Team

Three directors.
A deep bench
of named experts.

No pyramid. No bench-warmers. Every engagement is staffed by the directors themselves and a tight network of senior subcontractors, named by name in the bid documents you'll get.

Founding directors

The three of us.

All ex-EY. Combined 35+ years at a Big 4. All three hold senior Australian Government security clearances. Then we left to build this.

SI
MO
N

Simon N

Director

Twelve years inside a Big 4, finishing as the Director running Canberra Risk Transformation — twenty-plus people, EY's Geography Risk Operations Lead, and the slow realisation that the politics were eating more hours than the actual work. So he left.

Fifteen years working exclusively with Defence. The recent ledger: AUKUS Optimal Pathway. JP 9102 SATCOM. The IW Enhancements program. A CASG ERP risk reform. The kind of operator who's first online at 3am to do the things other people won't, and last off the call at night. Picked up an ADF Group Gold Level Commendation in 2015 for risk reform across a $150B portfolio, and an AIPM high commendation the year before. Doesn't bring them up unprompted.

His Federal Government range extends well beyond Defence. He's led detention reviews and onshore protection visa audits at the Department of Home Affairs (back when it was still Immigration); and at PM&C / IAG (now the National Indigenous Australians Agency) he didn't just design and deliver the grants training strategy — he procured and implemented the learning management system that runs it. The accumulation is a practitioner who knows how Canberra actually works — not from a consulting deck, but from inside the building.

BCom (ANU), GradDipCA, AgilePM, PRINCE2, CPRM. Grad Cert in Cyber Security Management in flight. Member CA ANZ and RMIA. Picks the training based on the gap, not the trophy cabinet.

simon@thecolabpartners.com.au →

CHAR
LES

Charles A, JD, CPRM

Director

Lawyer who became a risk practitioner who became a Smart Buyer. Eight years at EY through 2020, then Joint Domain Lead Analyst in the CASG Smart Buyer / Independent Assurance Review Directorate — the function that exists because Defence procurement is genuinely hard and someone has to think clearly about it.

Concurrently Commercial Lead on the JCG IW Enhancements project, where he led the BUYICT panel approach to market. Then sat down and wrote the CASG Project & Product Risk Management Practice Guide. Defence took it, embedded it in the CASG Risk Management Manual, and now every PM in CASG is quietly following the rulebook Charles wrote.

Has touched LC3 SPO, JP 2097-4 Special Operations Rotary Wing, the PM&C/NIAA LMS pilot, DSS's Community Grants Hub, the DoF Comcover contestability review, and the Health National Medical Stockpile audit. Picked up the same ADF Group Gold Level Commendation Simon did, for the same CDG risk reform. Sits on the Judo Australia Audit & Risk Committee for the love of it.

Juris Doctor, GradDipLP, BCom/BArts (all ANU). CPRM. Argues like a lawyer. Thinks like a risk practitioner. Delivers like a partner.

charles@thecolabpartners.com.au →

CHRIS
TINA

Christina L

Director

Sixteen years in audit, assurance and governance. Almost a decade at EY, leaving as Director. Then — and this is the line that lands in client meetings — Chief Internal Auditor of the ATO. Twenty-three FTE. The second-largest internal audit function in the Commonwealth. The Tax Commissioner on speed-dial, the Audit & Risk Committee in her diary as the chair, and the ERM, Security/BCM and Black Economy Program committees next to it.

Brought COSO controls mapping and rolling line-two maturity assessments into the ATO while she was there. 130+ reviews delivered across 35+ government and private clients — DSS, Home Affairs, Agriculture, Treasury, TAFE NSW, APSC, Service NSW, ASQA, the list keeps going. Since 2019 has been designing and running Defence's DISP Assurance Framework: entry-level assessments, ongoing suitability, deep-dive audits.

BCom (Accounting), Bachelor of Law, GradDipLP (all ANU). CPA Australia, CPRM, PRINCE2 Foundations. Three years on the Women's Legal Centre ACT Finance & Risk Committee. Does the work, then quietly does it again, better.

christina@thecolabpartners.com.au →

The extended bench

The depth behind the directors.

Co.Lab's model is small core team plus a deep network of senior specialists we bring in by engagement. We don't publish their identities here — but every formal bid response names them, with credentials, and every client meets them before they sign. Here's the shape of the bench.

Risk-standards heritage

The people who wrote the standard

A former Big-4 Partner who sat on the ANZ Standards Joint Technical Committee on Risk Management — and contributed to ISO 31000 and AS/NZS 5050:2010. The standards every risk practitioner in the country is working from.

Smart Buyer / IARs

50+ Independent Assurance Reviews

A senior Defence-industry veteran with 50+ IARs delivered for CASG since 2017. Lead facilitator on 33 Smart Buyer workshops in 2024 alone. The kind of operator gate panels actually listen to.

Industry executive experience

Lived the operating side

A former MD/CFO of a global heavy-equipment manufacturer, then GM of an Australian shipbuilding joint venture. MBA. Brings the operating-side perspective most consultants never had to live with.

Programs at depth

Doctoral-level project management

A PhD-level program management practitioner working across complex Defence and Federal environments. Where "best practice" meets what actually works on the ground.

Treasury & finance

$4B portfolios, $300M+ saved

A CPA with a Master of Financial Management. Has managed a $4B debt portfolio and a $10B FX hedge program — and delivered $300M+ in savings through treasury policy alone.

Procurement at scale

$100M acquisitions, $40M renegotiated

A senior procurement practitioner who has run a $100M strategic acquisition of soldier-borne systems and renegotiated supplier contracts for $40M+ in savings. Holds the line on requirements.

DISP & assurance

A dedicated Defence assurance team

A standing DISP audit team partnering with Christina since 2019 — entry-level, ongoing suitability and deep-dive assessments. The full lifecycle, by the people who helped build the framework.

Engineering certification

Defence technical regulatory frameworks

An Engineering Manager specialising in military systems certification under Defence's technical regulatory frameworks. Where the regulator's word is the last word.

Cyber engineering alliance

IRAP-accredited depth via Highlands

Through our alliance with Highlands Information Security, an ASD-endorsed IRAP Assessor (No. 268) with CISSP, CISA, and IBM Certified Solution Advisor credentials. NV1 cleared. Our cyber engineering partner for engagements that need accredited depth.

Want to know who'd
actually be on your job?

We'll tell you upfront. Names, not roles. Bios, not categories. No bait-and-switch with juniors after the contract's signed.

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