On International Women’s Day, we’re taking a moment to recognise strong leadership in local government — leadership that delivers meaningful outcomes for communities, teams, and organisations alike.
When Carol Ennis joined Kyogle Council as IT Manager, the environment she stepped into was not unusual for regional councils: ageing infrastructure, limited resources, growing cyber risk, and no clear technology roadmap in place. What stood out immediately, however, was Carol’s clarity of purpose.
Rather than reacting to individual issues in isolation, Carol focused on building a practical, achievable technology strategy — one that prioritised stabilisation, risk reduction, and long term sustainability. Working collaboratively with Cloud Context, Kyogle Council designed a three year plan that balanced governance, resilience, modernisation, security, and people-led change.
While the original strategy was scoped over three years, a significant portion of the program was delivered in under 18 months, demonstrating what can be achieved with clear leadership, disciplined prioritisation, and strong internal engagement.
Security was a key concern from day one. Under Carol’s leadership, Kyogle Council strengthened its cyber posture through improved identity controls, continuous monitoring, staff awareness training, and resilient backup and disaster recovery capabilities — all aligned to real world council constraints and risk profiles. The result was a more reliable, safer environment for staff, with fewer interruptions and significantly reduced operational and cyber risk.
Just as importantly, Carol placed a strong emphasis on people and change. Technology uplift was supported by clear communication, knowledge transfer, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring improvements were embedded rather than imposed. This approach enabled Kyogle’s internal IT capability to mature alongside the technology itself.
International Women’s Day is about recognising impact, leadership, and progress. Carol’s work at Kyogle Council is a great example of how thoughtful, outcomes driven leadership can create lasting improvement — even in complex, resource constrained environments.
We’re proud to have supported Kyogle Council on this journey and to acknowledge the role strong leadership plays in turning strategy into results. To learn more about the transformation at Kyogle Council, read the full case study here.
Happy International Women’s Day.
Carol Ennis and Ruben Florez from Kyogle Council with Rav Lehal and Elias Atie, recognising leadership and collaboration on International Women’s Day.
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