Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, May 2026 – Kinetic has announced the appointment of Allison Shevlin as its new Chief People Officer.
Kinetic is one of the world’s leading transport operators, connecting millions of passengers daily through bus and rail operations across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, and Asia. Allison Shevlin joins the organization at a pivotal stage as Kinetic continues advancing its sustainability agenda, including its commitment to transition to a zero-emissions fleet by 2035.
Commenting on her appointment, Allison 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.
Prior to joining Kinetic, Allison Shevlin served as General Manager People and Capability – Kmart and Target at Kmart Australia Limited, where she led large-scale organizational integration initiatives across Australia and New Zealand. During her tenure, she played a key role in integrating Target into Kmart Group under the “One Business Two Brands Strategy,” driving significant operating model transformation across people, technology, and business processes that contributed to substantial operational efficiencies.
She also held leadership responsibility at Target Australia as General Manager People and Capability, where she led the end-to-end people strategy across Target stores and supported the integration of the people function into the broader Kmart Group structure.
Earlier in her career, Allison Shevlin operated an independent HR consulting and advisory practice, partnering with Boards, CEOs, and CHROs across multiple industries on transformation strategy, M&A due diligence, organizational effectiveness, and strategic HR governance.
She previously served as Chief People Officer at RMIT University, where she was a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Executive team and led major workforce transformation initiatives. During her tenure, she developed sector-leading responses to pandemic-driven financial pressures, drove diversity and inclusion initiatives that earned multiple national awards, reshaped industrial agreements, and transformed the HR function into a strategic business partnering organization.
Allison also spent more than five years at Simplot Australia in senior HR leadership positions, including Executive Director Human Resources and General Manager Human Resources, leading enterprise-wide transformation, leadership development, safety strategy, organizational redesign, and workforce capability initiatives.
Her broader leadership journey includes senior HR roles at Sensis, EnergyAustralia, National Australia Bank, King & Wood Mallesons, Bechtel, and General Electric, building extensive expertise in organizational transformation, people strategy, workforce integration, industrial relations, leadership development, and operational excellence.
Kinetic is one of the largest transport operators in Australia and New Zealand and operates a global multi-modal transport network spanning the UK, Europe, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
Established more than 45 years ago, Kinetic operates urban, regional, school, and charter bus services, along with major rail operations through its international partnerships. The organization employs approximately 36,000 people globally and operates more than 11,000 buses, moving over 100 million passengers annually. Kinetic is also strongly focused on sustainability, inclusion, and community impact through its transition toward zero-emission mobility solutions.
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