We are not career consultants. Each Atelienne consultant has extensive experience in human resources and employee relations, working across multiple industry sectors. We understand the nuances of industries including mining and heavy industry, construction, fast moving consumer goods, healthcare, finance, tertiary education and not-for-profit sector.
We have deep experience and a long history of successful delivery across both Australian and international businesses. We help organisations grow performance, profitability and productivity.
We use our experience to create fresh, innovative ways to manage your people and prepare your organisation for the future.
Our Team
Sam Bradford
Managing Director
With more than 20 years’ experience, Sam is a senior people and organisational effectiveness adviser who works closely with executive leadership teams to design and deliver people strategies that support performance, growth, and sustainable business outcomes. She has partnered with some of Australia’s most recognised organisations, including BHP, Carlton & United Breweries, Foster’s, and Aveo.
Sam has built a strong reputation for operating at executive and C‑suite level, coaching senior leaders and guiding organisations through complex workforce and organisational challenges. Her expertise spans strategic workforce planning, organisational design and transformation, leadership and technical capability development, and the establishment of high‑performing teams and operating models.
Previously, Sam held the role of Head of Workforce Capability and Strategic Sourcing at BHP, where she led enterprise‑wide capability strategy, workforce planning, and strategic sourcing initiatives across large, complex operations. In this role, she worked closely with senior leaders to align workforce capability with long‑term business strategy and operational performance.
As a Strategic HR Consultant, Sam supports organisations to navigate change, optimise leadership and workforce structures, and implement scalable, commercially focused solutions that drive efficiency and long‑term value. She is known for her pragmatic, outcomes‑focused approach and her ability to translate strategy into practical action.
Licia McGroarty
Consultant
With more than 20 years’ experience, Licia is a senior employee relations leader, qualified workplace investigator, mediator, and lawyer who works with organisations to navigate complex workforce, cultural, and regulatory challenges. Her experience spans the mining, renewables, construction, healthcare, tertiary education, and finance sectors.
Licia is recognised for her ability to engage leaders and support improved workplace culture through practical, commercially grounded solutions. She regularly conducts complex workplace investigations and psychosocial hazard reviews, appears before industrial tribunals and anti‑discrimination bodies, and designs and leads enterprise bargaining strategies that balance compliance, commercial outcomes, and employee engagement.
Licia has held senior employee relations roles in large, complex, and unionised environments, including BHP and the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance. She has also served as National Employee Relations Manager for Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction Pty Ltd and as Associate to Commissioner Paula Spencer at Fair Work Australia, providing her with deep insight into both operational and tribunal perspectives.
Her recent work includes supporting implementation of Respect at Work reforms for a national healthcare provider. Licia is known for her strategic thinking, pragmatic problem‑solving, and ability to quickly build trusted relationships to achieve value‑driven and sustainable outcomes.
Mark McGee
Consultant
With more than 30 years’ experience, Mark is a senior HR, employee relations, and business transformation adviser who works closely with Boards and executive teams to strengthen organisational performance and deliver strategy. His experience spans steel manufacturing, information technology, financial services, infrastructure, energy, and mining.
Mark has built a distinguished career in complex, global environments. He spent more than a decade with BHP in senior IR/ER and HR roles across its steel, IT, and corporate businesses, before relocating to Singapore to lead the people and organisational aspects of major transformation initiatives following the BHP/Billiton merger. This included establishing the Singapore Marketing Hub, restructuring Asian sales offices, and supporting significant growth in China.
Returning to Australia, Mark became Global Head of Human Resources for a rapidly growing boutique investment banking group as it prepared for public listing, before rejoining BHP as Vice President Human Resources for its global Commercial function. He later moved into a senior commercial leadership role, leading sales, purchasing, and trading for BHP’s (and subsequently South32’s) LME metals and related commodities.
Since returning to Australia in 2018, Mark has focused on consulting and advisory work, partnering with Boards, CEOs, and executive teams to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness. His work centres on capability, organisational design, processes, and governance as critical enablers of sustainable business performance.
Brendan Richardson
Consultant
With over 35 years’ experience in industrial relations, Brendan partners with organisations to manage complex workplace issues with confidence and clarity. He has advised employers across a wide range of industries, including Local Government, Hospitality and Gaming, FMCG, Manufacturing, Building and Construction, and Logistics.
Having held senior IR and HR leadership roles within major hospitality, manufacturing, and construction businesses, Brendan understands the commercial pressures facing employers and delivers advice that is practical, timely, and defensible.
Brendan provides strategic advice across all aspects of industrial relations, including enterprise bargaining, dispute resolution, managing protected and unlawful industrial action, mergers and acquisitions, performance management, workplace compliance, and tribunal representation. He has extensive experience working with unions including the UWU, AMWU, AWU, CFMMEU, CEPU (ETU and PPTEU), and the SDA.
He is also a licensed workplace investigator (Victoria), regularly engaged to conduct independent investigations into bullying, discrimination, and workplace conduct issues. In addition, Brendan has contributed to legal education as an occasional lecturer and sessional examiner with the Faculty of Law at Monash University.
Shermonika Walker
Consultant
With more than 16 years’ experience, Shermonika is a senior people and change management professional who partners with executive leadership teams to deliver transformation that strengthens organisational performance and enhances people experience. She combines deep expertise in organisational psychology with strong commercial acumen to help leaders align culture, capability, and performance to achieve sustainable business outcomes.
Shermonika has built her career in complex, global environments, leading large‑scale transformation, culture, and capability initiatives across multiple industries and geographies. She is recognised for her evidence‑based, values‑driven approach and specialises in organisational change and transformation, leadership development and coaching, and culture and capability strategy.
She has partnered extensively with executive teams to design and deliver people and change strategies that enable leaders and teams to adapt, perform, and sustain growth. Her experience spans the resources, professional services, and consulting sectors, working across Australia, the Americas, and Canada.
Previously, Shermonika established and led the People Excellence team for a global mining organisation, driving workforce strategy, leadership capability, and culture change across major international markets. She has also led HR change functions for global resources organisations and delivered executive development and transformation programs for leading advisory firms