Former Westpac boss Brian Hartzer signs on as chair job skills analysis startup Reejig

Former Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has joined the board of AI-based workforce intelligence platform Reejig as chairman

Hartzer is carving out a post-banking career in the startup sector. He’s also the chair of Sydney fintech Beforepay, and acts as a se senior advisor to Quantium and Sayers Group.

Brian Hartzer

The appointment comes less than a month after Reejig announced it had raised $6 million in a series A for international expansion. The round was led by Skip Capital, with participation from Airtree Ventures; Culture Amp’s Didier Elzinga and his opera singer wife, Greta Bradman; as well as existing backer Right Click Capital.

Reejig launched in 2019 and uses AI to give management an overview of the skills base within a company’s workforce, also benchmarking it by aggregating data from existing enterprise HR system.

Co-founders Siobhan Savage, Mike Reed and Dr Shujia Zhang set out to tackles some of the biggest HR challenges around hiring, retaining and reskilling staff. The startup’s customer base includes Woolworths, KPMG, Transport for NSW, John Holland, MYOB and UTS.

Brian Hartzer said Reejig is a game-changer for large organisations looking to solve workforce agility and uses ethical AI to identify and support talent decisions that are both fair and successful.

“The move towards organisational agility is here to stay. Many large companies are adopting agile strategies and putting in place agile team structures, processes, and technology,” he said.

“But to maximise outcomes, companies need new tools that help them find, move, reskill and engage their talent.”

Hartzer will work closely with Reejig CEO Siobhan Savage, and its investor group to support plans for a rapid scale-up and international expansion.

“I was fortunate to have discovered Reejig’s solution at an early stage and have been amazed by the quality of what they’ve built in a short period of time.,” he said.

“I know from personal experience that Reejig solves an issue that so many large companies have historically struggled with. Siobhan and the Reejig leadership team are exceptional, and I couldn’t be more excited to support them as they enter this period of rapid growth.”

Siobhan Savage said Hartzer’s experience in leading some of Australia’s largest and most complex organisations will be invaluable to the business.

“His personal experience in creating workforce agility within a major corporation, coupled with his commitment to helping companies build diverse, highly engaged teams, will strengthen Reejig as we work to create a better future of work; one without bias, where everyone thrives at work,” she said.