About

Prior to joining Incitec Pivot in 2008, Tamara Kayser practised M&A and corporate law in Melbourne, with King & Wood Mallesons, and for three years at Linklaters in London. Initially her role at Incitec Pivot was supporting the supply chain, trading and manufacturing facets of the business in Australia. In 2011, she was appointed deputy general counsel, managing the Australian legal team, and in late 2013 became group general counsel. As group general counsel, she has a group-wide leadership role which entails balancing legal, commercial, compliance, governance and ethical responsibilities across a multinational business.

As well as advising the Incitec Pivot board, she is a key influencer of Incitec Pivot’s executive team, a mentor within the legal team and the broader business, and an adviser to people across the business on a range of issues. Incitec Pivot is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial explosives, industrial chemicals and fertilisers. With operations on five continents, including seven ammonia plants and seven initiating systems plants. Incitec Pivot has five lawyers in Australia, three in the US and two in Turkey, covering the group’s operations in countries including Australia, the US, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and Hong Kong as well as obligations and responsibilities flowing from its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. The various jurisdictions in which the group has operations give rise not only to some jurisdiction-specific legal issues but also to different cultural considerations and requirements. Kayser’s legal team advises not only on legal and compliance matters but also has an important role in leading on and working through commercial, strategic, reputational and ethical issues. The complex, multi-faceted disaster of a sulphuric acid transport train derailment in December 2015 illustrates the complexity of the business and issues which can arise within it.

That incident required significant advice covering a broad range of issues, many of which were time-critical owing to the potential for environmental impacts arising from the incident as well as the significant business continuity and community issues raised. Kayser’s role was far broader than the provision of legal advice, and required her to advise a broad and diverse range of people from the board through to site operational personnel. Her deep knowledge of Incitec Pivot’s business and appreciation of interconnections between various parts of the business, enabled her to serve a broad leadership role beyond an advisory role, in managing through this critical incident. Under Kayser’s leadership, the relationship between the legal team and business units has been further developed and strengthened, to ensure that legal and commercial risks are managed optimally and collaboratively.

On her leadership strategy, Kayser identifies that ‘senior lawyers in my team are members of leadership teams within the business, enabling them to give pre-emptive advice on business matters and to participate in the planning process for commercial facets of the business’. Kayser sits on the zero harm council for the executive team, and members of her team sit on the zero harm councils established at business unit level. She also collaborates with, and provides counsel to, Incitec Pivot’s in-house lawyers in overseas jurisdictions.