Jane is Deputy Secretary of our Resources and Strategy Group. Previously, she was seconded to the National Recovery and Resilience Agency as Acting Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Coordinator General for 6 weeks and acted as Deputy Secretary across industry and science policy and program functions for 8 months.

Jane led the Science and Commercialisation Policy Division between 2015 and 2020.

For most of 2020, she worked across a succession of taskforces related to the Australian Government’s response to the pandemic.

She served as Head of the Strategic Policy Division from November 2020 to July 2021.

From 2010 to 2013, she managed the Enterprise Connect program, a forerunner to the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, where she was responsible for program delivery, policy, and a suite of advisory bodies. 

Before joining the Industry portfolio, Jane worked for 20 years in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Australia’s bilateral relationships with a number of Middle Eastern, Asian and Pacific countries. She was posted to Damascus, Honiara and Noumea (serving as Consul General to the French Territories in the Pacific). 

Jane was the first Australian woman to lead a peace mission when she led the International Peace Monitoring Team in Solomon Islands in 2001. She served as an Adviser to the Solomon Islands Prime Minister in 2002.

She has studied Mandarin, Arabic, Solomons Pijin and French.  She holds a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Mandarin) with Honours and a Graduate Diploma in Foreign Affairs and Trade, both from the Australian National University.

Jane was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2023 for her outstanding public service through sustained contribution to industry and science policy and programs to improve the economic wellbeing, global reputation and national interests of Australia.

Jane is a member of the Council of the Institute of Public Administration of Australia (ACT).