The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has appointed Natalie Turmine as the inaugural CEO of the newly launched and federally funded SkillsEQuipped Jobs and Skills Council (JSC).
Turmine has 27 years of leadership experience in both commercial and not-for-profit organisations including her most recent role as CEO of Campbell Page.
Established by the ARA, SkillsEQuipped is a not-for-profit JSC covering skills needs and workforce challenges across retail, personal services, hospitality, tourism, and arts sectors.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra said Turmine’s appointment is a strategic decision.
“Natalie is a passionate leader, dedicated to workforce development with a wealth of experience in the delivery of government-funded employment and education programs across Australia and advising on future-focused productivity and workforce development needs across a range of industries,” Zahra said.
“We have no doubt she will be a highly successful leader of SkillsEQuipped and will drive better outcomes for the vital industries of retail, personal services, hospitality, tourism, and the arts.”
Turmine said the vision for SkillsEQuipped is to develop solutions to workforce challenges across the retail, personal services, hospitality, tourism and arts sectors.
“Our aim is to understand the challenges facing our representative industries and develop innovative solutions that deliver positive outcomes for learners and employers, and provide industry with a stronger, more strategic voice in shaping the skills of the future.”
Following the appointment of a CEO, ARA noted that SkillsEQuipped will ramp up stakeholder engagement across all of the relevant sectors.
The new entity is a tri-partite, not-for-profit, with a number of employee and employer organisations including some ARA members as foundation members.
SkillsEQuipped joins a selection of other JSCs across Australia.