Dr Peter Lawrence was appointed to the role of Chief Information Officer of Defence in November 2012. Since embarking on his Defence journey, Dr Lawrence has supported, initiated, and maintained a major program of work including;
- ICT Reform Program
- Organisational Change Roadmap
- ICT Shared Services
- Pathway to Change
- Internal Cultural Change Program
His vision for the future is to deliver ICT that enables Defence to deliver on mission and business outcomes, and provide the core ICT services that allow Defence to defend Australia and its national interests.
Prior to joining the Australian public service he had a long career in the private sector working for Royal Dutch Shell, ANZ, and Origin Energy. Dr Lawrence graduated from the University of Bath with a PhD in Chemistry in 1989, prior to that he completed a BSc in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham from 1982-1985. Upon graduating with his PhD he joined Royal Dutch Shell in London and embarked on a career of 18 years with them. During this time he held a wide variety of roles of increasing seniority and global reach based in the UK, Australia, and Japan. These included: Managing Director, Shell Services International Japan; Operations Manager IT Professional Services Asia Pacific Middle East and Country Manager IT, Shell Australia.
In 2007 he joined ANZ Bank based in Melbourne as the Head of IT Infrastructure. After less than a year in the role he moved to be the Chief Information Officer for ANZ New Zealand, based in Wellington, covering all of the business activities in New Zealand across retail, agricultural, commercial, and institutional banking. Upon returning from New Zealand in 2011, Dr Lawrence joined Origin Energy, based in Melbourne, as the Group Manager IT supporting the energy markets business covering the generation, wholesale, trading, LPG, and retail parts of the business.
He is married with two children, a son and a daughter. When time permits he enjoys watching most sport, keeping fit, and travelling.