Meet the HR Influence Awards 2026, Top 12 ANZ

The HR Influence Awards 2026, Top 12 ANZ have been announced, and we could not be prouder of this group.

Twelve HR professionals across Australia and New Zealand. All of them doing work that actually changes how organisations treat people, not in theory, but in practice you can point to.

We want to start with congratulations. Every person in this cohort earned their place through evidence, outcomes, and consistent contribution to the profession. No paid placements. No popularity contest. Just real influence, verified against published criteria by an independent panel.

Why Compono runs these awards

Here's something we think about a lot at Compono: HR carries enormous responsibility, and it rarely gets the recognition it deserves.

When a hire goes wrong, HR wears it. When culture breaks down, HR wears it. When a restructure gets messy, HR wears it. The profession absorbs risk on behalf of the entire organisation, and the tools most HR teams use only solve half the problem. They manage process. They miss the people insight that actually drives good decisions.

We built Compono to fix that gap. Our platform uses behavioural science to help HR teams make defensible people decisions, not just faster processes. Hiring, culture, development, the lot.

But building better tools is only one part of it. We also believe the profession itself needs lifting up. The people doing the hard, often invisible work of shaping how organisations treat humans deserve to be seen, celebrated, and heard.

That is why we created the HR Influence Awards. To recognise the changemakers whose influence drives real outcomes, and to give them a platform to share what they have learned with the rest of the profession.

The 2026 Top 12

This year's cohort spans corporate, NFP, tech scale-ups, consultancies, and founder-led ventures. Six women, six men. Ten based in Australia, two in New Zealand. Here is who made the list.

Kerri-Ann Allen, Chief People Officer at Eucalyptus in Sydney, built a multi-brand people architecture across four distinct health brands during hyper-growth. Maintaining four separate cultures inside one holding company is a design challenge most HR leaders never face. She did it in public.

Anna Liumaihetau Darling, Head of People & Culture at Sharesies in Auckland, created inclusive-by-design people practices that genuinely mirror the company's financial inclusion mission. As a Pasifika leader in NZ fintech, her voice added a perspective this cohort needed.

Sharon Gray, Chief People Officer at OzHarvest in Sydney, developed a volunteer-to-paid pipeline and a purpose activation framework now referenced as best practice across the NFP sector. AFR Best Places to Work, SEEK Employer of Choice, HRD 5-Star Employer. The evidence is deep.

Edan Haddock, Head of Talent & People Experience at Movember in Melbourne, turned a mental health mission into a people design principle. He founded the Total Talent community, hosts a podcast, and embedded an AI agent into his talent function. HRD 5-Star Employer and a Movember Global Culture Award confirmed the internal work.

Teresa Lilly, Founder of Culture Pilot Co in Sydney, deliberately stepped out of the large-company seat to work upstream with startups getting people fundamentals right before they scale badly. Her GROW Inc tenure (60% headcount growth, full-company ESOP) backs up the credibility.

Drew Mayhills, Chief Learning and Innovation Officer at AIM WA in Perth, holds a Churchill Fellowship, built the Beediyar First Nations executive leadership program (seven senior promotions, four board appointments), and has trained over 1,500 professionals through his AI in Workplace course.

Matt McFarlane, Founder of FNDN on the Gold Coast, had the highest independent citation count of any candidate. Favikon's #4 HR influencer in Australia, LinkedIn Top Voices 2025, and co-organiser of the Startup People Summit with 45+ speakers. His compensation niche fills a genuine gap.

Aron Mercer, Author and Doctoral Researcher at Griffith University in Sydney, helped place 400+ neurodivergent professionals in corporate roles through the NeuroTalent methodology, now adopted by BHP, ANZ, and Microsoft ANZ. His book Untapped Talent is equipping HR teams across Australia with practical tools to hire differently.

Melissa Milner, People & Culture Lead at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, pioneered a refugee-employer model, creating employment pathways for refugees as paid staff inside the very organisation that advocates for them. Referenced as best practice by the Refugee Council of Australia.

Alex Pusenjak, Global VP of People & Culture at Fluent Commerce in Sydney, rebuilt the EVP around outcomes over presenteeism and stacked up independent validation: 96% willingness to go above and beyond, AHRI Best Employee Experience Strategy, SEEK STAR Awards, HRD Hot List 2024 and 2025.

Deepak Singh, Founder of Mission and Rhythm and PeopleStack in Melbourne, had the strongest combination of multi-organisation measurable impact and community leadership in the cohort. A Gallup engagement shift from the 25th to the 75th percentile over 18 months is not a claim you see often.

Lisa Young, Founder of HRHQ in Auckland, influences hundreds of HR practitioners simultaneously through her community platform, conference, and employment law courses. Favikon Top 100 Most Influential LinkedIn Creators ANZ. Her model answers a question most people in the profession have asked: who is HR for HR?

What comes next

Over the next few weeks, we will be publishing spotlight interviews with each winner, sharing the practical ideas and frameworks behind their work.

If you are in HR and you recognise yourself in any of these stories (the frustration with incomplete tools, the weight of decisions that sit with you, the desire to do more with better data), that is exactly why Compono exists.

We help HR teams make better people decisions. Decisions backed by behavioural science, not gut feel. The kind you can defend to executives, legal, and boards.

See how Compono can support your HR team

Every winner in this cohort is doing extraordinary work with the tools available to them. Compono gives HR teams the people insight layer that most tools miss, so you can match the ambition these leaders represent.

Talk to us about how Compono Hire, Engage, or Develop can help your team make decisions you can stand behind.

The HR Influence Awards 2026 Top 12 ANZ were selected against five published criteria: Impact, Voice, Innovation, Community, and Influence. No paid placements. No fees. Selection is entirely merit-based. Visit hrinfluenceawards.com.au for full details.

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