Incoming Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson 53, who has had a 28 year career within the Qantas group is stepping into a job with a public profile like few others, but also with looming challenges. Today Hudson becomes Qantas’ chief executive, only the fourth CEO since the airline was publicly listed in 1995, and its first female CEO in the airline’s 103-year history.
Ms Hudson who holds a business degree from UTS in accounting and finance, has worked at Qantas since 1994. Starting at the airline as an auditor, she has worked her way up the ranks, holding a variety of senior commercial, customer and finance roles across the Group, in Australia and overseas, including Executive Manager of Sales and Distribution, Senior Vice President for Qantas across the Americas and New Zealand, Executive Manager of Commercial Planning, and Executive Manager for Product and Service.
In various roles ranging from catering product manager and in-flight services general manager to vice president of the Americas, chief customer officer, and chief financial officer, her responsibilities ranged from sales channels, revenue management and network planning, to transformation in catering, airports and network.
In October 2019, Vanessa who became the Group’s Chief Financial Officer held this portfolio through the COVID crisis, when sudden border closures saw revenue evaporate in a matter of weeks. Through this period, careful management including equity raising, debt raising and asset sales saw the company make it through the crisis and ultimately emerge with a stronger balance sheet than pre-COVID.
The airline is battling brand damage and a reputation crisis, as management and the board grapple with public fury at a flight credit fiasco, and the scandal that Qantas last year sold a huge number of tickets on flights it had already cancelled.
The ACCC has accused Qantas of engaging in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by selling fares on flights that were already cancelled, and it is seeking a penalty in the hundreds of millions. It remains unclear however, if those fares were deliberately sold on cancelled flights by Qantas, or whether it was the result of incompetence.
Hudson was not supposed to replace Joyce until 3rd November 2023, at the company’s annual meeting, but Joyce exited early given the public backlash. When an internal candidate is selected to become CEO although it provides a company with a continuity of culture, it cannot be business as usual at Qantas or a continuation of the former culture, which has been described as arrogant and out of touch with customers.
Alan Joyce is stepping away from the helm of Qantas two months early after 15 years and a pay packet worth $125 million.
Company culture is an outworking of people’s decisions, and for the senior management and board of Qantas, those decisions have resulted in the scandals Hudson has to fix. It does not end with Joyce’s exit.
Few jobs in corporate Australia can rival that of Qantas boss for scrutiny by customers, commentators and politicians since many Aussies regard it as the national airline and have a strong emotional attachment to the business, reinforced by Qantas advertising that pulls the heartstrings.
Business expert and economist Tim Harcourt told 9news.com.au there is “no bigger brand” in Australia than Qantas, and its boss occupies a rarified place in the public consciousness. He stated “It’s one of the country’s biggest jobs in the eyes of Australians.”
“First there is prime minister, then captain of the national cricket team, followed by Qantas CEO, in the eyes of the public.”
Harcourt, professor and chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance (IPPG) at the University of Technology Sydney, said the appointment of Hudson this week by Qantas Chairman Richard Goyder, signalled a big shift for the carrier.
Rebuilding the airline’s customers’ trust will be a priority for the new Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson as she takes charge today.
