Sarah-Louise joined Thales in 2024 as General Manager, Safety & Wellbeing, bringing over 20 years of leadership expertise in safety, human performance, and risk management across aviation, military, transportation, and manufacturing sectors.
Sarah-Louise DonovanSarah-Louise DonovanBefore joining Thales, Sarah-Louise served as a senior leader with Rio Tinto in the U.S., where she oversaw Process and Functional Safety for Copper operations in Utah. In this role, she drove critical initiatives to identify, assess, and control operational risks, preventing major and catastrophic process events. She also ensured compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations by partnering with environmental, health, safety, and operations teams to achieve measurable improvements in safety and risk management.
Throughout her career, Sarah-Louise has held several senior and executive roles, including Head of HSEQ for Downer EDI鈥檚 Rail and Transit Systems business and Group Manager, Operations Standards and Assurance for the Jetstar Group of airlines. In these roles, she successfully implemented strategic safety and assurance programs, cultivated high-performance cultures, and delivered tangible improvements in organisational safety outcomes. Her career began with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, where she led pioneering work in optimising human performance and human-machine interface design to enhance safety in operational environments.
A passionate advocate for innovation, Sarah-Louise is committed to upholding the highest safety standards across Thales Australia鈥檚 diverse operations and driving sustainable performance improvements. She is equally dedicated to fostering employee engagement and is a champion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Sarah-Louise holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the University of Melbourne, a Master of Science and Technology (Aviation) from the University of New South Wales, and a PhD from Monash University, where her research applied Systems Thinking to examine safety leadership in high-risk operational environments.