Primo Foods has appointed Marese Doherty as its new Head of People Services & Operations, bringing a seasoned people leader into the business as it continues to expand its workforce and operations across Australia.
Doherty joins the company with more than 20 years of experience spanning human resources leadership, people operations, talent acquisition, employee relations, workforce management, organisational development and strategic HR business partnering, as posted on her LinkedIn.
Her appointment further strengthens Primo Foods' people leadership team at a time of ongoing growth across the organisation.
Qantas experience
Before joining Primo Foods, Doherty spent more than four years at Qantas, where she held a number of senior people leadership roles.
Most recently, she served as Senior People Manager – Corporate, supporting the Office of the Group Chief Financial Officer and Chief Communications Officer & Corporate Affairs.
She also held the role of Acting Head of People for Group Risk & Services and the Office of the Group CFO, overseeing strategic people initiatives and workforce management programmes.
During her time at Qantas, Doherty worked closely with senior business leaders across Group Safety, Health & Security, Group Operational Services, Group Risk & Services and corporate functions. Her responsibilities included workforce planning, organisational effectiveness, employee engagement, leadership support and people operations.
Broad HR background
Prior to Qantas, Doherty was Senior People Business Partner at Coates Hire, where she partnered with senior executives to align people strategies with broader business objectives.
She also spent more than 11 years with Menzies Aviation as National Human Resources Manager. In that role, she led HR operations and people initiatives across the organisation, building expertise in workforce management, employee relations, talent development and executive-level HR business partnering.
Earlier in her career, she worked as a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at Flight Centre Travel Group, focusing on recruitment and talent acquisition programmes.
Career foundations
Doherty began her career with Virgin Australia as Guest Services Supervisor and People Leader. Based at Sydney Domestic Airport, she led frontline teams and oversaw customer service operations.
Over the years, she has developed extensive expertise in people leadership, organisational development, workforce planning, employee relations, talent management and operational HR strategy across the aviation, travel, services and corporate sectors.
With a diverse background across some of Australia's best-known organisations, Doherty now takes on the task of helping shape Primo Foods' people strategy during its next phase of growth.