR function, which subsequently reduced HR costs and headcount by more than 40%
BHP Operating Model Transformation
- Led the evolution of BHP's organisation structure from a decentralised, regional structure to a global operating model, including enterprise review of spans of control, reduction in organisation layers and simplified ways of working to reduce costs and accelerate opportunities for further productivity under a global model

- Developed people strategy and delivery plan, ensuring alignment with Marketing's business priorities and 5-year plan
- Led the development and implementation of an integrated engagement and culture change program in response to Employee Perception Survey results
- Established and embedded external stakeholder engagement strategies and plans for China, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore locations
- Led the definition of a future state organisation design and workforce structure for the Marketing business
- Led the implementation of the 'Non-Traditional Talent Program' - an accelerated talent diversity program that provided an 18-month targeted development experience for women and non-traditional (Asian) males

- Established CSG HR strategy and plans, ensuring alignment with Uranium's broader business strategy
- Established executive leadership team from scratch for new BHP business
- Defined and led the implementation of an operating model for the new Uranium CSG, and Olympic Dam operation, including alignment of organisational structures, roles and accountabilities
- Led the development of a 10-year workforce plan for the Olympic Dam expansion project to grow workforce from 200 to 5000
- Led the planning and successful execution of Olympic Dam Enterprise Agreement negotiations, resulting in a 4-year renewal which preserved current terms with no industrial action
- Restructured the Olympic Dam project function resulting in 75% reduction in workforce numbers with no legal issues or industrial action

- Acted in Vice President capacity for approximately 18 months
- Designed and implemented a new global 2-year graduate development program which received the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE) Graduate Recruitment Industry Award (AGRIA) for 'Best Graduate Development Program' 2008 and 2009
- Architected, and then built, senior executive support for a new group-wide talent management and succession planning strategy, process and framework
- Led the creation of a 5-year strategic roadmap for learning across the enterprise including a Learning and Development governance framework
- Designed and implemented BHP's Accelerated Leadership Development Program, a targeted 2-year management development experience for high potential future operational leaders

- Successfully led leadership, including the Board and senior management teams, to address critical risk, and, with urgency, to implement cultural change to demonstrate a genuine accountability for, and deep understanding of, the issues
- Achieved resolution of all remediation requirements pertaining to workforce and cultural issues six months ahead of plan

- Directed project teams in selling and shaping organisation and workforce solutions for clients
- Oversaw business development, research budgets and funding requests
- Managed Accenture's relationships with regional change management and human capital alliance partners
- Directed local workforce research & development initiatives including co-author of an Accenture research study on Successful Organisational Strategies for Asia

- Project Director for the relocation of an insurer's business superannuation, life and investment products processing to Bangalore, India. Project budget of AUS $10 million with ongoing annual operating benefits of AUS $2.96 million
- Program Manager for the launch of a new branch network operating model, delivering AUS $11.4 million annual cost savings
- Directed people integration, change management and communication initiatives for the merger of two Asian banks within an aggressive timeframe
- Defined an Operating Vision for a Singaporean bank's Sales, Marketing and Lending operations to increase profitability, while positioning the Bank as "Bank of Choice" in the Region

- Delivered the organisation and workforce transformation activities resulting from the simultaneous implementation of 13 new computer systems, relocation of back-of-house operations to centralised sites and improvement of service delivery for the Thai arm of an international bank
- Developed a global communications strategy for a leading beverage manufacturer to support large-scale reform of their IT operations
- Worked with a Singapore hospital's executive team to develop a strategic vision and clarify the roles of the leadership team in leading change
- Delivered a shift in field workforce customer service behaviours for a state-owned water utility through the design of role-based performance measures, associated standards and tools

Skills

Executive Leadership

Expert
Change Management

Expert
Strategic Planning

Advanced

Talent Management

Expert
Workforce Planning

Advanced
Diversity & Inclusion

Advanced
Industrial Relations

Advanced

Digital Transformation

Advanced
Cultural Transformation

Expert
Organisational Design

Advanced

Languages

English

Expert

Native speaker

Education

Majors in Political Science and English Literature

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