About

Kirsten Gray serves as group executive for corporate services and as company secretary in a broad role responsible for a portfolio of functions at Melbourne-headquarted Orica, including legal, corporate affairs, environmental remediation, property and company secretarial. In consultation with the group general counsel, Gray leads the overall legal function from a strategic level including the management of its risk, its strategic partnerships and overall guidance of its function.

Since joining in 2015 Gray has moulded a dispersed group of global lawyers into an independent centrally managed team and worked on building closer connections which can leverage an impact for the company of a global team with common goals. Establishing measurement and metrics on cost, work and output with regular external benchmarking, she has implemented these systems to help understand progress, drive continuous improvement and contribute in a very deliberate way to the company’s financial outcomes.

Gray has introduced controls to mitigate key risks in the area of compliance, including a framework consisting of new standards, automated workflow approval systems and a small global compliance team to ensure that we behave in accordance with Orica’s values. Speaking on her current role, Gray identifies that, ‘moving from a purely legal role into a broader role has been a fantastically interesting experience’.