Dharmendra Chandran appointed CPO, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Dharmendra Chandran has been appointed as chief people officer of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC. Dharma as he is popularly known, will be responsible for leading the people and culture division at the ABC, starting October 11, 2021.

A postgraduate in commerce, organisation and management studies from the University of New South Wales, Dharma started his career as general manager – HR, for the business and consumer banking division of Westpac Banking Corporation, based out of Sydney, Australia. When he left five years later, he was general manager, strategy & HR – consumer financial services division of the Bank. From January 2009 to December 2010, he was partner in charge – Far East area performance and reward practice, at Ernst & Young. There, he was responsible for growth strategy, thought leadership and profitability of the performance & reward practice across Asia-Pacific, ex Oceania, Japan and India. His next stop was Leighton Holdings, where he joined as acting EGM – HR, and was elevated to group chief HR officer within months, and later to group chief HR and corporate services officer in less than two years.

In May 2014, he was also on the advisory board of Service NSW, serving alongside the NSW customer service commissioner, who chaired the Board and three NSW government secretaries. He also served as chairman of independent advisory panel of SafeWork NSW for over a year and a half. This was a part-time assignment.

In 2015, he joined KPMG-Australia as national partner in charge – people advisory practice. Less than a year later, he was elevated to the position of senior advisor, reporting to the CEO and working with members of the National Executive Committee to develop and execute strategic initiatives, including acquisitions, for the people advisory practice.

From August 2017 to June 2018, he was the part-time on-board member of the nomination and remuneration committee of United Insurance Company. He served for a year and a half as the member of external advisory council of the University of Wollongong in Dubai. A year and a half later, in 2017, he was back in Australia, to do a short stint as interim HR executive, GFG Alliance – Australia.

For almost two and a half years, he was non-executive director, Mortgage Choice. He has held part-time founder, executive, director and non-executive positions in many organisations, including A2B Australia, where he had been serving as interim transformation executive before joining the ABC.

David Anderson, managing director, the ABC, is confident that “Dharma’s substantial human resources expertise will be invaluable to the national public broadcaster, particularly as we emerge from the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dharma himself is “looking forward to making a significant contribution to our future success.”