Australia's national postal service this week appointed Woolworths' Chief Supply Chain Officer Paul Graham as its new Chief Executive Officer, five months after previous CEO Christine Holgate stepped down amid a government investigation into an A$20,000 (US$14,000) expenditure on rewards for senior employees. He will officially take up the role in September this year. Meanwhile, Australia Post CFO Rodney Boys will continue as acting CEO.

Graham has decades of experience in the logistics industry, having worked with the supply chain of large companies around the world. Prior to joining Woolworths, he spent over 20 years in senior international roles with DHL: Global Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer for Europe, and Chief Executive Officer for the Asia Pacific, covering a total of 65 countries, some 170,000 people and billions in revenue.

According to Australia Post Chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo, the selection of the new CEO was the outcome of a “thorough global search”.

“Paul has a demonstrated track-record of delivering results in large, complex organisations and is a proven leader managing large teams,” said Di Bartolomeo. “The Board was impressed by Paul’s 40 years’ of deep industry experience working in supply chain in Australia, Europe and Asia. We are also confident Paul’s community and customer philosophy is a perfect fit for Australia Post.”

Graham said he was proud to be appointed as CEO of such an iconic Australian brand and looked forward to getting started in the role later this year, indicating that he plans to get down on the ground and meet as many of the company's employees and licensee partners as possible.

“I feel fortunate to be joining at a time when we can truly capitalize on the extraordinary growth in eCommerce experienced in the past year and continue developing our retail and digital offerings while keeping letter deliveries strong,” he said. “I am most looking forward to meeting the team across the country—the posties, Post Office workers that kept our country operating during COVID19. I am also looking forward to getting out into regional Australia where Australia Post has an enormous presence, as well as meeting with the thousands of Post Office licensee partners who play a critical role every day serving the country.”