Source: New places to play in Gungahlin
ATO Executive Committee
The ATO Executive Committee focuses on the strategic matters that relate to the direction and positioning of the organisation.
Our Commissioner and Second Commissioners are statutory appointments. The ATO Executive Committee consists of the Commissioner, 3 Second Commissioners and the leads from the operations and technology sections of the ATO.
For more information about our organisation, see:
Commissioner and Registrar
Commissioner of Taxation and Registrar of the Australian Business Register and the Australian Business Registry Services
Rob Heferen
Rob Heferen was appointed as the 13th Commissioner of Taxation on 1 March 2024.
Rob has had a long career in the Australian Public Service, beginning in 1989 as a graduate at the Australian Customs Service. Over 35 years, he’s accumulated diverse experience across policy development and program delivery in a range of portfolios. Rob has represented Australia in international forums including the United Nations (UN), International Energy Agency (IEA) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
For almost 20 years, Rob’s interest and expertise in economics and tax policy led him to various roles in the ATO and Commonwealth Treasury. This included leading the Secretariat for the Australia’s Future Tax System Review (the Henry Tax Review) and culminated in his role as Deputy Secretary, Revenue Group at the Commonwealth Treasury between 2011–2016. Here he had responsibility for tax policy, tax legislation and revenue forecasting.
Rob’s other Senior Executive roles include:
- Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Deputy Secretary of Higher Education, Research and International in the Department of Education, Skills and Employment
- Deputy Secretary of Energy at the Department of the Environment and Energy (where he served as Australia’s representative on the International Energy Agency’s Governing Board)
- Deputy Secretary of Indigenous Affairs at the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Rob is a proven people leader, with an open, collaborative and authentic style. He has a strong record of achievement in leading organisations to help shape and deliver on Government priorities.
Rob has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania, and a Graduate Diploma of Economics from the Australian National University.
Second Commissioner – Client Engagement
Jeremy Hirschhorn
Jeremy Hirschhorn was appointed to the Second Commissioner role from 16 April 2020. He has overall responsibility for the ATO’s Client Engagement Group, which fosters willing participation in Australia’s tax and super systems through well-designed client experiences.
Jeremy has more than 20 years’ experience in roles managing complex tax matters.
As Deputy Commissioner of Public Groups & International from April 2015, Jeremy was responsible for ensuring that the largest Australian and multinational companies were meeting their corporate tax obligations and providing the Australian community with confidence that these large companies were being held to account.
Jeremy also worked as Chief Tax Counsel, with responsibility for the provision of the ATO’s legal advice in relation to interpretation of the tax and super laws, when he joined the ATO in August 2014.
Prior to joining the ATO, Jeremy was a senior partner in KPMG’s tax practice.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of NSW. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and Chartered Accountant.
Second Commissioner Frontline Operations
David Allen
David Allen was appointed to the Second Commissioner Frontline Operations role from 1 November 2024. In this role, David leads the Frontline Operations Group which is responsible for a broad range of the ATO’s taxpayer services for all segments of the community.
These include:
- processing all payments, activity statements, income tax returns, superannuation lodgments and other forms
- administering the Tax File Number register, Australian Business Register and Director ID Services.
David joined the ATO in 2010 as an Assistant Commissioner in Public Groups & Internationals – working in Capital Gains Tax risk, Internationals. In 2016, he was the ATO’s delegate to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) based in Paris.
In 2018, David was promoted to Deputy Commissioner and established the Enterprise Strategy and Design (ESD) business line – which takes the leadership role in working with business areas to shape the ATO’s strategic direction, risk management, planning and reporting, as well as internal audit and design.
Prior to joining the ATO, David held senior roles in different tiers of the public service including Commonwealth, United Kingdom, NSW and local government.
David has a degree in Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration from Australian Graduate School of Management.
Second Commissioner for Law Design and Practice
Kirsten Fish
Kirsten has overall responsibility for the ATO’s law practice, including law interpretation, public advice and guidance, independent dispute prevention, litigation and resolution, and the ATO’s contribution to policy and law design.
The Law Design and Practice Group serves the community, government and clients by ensuring the tax and super laws are informed, understood, administered and applied with confidence and integrity and is respected and trusted as the authoritative voice of the Commissioner on matters of law and revenue analysis.
Kirsten joined the ATO in 2014 and the ATO’s Chief Tax Counsel from 2015, one of the highest legal authorities within the ATO, leading the Tax Counsel Network and providing technical leadership in relation to significant tax issues, cases and rulings. Kirsten was acting Second Commissioner for 12 months before being formally appointed to the role in October 2021.
Prior to joining the ATO, Kirsten was a tax Partner at Clayton Utz with a focus on the financial services industry and providing finance and investment transaction advice.
Kirsten holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting), Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and Masters of Law (Tax).
Chief Operating Officer
Jacqui Curtis
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) leads the ATO’s Enterprise Strategy and Corporate Operations functions.
These functions include Strategic Planning, Governance, Finance, Corporate, Risk Management, People, Integrity, Change Management and Design for the organisation. In this role, Jacqui is a member of the ATO Executive, responsible for shaping and setting strategic direction and oversight implementation.
The COO position gives greater strength and integration to our corporate positioning, and ensures we are well positioned for Australian Public Service (APS)-wide reforms of corporate and shared services, and that our planning, governance and risk management is strategic and sensible. The COO brings together an integrated picture of our people and resource management and ensure we have the right capability and culture to meet our strategic intent.
This position has a role in managing the relationship with key stakeholders like our scrutineers.
All of these underpin our ability to deliver on a better client and staff experience.
Prior to the COO role, Jacqui joined the ATO in September 2013 as Deputy Commissioner ATO People and was responsible for delivering an enterprise-wide human resource management service which supports ATO employees in providing a sustainable, open and accountable workplace. Jacqui was also responsible for leading the Reinvention Program Management Office and the change management driving this key reform.
Before joining the ATO, Jacqui was General Manager of the People Capability Division with Services Australia, where she led the department’s leadership and change, people development, workforce planning and research functions. Jacqui has also worked for the Australian Public Service Commission, where she was responsible for delivering integrated people development, SES and APS-wide leadership and talent, change management, strategic recruitment, communications, and learning and development. She also has extensive international experience.
Jacqui holds an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the Australian National University and is a Fellow of Australian Human Resource Institute, and was appointed Adjunct Professor University of Canberra in 2018.
In October 2019, Jacqui was appointed the inaugural Head of the APS HR Professional Stream.
Mark Sawade
Mark Sawade was appointed to the Chief Information Officer role from 11 March 2025.
In this role Mark has overall responsibility for the ATO’s Enterprise Solutions and Technology Group, who work to ensure we maintain a contemporary, secure and reliable technology environment that supports tax, super and registry systems into the future.
Mark has nearly 25 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service, primarily in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leadership roles. Preceding his appointment at the ATO, Mark was the Chief Information Officer at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, where he led and delivered a range of digital transformation initiatives.
In 2019, Mark led the School Funding and Data Collection division in the Department of Education, where he delivered significant reform that focused on increased use of government data in the calculation of school funding entitlements.
Mark has also held ICT senior executive leadership roles in a number of public sector agencies, including at the Department of Education, Australian Bureau of Statistics, ComSuper and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Computer and Information Science from the University of South Australia.