Bupa has promoted Louise McKechnie to Head of Corporate Affairs - Health Insurance. She has been working for the company's Health Insurance function for close to six years, initially joining as Corporate Affairs Manager.

A communications professional specialising in the hospital and healthcare space, Louise previously held roles at Cabrini Health, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and Porter Novelli. Her prior career as a Registered Nurse in both public and private Victorian hospitals gives her first-hand understanding of the healthcare environment that now informs her corporate affairs work.

Think HQ has promoted Blake Mason to a senior strategic communications team position as Head of PR & Audience Inclusion. Based in Sydney, he will lead the agency's PR offering while driving strategic and community-aligned engagement with diverse audiences - including LGBTQ+ communities, First Nations peoples, people with disability, those in regional and remote areas, and multicultural audiences.

Since joining the agency in 2022, Mason has delivered various campaigns across government, corporate, and not-for-profit sectors, with a focus on inclusive, purpose-led communications.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has named Vanessa Grimm as Director of Corporate Affairs. She joined the team after a stint at the Committee for Sydney as Strategic Advisor.

Prior to that, Vanessa was the Executive Director of Communications and Government Relations at the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport. She was also previously Executive Director at the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, which included entities such as Investment NSW, Hospitality and Racing, Destination NSW, Office of the 24-Hour Economy and Create NSW, while also leading teams at Transport for NSW and Sydney Trains.

Before working in government, Vanessa was a journalist in both Sydney and Newcastle at Sky News, Nine News, NBN and Prime News.