Kinetic has appointed Allison Shevlin as its new chief people officer, strengthening the transport operator’s executive leadership team as the company accelerates its long-term growth and sustainability ambitions.
The appointment comes at a significant time for the firm, one of the world’s largest transport operators, which connects millions of passengers every day through bus and rail operations across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, and Asia.
Commenting on her appointment, Shevlin highlighted that Kinetic’s purpose-driven focus on sustainable mobility, community impact, and environmental responsibility strongly aligned with her leadership philosophy. In her new role, she will focus on building a people strategy that supports Kinetic’s growth ambitions while fostering an inclusive and high-performance workplace culture where employees feel valued and empowered.
Retail experience
Before joining Kinetic, Shevlin served as General Manager People and Capability at Kmart Australia Limited, overseeing major organisational integration initiatives across Australia and New Zealand.
During her tenure, she played a key role in integrating Target Australia into Kmart Group under the “One Business Two Brands Strategy”. The transformation involved major changes across people, technology, and business processes, helping drive operational efficiencies across the business.
She also previously held the role of General Manager People and Capability at Target Australia, where she led the end-to-end people strategy for Target stores while supporting the integration of the people function into the wider Kmart Group structure.
Transformation focus
Earlier in her career, Shevlin ran an independent HR consulting and advisory practice, partnering with Boards, CEOs, and CHROs across industries on transformation strategy, mergers and acquisitions due diligence, organisational effectiveness, and strategic HR governance.
She later joined RMIT University as chief people officer and member of the Vice Chancellor’s Executive team, leading major workforce transformation initiatives during a challenging period for the education sector.
During her tenure, she developed responses to pandemic-related financial pressures, led diversity and inclusion programmes that received national recognition, reshaped industrial agreements, and transformed the HR function into a strategic business partnering model.
Extensive background
Shevlin also spent more than five years at Simplot Australia in senior HR leadership roles, including Executive Director Human Resources and General Manager Human Resources. Her work focused on enterprise-wide transformation, leadership capability, organisational redesign, workforce development, and safety strategy.
Her broader career includes senior HR leadership roles at Sensis, EnergyAustralia, National Australia Bank, King & Wood Mallesons, Bechtel, and GE Aerospace, where she built deep expertise in organisational transformation, workforce integration, industrial relations, leadership development, and operational excellence.