Director-General, Department of the Premier and Cabinet

Ken Smith
Director-General
Department of the Premier and Cabinet

Ken Smith was appointed as Director-General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on 14 September 2007.  Prior to this appointment, he served as Coordinator-General and Director-General of the Department of Infrastructure, formed on 15 January 2007.

As a senior bureaucrat in Queensland for more than 15 years, Ken has taken a lead role in many of the fundamental reforms that have shaped the State.

These have included the roll out of the $9 billion water grid, co-ordination of the south-east Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program and groundbreaking policy advice in the area of urban development and community renewal.

His six-year stint as Director-General of Education and Employment and Training was highlighted by the landmark Education and Training Reforms for the Future which drove the implementation of the Queensland Government's fundamental changes to early, middle and senior phases of schooling.

He has also led major organisational change in a range of government departments, statutory authorities and companies.

Ken is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and Adjunct Professor of Education at the University of Queensland, Griffith University and University of Sydney and has previously held the position of Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Queensland.

Ken has served as a CEO reporting to a number of Ministerial Councils, as a member of the Prime Minister's Youth Pathways Taskforce, Financial Literacy Foundation, University Councils, and chaired a number of national Companies and Boards in the education, training, community services and housing portfolios.