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About us

Our team

 
 

Verian collaborates with clients across Australia, working with all levels of government, along with not-for profits and non-government organisations in every state and territory.  We use our expertise to understand, design, shape and evaluate public policy, communications, behaviour change, service delivery, regulation, and more.  Verian Australia has offices in Sydney (Warrane), Melbourne (Naarm), Canberra, Brisbane (Meanjin), Adelaide (Tarntanya) and Perth (Boorloo).

Verian in Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. 

Kirsty Macmillan

Kirsty MacMillan

Managing Director

Kirsty is a marketing insights professional with over twenty years’ experience in developing insights-lead strategies for the public and private sectors. Kirsty’s role in Verian is to provide expert strategic consultancy for Government clients across APAC for brand and communications as well as customer and employee experience. Within Australia, Kirsty is involved in critical client strategies at both a State and Federal Government level.

Kirsty’s background allows her to bring a unique blend of public and private sector expertise in terms of design and strategic advice to Government having worked for a range of high-profile clients from both sectors globally. Kirsty is highly skilled with a range of methodologies including qualitative, quantitative, analytics and digital. Kirsty is responsible for driving the growth of Verian, including our offices across ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

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Sarah Zanker

National Director, State Government

Sarah leads Verian’s State Government business in Australia. For the last 15 years, Sarah has partnered with state government and essential services organisations to deliver meaningful insights that support decisions to improve the lives of Australian communities. Sarah works at the intersection of social research and community engagement, helping clients shape strategy, policy, regulatory and communications decisions through a blend of both statistically valid and community-led deliberative methods. Sarah is also a contributor to the industry, having presented research findings and thought leadership at a range of conferences and events.

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Craig Donovan

National Director, Federal Government

Craig is responsible for providing strategic insights and recommendations for key Federal clients, and specialises in behavioural and communications work. Craig is skilled at working in complex policy and service delivery environments, including using research and insights to inform behavioural and communications development. Prior to joining Verian, Craig had extensive experience in campaign and communications delivery, working in health, service delivery, social policy and central agencies in the Australian Government (Finance, Prime Minister and Cabinet and Treasury). Craig is adept at managing and working with a variety of internal government stakeholder audiences across all levels, including presenting evidence and insights to senior decision-makers, Ministers and Cabinet level committees.

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Damian Hampton

National Director, Critical Infrastructure

Damian has more than 30 years’ experience in market research. As National Director, Damian is responsible for providing thought leadership, strategic insights, and growth recommendations for clients with a particular focus on the Critical Infrastructure Sector. His experience includes both qualitative and quantitative research, with expertise in the water and energy sector. He consults to several organisations within these sectors, including Sydney Water, Energy Queensland (including Energex, Ergon), Western Power, Water Corporation, Power and Water Corporation, Hunter Water, Seqwater, Queensland Urban Utilities, and Unitywater.
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Susan Knight

Commercial Director

Susan is Commercial Director of Verian Australia. With over 15 years’ experience working with clients across Local, State and Federal Government, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her position. As Commercial Director, she is focused on guiding business development, operational, and financial performance. Passionate about work that has a positive social impact, Susan works closely with teams across the business to help our clients understand people and create a better society.
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Erin Maher

Senior Director Federal

ACT State Director

Erin has over 20 years’ social research and evaluation experience and is highly experienced in the application of both qualitative and quantitative techniques across a wide variety of social issues. As Senior Director and Canberra lead, Erin has amassed considerable experience working with not-for-profit, federal, state and local Government clients. Understanding her client’s needs and business objectives, having empathy with end-users, expertise in ethical research with vulnerable groups, and the ability to draw appropriate conclusions and make actionable recommendations has underpinned Erin’s success.

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Simon Bate

State Director, New South Wales

Simon is Verian Australia's New South Wales State Director. He is a seasoned dualist research specialist deeply passionate about fostering large-scale social change. With a foundation in the UK government, and many years at a boutique strategy agency in Sydney, Simon transitioned his expertise to the public sector, helping government and NFPs engage and connect with citizens across policy, service, and communications. Simon's approach blends advanced research techniques, behavioural insights, and human-centered processes to elevate customer experiences.
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David Spicer

State Director, Victoria

With a background in psychology, social research and evaluation, David is the Victorian State Director at Verian. David has over 23 years’ experience in the design and implementation of research and evaluation for a broad range of public and private sector clients. He has managed research and evaluation projects with a focus on the evaluation of products and services; assessment of community attitudes; and evaluation of social policy. His particular area of specialty is research with seldom-heard audiences such as people with disabilities and their carers; people affected by mental health issues; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities; and migrant and refugee communities.
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Richard Bishop

State Director, Queensland

Richard is the Queensland State Director, with more than 20 years’ experience specialising in communications and behavioural insights. Richard advises a range of clients in the public sector, with particular expertise in the areas of evaluating communications to assess their impact on influencing behaviour change and understanding ROI. Richard deeply understands the needs and ways of working with Government to ensure optimal research outcomes. He is a confident and skilled communicator and presenter, with strong stakeholder engagement and a partnering philosophy, aimed at ensuring timely delivery of reliable, accurate and sustainable outcomes for clients at all levels.
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Chris Jenner

State Director, Western Australia

Chris brings almost two decades of experience to his role as State Director for Western Australia, overseeing some of the state's largest programs. He’s worked extensively across the public and private sectors in the APAC region, guiding brand and communications strategies, customer insights, product development, pricing, and customer experience/engagement programs. At the heart of Chris's work is a deep understanding of human behaviour, innovation, and market trends, through which he provides forward-looking, evidence-based guidance to our clients.

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Naomi Downer

State Director, South Australia and NT

Naomi has over seventeen years’ experience in market and social research and operations management and currently leads the South Australian team and Northern Territory business. With a background managing high stakes studies, Naomi is skilled at developing tailored methodologies, which meet client objectives, timeframes and budgets and deliver reliable and insightful evidence. She prides herself on ensuring the research journey is a positive one for all those involved, leaving nothing to chance and building trusted relationships in the process. Naomi has worked with state and federal government across a range of topics, including mixed quantitative, qualitative, engagement and consultation projects across Australia.

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