Qantas has announced that Vanessa Hudson, the current Chief Financial Officer for Qantas Group, will take over as the companyโs CEO when current chief Alan Joyce retires from the role in November 2023.
As the long-serving CEO of our nationโs largest airline, Joyce will make way for Qantasโ first female CEO, who has been with the company since she joined in 1994 and has worked in a number of executive positions across the Group for almost three decades.
Ms Hudson will continue in her current role while serving as CEO designate and joining the Board before taking over as the companyโs 13th CEO in 103 years.
โA lot of thought has gone into this succession and the Board had a number of high-quality candidates to consider, both internally and externally,โ said Qantas chairman Richard Goyder.
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โVanessa has a deep understanding of this business after almost three decades in a range of roles both onshore and offshore across commercial, customer and finance. She has a huge amount of airline experience and sheโs an outstanding leader.โ
According to Mr Goyder, the transition comes at a time when Qantas Group is โextremely well positionedโ with the Chairman referencing a โclear strategy, a strong balance sheet and record profitabilityโ for the carrier.
Hudonsโs appointment comes after much speculation as to who within the Qantas Group will replace Joyce come November. Her name was in the hat as early as this year, along with former Air New Zealand executive Cam Wallace, who was appointed by Qantas to lead its international business, as well as Qantas Loyalty Chief Executive Olivia Wirth.
โAt the Boardโs request, I extended my time as CEO to see through the COVID recovery plan. so now that weโre on the other side of that crisis itโs a logical time for me to step down,โ said Joyce.
โThereโs still a lot I want to deliver in the next six months and at the top of that list is ensuring a smooth handover to Vanessa, who Iโm sure will excel in the role.โ
You can read the full announcement here.
