Scott Cass-Dunbar, chief strategy officer to the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) through the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic and then advisor to the Minister that "refocused" the DTA, has moved back into the consulting world, taking a role at Avanade.
Cass-Dunbar announced this week that he had joined the IT professional services firm as client lead for its health and public services group, based in Canberra.
"I have always been passionate about the ways in which public and private organisations can collaborate to deliver better digital services and experiences for all Australians," Cass-Dunbar told iTnews.
“I’m excited to be in a role at Avanade where I can continue to build on my passion, contribute towards the growth and development of our team specialised in the health and public services industries, and work alongside talented individuals to bring our company’s purpose of making a genuine human impact to life each day.”
Avanade Australia's general manager Laura Malcolm said Cass-Dunbar joins a "fast-growing team" that is driving "digital innovation that will help improve the lives of Australians".
Cass-Dunbar joined the DTA in May 2020, after almost two decades with KPMG.
His LinkedIn has a slightly varied title of chief strategy and digital investment officer, and later general manager for the DTA's digital investment, advice, contestability and assurance division.
At DTA, Cass-Dunbar oversaw, among other things, GovEx, a program of work focused on improving user experience across government websites.
One of the projects he led within GovEx was a study of natural disaster response mechanisms, in an effort to make interacting with government services easier during times of crisis.
He departed the DTA during a period of upheaval with the agency shedding a number of its executives, and shifted into a digital advisor role with then-Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert in October 2021.
About a month later, Robert announced a "refocus" for the DTA, moving it under Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) and "significantly refocusing its mandate to provide government with the best strategic advice, oversight and assurance across the breadth of government’s entire digital estate."
The move of the agency was to be relatively short-lived; with the recent change of government, DTA will shift once again, this time into Finance.
Cass-Dunbar said on his LinkedIn that his time advising Robert "allowed me to build upon my previous roles to help the Minister drive forward Australia’s digital agenda in alignment to the country’s strategic objectives."
"My role included working with the most senior levels of industry and government to identify new digital technologies, ensure delivery was completed and review all proposed initiatives for strategic alignment," he wrote.
"The role gave me full visibility of all planned and ongoing digital investments within government along with the identification and application of new technologies including AI and ML within government."
Cass-Dunbar left government employment in July this year, coinciding with the change of government.
