“The reality is that rail is a really progressive industry. From the many safety and social benefits through to economic and environmental advantages, rail plays such a crucial role to transport goods and keep shelves stocked, while also creating jobs and connecting communities.”
Current positions
- Chief Financial Officer, ARTC
- Director, Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board
- Director, Minda Incorporated
Previous positions
- Group Executive Corporate Services & Safety, ARTC
- General Manager Financial Services, ARTC
- Acting General Manager Commercial & Customer Service, ARTC
- General Manager Commercial, ARTC
- Manager, Corporate Accounting, ARTC
- Finance Transition Manager, ARTC
- Project Accountant – NSW Lease, ARTC
- Director and Company Secretary, Mary Mackillop Care SA Ltd
Career Snapshot
Kylie Gallasch is the Chief Financial Officer at the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) – the first female CFO in the company’s history.
With responsibility for all finance-related activities across the company, including strategic financial planning, forecasting and accounting, Kylie also leads ARTC’s activities with major investors, debt capital markets and ratings agencies, in addition to the company’s procurement function.
After starting her career in banking and finance in 1988, Kylie has been a passionate advocate of Australia’s rail sector – including moving more freight on rail – since entering the industry nearly three decades ago.
A Director on the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board and for South Australian not-for-profit charity Minda, Kylie is an outstanding leader who has played a pivotal role in growing ARTC into one of the largest freight rail network managers in Australia.
In her own words
I started my career in banking and finance, but when my role was being moved to Sydney, I wanted to stay in Adelaide and joined ARTC (then the Australian National Railways Commission) on a six-week contract. That was in 1998 and I have been with ARTC ever since.
At ARTC you come for the job and stay for the people. It is an awesome organisation. When I first joined there were just 13 people here – now there are more than 2,000 who help maintain and operate 8,500km of freight and passenger rail lines across the country.
Initially I came in to support the establishment and separation of the track access business unit from the Australian National Railways Commission, to become a Government Business Enterprise, corporatised in April 1998.
Over the past 25+ years, I have progressed through a diverse range of accounting and corporate services roles at ARTC, including General Manager Financial Services, and Group Executive Corporate Services and Safety.
In my role as General Manager Financial Services, a highlight was developing the commercial business case which gave rise to the first equity announcement for the delivery of Inland Rail – a 1,600km freight rail line that will connect Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland
Then I stepped outside my comfort zone and applied for the position of Group Executive Corporate Services and Safety. This role covered risk, safety, environment, technical standards, corporate resilience including cyber, and working with government and organisations around resilience and protection of critical infrastructure, procurement in contracts, systems and technology. We delivered our first cyber resilience strategy in that time, which was a big learning experience for me. I set up a team of specialists as I needed to rely on them as the experts. Throughout our projects I educated myself, so I knew enough of each of the areas to ask the right questions and test the validity of the propositions and recommendations being made. It involved a lot of relationship building.
In 2020, I was appointed CFO to support the commercial management of ARTC and our operational direction in pursuit of our exciting future to deliver essential transport infrastructure to the people and businesses of Australia. Helping establish Inland Rail as a subsidiary company of ARTC has also been a major focus, as has overseeing the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, which we continue to ramp up for a more sustainable future through modal shift to rail.
Give me the how
I am more of a glass half full than glass half empty person and look for solutions and opportunities.
I reflect on Winston Churchill telling the engineers charged with building the inland port to enable the storming of Normandy during the Second World War that he didn’t want to hear all the reasons why it couldn’t happen. He wanted to know how it could happen! We hear a lot from people about why things can’t happen, when what we really need to focus on is – what do we need to do to make it possible.
A quote from American filmmaker Jennifer Lee also resonates with me: ‘Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your heart on fire.’ For me, I’m passionate about Australia’s rail industry and guiding the financial functions of ARTC where we’re always seeking new and more efficient ways to enhance our rail network for our customers and the national economy.
Fast tracking diversity
There is a wealth of opportunity in rail but it’s often inaccurately perceived as a man’s world and as being extremely conservative.
The reality is that rail is a really progressive industry. From the many safety and social benefits through to economic and environmental advantages, rail plays such a crucial role to transport goods and keep shelves stocked, while also creating jobs and connecting communities.
At ARTC, we’re proud of the part we play and of our wonderful workforce across the country to keep modernising our network. There’s such a strong and supportive culture among our increasingly diverse workforce – something I’m really proud of as the executive sponsor of our ESG strategy, which includes our Reconciliation Action Plan and diversity initiatives.
Enabling flexible working has also been really important, which was a silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic. When I had my first child and worked from home in 2000, this type of arrangement was virtually unheard of. Now we are providing all forms of flexibility and it is working for everyone across the workforce, not just women or parents.
My vision for the next five years is…
My vision and hope is that rail achieves a far more diverse representation to become the predominant transport for freight and heavy bulk commodities, recognising the huge benefits rail provides – environmentally, socially and in terms of community safety.