CoRE Learning Foundation is thrilled to celebrate the appointment of Kate Driver as the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) ACT, and Executive Director of IPAA National. Kate, one of CoRE's co-founders and board members, brings a wealth of experience and a profound commitment to public service. This new role continues a long career in both her executive and philanthropic lives, driven by passion and purpose.
In her new role, Kate will lead IPAA teams with a vision to foster creative leadership and collaboration within Australia's public sector. In making the announcement, Katherine Jones PSM, IPAA ACT President and Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, expressed her enthusiasm for Kate's appointment, highlighting her extensive experience and leadership in the Australian Public Service and her important work in the philanthropic sector. Kate's professional background includes an influential role at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, where she contributed to shaping the foundational year of the APS Reform Agenda, and her long tenure as the Deputy Director and General Manager of Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, which is where she met co-founders of the CoRE Learning Foundation Suzy Urbaniak and Christian Price, and their journey together began!
Speaking with the CoRE team a few weeks into the role, Kate was particularly pleased to report that her first official engagement was speaking to the public sector’s future leaders. Addressing the Future Leaders Forum this week, Kate encouraged emerging public sector leaders across the Commonwealth and ACT Public Service to look beyond their teams or projects and find a broader purpose and passion focused on their service to the community. For her, CoRE is one of those passions.
It was a passion and purpose beyond the executive career that compelled Kate to help establish the CoRE Learning Foundation with Suzy and Christian and encourage creativity and innovative thinking in our future workforce. Talking with the public sector Future Leaders, Kate examined generational trends in the current workforce, noting that in the next 5 years, the first of Generation Alpha are due to enter the world of work. She asked their future supervisors to consider what those young workers might need from their leaders to inspire and excite their curiosity to think big and tackle the challenges before them. One of Kate’s favourite sayings is “the future workforce is in today’s classrooms” and so she was pleased to draw from her work with CoRE Learning Foundation and encourage the Future Leaders to consider the context of how the important formative years of their future staff’s education might look today.
As she embarks on this new chapter, Kate is eager to leverage her practical experience and passion to enhance IPAA’s role as a pivotal institutional partner to public sector staff, academic partners, and Australian businesses and communities. Her appointment has been warmly welcomed by the IPAA ACT Board and IPAA National President, both acknowledging her innovative leadership and expertise across private, public, and philanthropic sectors.
CoRE Learning Foundation congratulates Kate Driver on her appointment as CEO of IPAA ACT. We are proud to witness her continued dedication to public service and leadership excellence, and we look forward to the positive impact she will undoubtedly bring to the public sector landscape.
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