Rebecca
Skinner PSM GAICD

Few leaders in Australia have been tested at scale the way Rebecca Skinner has. Over a thirty-year career at the highest levels of the Australian public service, she has steered some of the nation's most complex organisations through their most defining and demanding moments, and emerged with both hard-won wisdom and an unwavering commitment to people-centred leadership.

As CEO of Services Australia, Rebecca led an agency of 30,000 people delivering more than $230 billion in payments to every Australian, navigating the social security and health demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastation of repeated natural disasters, a major technological transformation, and the reputational and cultural weight of the Robodebt aftermath. That work culminated in guiding the agency through a Royal Commission, an experience that tested institutional resilience, transparency and the courage to lead with integrity under the full scrutiny of government and the public.

Before that, as Associate Secretary of the Department of Defence, Rebecca held responsibility for national security, strategic policy and intelligence at the apex of Australia's government. She served as acting Secretary of Defence during the Black Summer bushfire crisis, leading the national response at a moment of extraordinary operational and humanitarian complexity.

Her breadth of experience spans large-scale technology acquisition and program management, international policy and intelligence, and the stewardship of institutional governance and risk — always in service of Australia's national interests and the people government exists to serve.

Decorated with the Public Service Medal and France's National Order of Merit, Rebecca is now an independent adviser, executive coach and leadership educator. She brings to every audience an authentic, grounded perspective on what it means to lead through crisis without losing sight of purpose, people or principle.

Rebecca speaks to leaders across sectors on resilience and adaptive leadership under pressure, navigating institutional complexity and cultural change, leading through crisis with integrity, public accountability and governance, and the human dimensions of large-scale transformation.