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The right person, at the right moment
How a relationship built over several months, and a phone call that almost came too late, led to a consequential board appointment for nib.
When nib engaged Omera Partners to lead an ASX 200 search to expand its board, the brief was deceptively simple: find a director who could genuinely broaden the board’s perspective and strengthen its connection to the communities nib most wanted to serve. The company had ambitions to grow its services in parts of the country where gaps in healthcare access were most pronounced. It needed someone who understood that commercial imperative from the inside. What followed was one of the most considered executive board search processes we have undertaken.
A brief harder than it looked
The challenge, as it often is in board search, was not a shortage of capable people. It was finding the right one for this specific brief. The risk nib faced, and which Omera took seriously from the outset, was appointing someone whose credentials were primarily academic or community-based, without the commercial acuity a growth-focused board demands. As one senior business leader put it during our research: This role was not about providing a community service, this was about connecting diverse thought to a commercial growth story.
It also required a particular kind of care. Conducting a search within any community demands respect and cultural awareness, but this one asked more of us than most. We approached every conversation with a genuine desire to understand, to listen before advising, and to earn trust rather than assume it. There were moments of uncertainty, and we were conscious throughout that getting this wrong would have consequences beyond the placement itself. That responsibility sharpened our thinking and, we believe, made the outcome better.
The candidate who said no
Brad Welsh came to our attention early in the search. His profile was striking: the first Indigenous person appointed CEO of an ASX-listed minerals company, leading Energy Resources of Australia in Darwin after a decade in operational mining roles with Rio Tinto on Cape York. Before that, a law degree, years in NSW community services, and a stint as a political staffer to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and then to NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. He had reinvented his career multiple times, each time moving closer to the intersection of commercial complexity and community impact.
“I wanted to be a senior leader who is Indigenous, not a senior Indigenous leader.”
When we first approached Brad in April 2022, he was candid and direct, qualities that only reinforced our initial read of him. He had been in the CEO role for only a matter of months, building his team and establishing the cultural cadence of the organisation. He did not have capacity for an external board commitment. He said no.
But the conversation did not end there. We talked at length about the nib opportunity, about what the role genuinely required, and about the kind of person who could bridge the commercial and community dimensions with integrity. Brad engaged thoughtfully. He offered his perspective on what nib should be looking for, including a frank warning about the pitfall of appointing someone who would prioritise advocacy over governance. He also suggested other candidates worth considering. The conversation was generous, and it established a genuine rapport.
Several months later, Brad called. He had got ahead of schedule at ERA. His team was settled, the rhythm was established, and he now had the bandwidth for a board commitment. Was the nib role still open?
The timing was delicate. nib's chair was ready to move forward with the process, which was close to being finalised. We were candid with Brad about where things stood. It was a close and considered decision, but one we made with conviction. We recommended bringing him in to meet the chair as a matter of urgency.
Once the chair met Brad, the decision was straightforward. Brad joined the nib board in 2023, becoming only the second Indigenous person appointed to an ASX 200 board, and the first outside the resources sector.
Vindication, three years on
In May 2025, Brad was named the winner of the Emerging Director category in the inaugural Financial Review BOSS Director Awards. The judges cited his understanding of ethics and governance, his focus on diverse perspectives, and a career that “finely crafts skills to balance profit, innovation and sustainability.” Mark Fitzgibbon, who was nib’s chief executive when Brad was appointed, put it simply: “Brad brings a perspective the company was looking for, given nib’s ambitions to better support communities where gaps in care exist.” In practice, his background in capital-intensive, highly regulated mining has proven a genuine complement to a board steeped in financial services — bringing a different lens on risk management, capital discipline, and execution that the board might not otherwise have had.
The Brad Welsh story is, at its core, a story about what board search looks like when it is done well. It required a client willing to think carefully about what the role genuinely needed. It required patience, maintaining a relationship through a “no” and staying close enough that when circumstances changed, the conversation continued. And it required the confidence to back a clear judgement, even when the process was nearly complete and momentum pointed elsewhere.
What this search taught us
Board search demands patience. When Brad said no, the easiest response would have been to move on. Staying in genuine contact produced the strongest candidate in the process. Searches conducted within specific communities ask more of a firm than standard executive search. Cultural awareness here was not a courtesy, it sharpened the outcome. And when the process was nearly done and momentum pointed elsewhere, recommending that the chair meet Brad anyway was not a procedural step. It was a decision, and it was the right one.
At Omera Partners, we do not search for candidates who fit a category. We search for people who will make a board better, more commercially sharp, more intellectually diverse, more capable of navigating the complexity that modern organisations face. Sometimes those people look exactly as expected. Sometimes, as with Brad, they are found in Darwin, running a uranium mine, and they need to be asked twice.
