FTS Group Appoints Stephen Kowal as Chief Executive Officer
FTS Group, a federated group of Australia-headquartered technology businesses, has announced the appointment of Stephen Kowal as Chief Executive Officer.
Based in Sydney, Kowal joins FTS Group with three decades of experience in the IT and commercial business world, including prior roles as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director Business Excellence for CSC Australia, CIO of BHP Billiton Base Metals based in South America, and CIO of WMC Resources during the acquisition by BHP Billiton. He brings to the role a robust track record and extensive experience of working closely and collaboratively with business partners and end user customers.
Kowal’s most recent role was as Vice President at DXC Technology where he was responsible for business development and growth across all sectors in Australia and New Zealand.
During his more than 10 years with CSC, Kowal led strategic client engagements resulting in both major new business wins and worked extensively in extending CSC business into the financial services sector. In addition to growing the domestic portfolio, Kowal led growth in his portfolio in Asia, Japan, USA and the UK.
He was also CIO and Director Business Excellence at CSC for three years where he was responsible for the company’s information technology, quality management, environmental sustainability and strategic program governance.
Kowal previously spent six years at BHP Billiton in several roles, including CIO Base Metals, Manager Global IT Outsourcing and Manager of Global Commercial Projects. He was also BHP Billiton IT Integration Lead in which he led the technical integration of WMC Resources into BHP Billiton as part of the $9.2B acquisition.
Earlier in his career, Kowal held IT and commercial roles within Cable and Wireless, Boral and the Department of Defence. He has significant global experience having worked and lived in North and South America and led teams in Australia, Europe, South Africa, North America and South America.
Stephen Kowal, CEO, FTS Group, said, “Through our combined skills and experience, FTS Group has a great opportunity to successfully partner and work collaboratively with both Australian private and public sector organisations on the delivery of their ongoing digital transformation journeys. I’m very much looking forward to strengthening our customer engagements and leading FTS Group through its next exciting phase of growth and development.”
Kowal is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FFIN), Senior Associate of Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF (Snr Assoc) CIP), Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society (MACS) and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).
About FTS Group
FTS Group is a federated group of services businesses, including ANATAS, Cubic Consulting, FTS Data & AI, FTS Resourcing, Kobold, SME Gateway and Veritec. Each business within the group pursues its own area of expertise, from change management, training and integration, through to bespoke software development and project management services.
FTS Group facilitates organic and collaborative growth through the provision of strategic and operational advice, access to capital and the provision of shared services capabilities.
January 30th, 2019
