Executive Management

MANAGING DIRECTOR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - SGH Ltd
B.Com., FAIM

Mr Ryan Stokes AO is Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of SGH. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of SGH.

Mr Stokes is Chairman of WesTrac, Chairman of Coates, Chairman of Boral, Director of Beach Energy and Director of Seven West Media.

Mr Stokes is Chief Executive Officer of Australian Capital Equity Pty Limited (ACE). ACE is a private company with its primary investment being an interest in SGH.

Mr Stokes is Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia.

Mr Stokes was Chairman of the National Library of Australia. He was a member of the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Veterans Mental Health and was a member of the IOC Olympic Education Commission.

Mr Stokes holds a BCom from Curtin University and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (FAIM). Mr Stokes was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday honours on 8 June 2020.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER - SGH Ltd
B.Com./Law (Hons), LLM, MAppFin, CA, Admitted Solicitor

Mr Richard Richards has been Chief Financial Officer of SGH since October 2013. He is a Director of WesTrac and SGH Energy and is a Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of Coates. He is a Director of Beach Energy and Boral and is a member of the Beach Energy and Boral Audit and Risk Committees.

Mr Richards joined SGH from the diverse industrial group, Downer EDI, where he was Deputy Chief Financial Officer responsible for group finance across the company for three years. Prior to joining Downer EDI, Mr Richards was CFO for the Family Operations of LFG, the private investment and philanthropic vehicle of the Lowy Family for two years. Prior to that, Richard held senior finance roles at Qantas for over 10 years.

CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER - SGH Ltd
BA, LL.B. (Hons), MIB, MAICD

Ms Gitanjali Bhalla joined SGH in October 2017 and is the Chief People Officer responsible for human resources, culture and safety across the Group. She is also a Director of WesTrac and Coates.

Ms Bhalla has significant experience leading and delivering strategy and business transformational change in large organisations. Prior to joining SGH, Ms Bhalla spent a number of years consulting to private and publicly listed companies at Ernst & Young both in Australia and overseas before holding senior executive roles at UGL and Cushman & Wakefield.

Ms Bhalla is an Ambassador for Good Return, a not for profit organisation committed to empowering women through microfinance. Ms Bhalla is also on the Board of Carriageworks.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER – SGH Ltd
B.Eng, M.Com

Rob joined SGH in March 2024 as its Chief Operating Officer, working across the portfolio of industrial and energy businesses within SGH.

Prior to SGH, Rob held various positions within the CIMIC Group, overseeing numerous business strategies, M&A transactions and integrations of large organisations.  His most recent position was the Executive General Manager Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions at CIMIC (2019 - Mar 2024) and served on the CIMIC Group Executive Leadership Team. 

During his time at CIMIC, Rob held various board director roles overseeing the operational performance and strategic direction, including Director roles at Ventia – ASX:VNT (2015-2022), Thiess (2020-2024), Nextgen (2015-2016) and Metronode (2015-2016). 

Rob holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Masters of Commerce from the University of NSW.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - WesTrac
B.Eng. (Mechanical) (First Class Honours), B.Comm. (Management), CPEng

Mr Jarvas Croome has been Chief Executive Officer of WesTrac since March 2014. Mr Croome is a Director of WesTrac and AllightSykes.

Mr Croome joined WesTrac from Woodside Energy (USA) where he was the President of the US organisation based in Houston TX. Prior to that time, he had held various executive management roles at Woodside Energy in Australia including Vice President Australian Business Unit and Vice President for Technical Services. Prior to Woodside, he had worked as a global Product and Sales manager for Shell Australia and a subsea engineer with Kvaerner RJ Brown.

He holds Chartered Professional Engineering (CPEng) status with Engineers Australia and has been previously registered on the National Professional Engineers Register. Mr Croome plays an active role in his local community and is on the board for Motivation Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE - WesTrac NSW/ ACT
B.Comm, CA, GAICD

Adrian Howard commenced as Chief Executive of WesTrac in NSW and the ACT in July 2021 following six years working with the company. Over that time, Adrian’s areas of responsibility included strategic growth, and customer and operational excellence. He worked in a range of executive positions including Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining WesTrac, Adrian worked in senior management roles across various sectors including manufacturing, distribution, logistics, construction and mining.

His previous experience included time with Patrick and OneSteel Limited (now InfraBuild), with roles in general management, strategy, business development and finance.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - Coates
B.Bus. (Econ & Fin)

Mr Murray Vitlich joined SGH in June 2017 as Chief Operating Officer, working across the portfolio of industrial businesses within SGH. In July 2019, Mr Vitlich was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer, Coates and was formally awarded the role of Chief Executive Officer, Coates. He is a Director of Coates and was formerly a Director of SGH Energy and AllightSykes.

Prior to joining SGH, Mr Vitlich previously held senior operational roles at Asciano, UGL and Wesfarmers.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - SGH Energy
B.Eng. (Met) (Hons), GAICD, MIEAust, SPE

Ms Margaret Hall was appointed Chief Executive Officer of SGH Energy in September 2015 and is also a Director of SGH Energy.

The CEO role holds responsibility for delivering value from the SGH Energy oil and gas assets within Australia and the USA as well as driving growth of this business segment for the parent company.

Ms Hall has over 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, spanning both super-major and independent companies. From 2011 to 2014, she held senior management roles in Nexus Energy with responsibilities covering Development, Production Operations, Engineering, Exploration, Health, Safety and Environment. This was preceded by 19 years with ExxonMobil in Australia, across production and development in the Victorian Gippsland Basin and Joint Ventures across Australia.

COMPANY SECRETARY & LEGAL COUNSEL
BA, LLB (Hons), LLM, FCSA

Mr Warren Coatsworth has been Company Secretary & Legal Counsel of SGH since April 2010.

Mr Coatsworth is a solicitor holding a current practising certificate with degrees in Arts and Law (Hons) from the University of Sydney. He holds a Master of Laws in Media and Technology Law from the University of New South Wales as well as a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance. He is a qualified Chartered Company Secretary and a Fellow and member of the Governance Institute of Australia.

He has an extensive experience as Legal Counsel at the Seven Network advising broadly across the company; and was formerly a solicitor at Clayton Utz. Warren was included on Doyle’s Guide list of Leading In-House Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers in Australia for 2016 and 2017.

Mr Coatsworth has held the role of Company Secretary of Seven West Media since April 2013 and Seven Network since 2005.