Susan Pascoe Joins BaxterLawley as NFP Consultant

The former head of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), Susan Pascoe AM, has joined national consulting firm BaxterLawley – adding to her hefty portfolio of new appointments since leaving the commission in September.

Melbourne-based Pascoe will take up a full-time paid position with Perth-based BaxterLawley which specialises in research, policy, strategy, and national consulting services to the not-for-profit and public sectors.

“We are absolutely delighted to have Susan join our team and I look forward to working with her in this new capacity,” BaxterLawley co-founder and managing director Penny Knight said.

“She has built a solid reputation following her universally acclaimed work at the ACNC, showing leadership and drive that have left that organisation well placed to pursue its next stage in development.

“Susan is rightly well respected and brings skills and capacity that will add to our already well-credentialed team.”

Baxter Lawley co-founder, director and University of Western Australia researcher, Professor David Gilchrist told Pro Bono News with the “unique experience of being Australia’s first charity regulator” there had been plenty of opportunities that had come Pascoe’s way.

“There are two major things that Susan will support us in. The first one is providing support and consulting services in the context of corporate governance for not-for-profit organisations generally,” Gilchrist said.

“And then the second part of that is that we probably do about 70 per cent of our work on the eastern seaboard and so Susan’s role will be to really build those connections on the eastern seaboard and to make sure that we have got the best possible outcomes for clients as we look to use our IP across the whole country.

“We are very excited. We started BaxterLawley really in response to a need to feed a lot of [our] academic work and to come up with industry ready research outcomes that supported the sector. So our recruitment process of bringing principals into BaxterLawley really focuses on our commitment to the sector and there’s no doubt that Susan brings a great reputation in that regard.”

Just last week Pascoe was elected as president of the nation’s peak-body for aid and international development non-governmental organisations.

She will serve a two-year term leading the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)’s board which is comprised of leaders from across the peak-body’s membership.

She has been a long-standing champion of ACFID’s self-regulatory practice, co-launching ACFID’s new code of good practice earlier in 2017 in her role as the inaugural commissioner of the ACNC.

She told Pro Bono News at the time that it was an “honour” to be appointed as ACFID’s new president and her decision to accept the role was “as much a heart as a head thing”.

Shortly after her time at the national charity regulator ending on 30 September Pascoe was also appointed as head of the newly formed Community Directors Council.

The council is a new advisory arm of the Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA), an enterprise of Our Community, that serves as a governance network for the Australian not-for-profit sector.

The Community Directors Council was formed to foster the development of the ICDA’s curriculum and programs, while also representing the interests of community directors.

Gilchrist said the announcements that have been made so far are around the pro bono contributions which Pascoe is making.

“She is currently conducting and finalising a number of projects as well which she will wind up around Christmas,” he said.

“For her to begin full time and hit the ground running, then late January is the logical time for that to happen.”

Pascoe who is currently taking leave said in a statement: “I am very much looking forward to working with the team at BaxterLawley, reinforcing my commitment to the public and not-for- profit sectors and contributing to many wonderful organisations.”