Nous Group clients in Canada will be able to access a growing pool of expertise with the appointment of strategy and transformation expert Kelly Rowe and Organizational Psychologist Tessa Dehring as Principals in Toronto.

Kelly was promoted to Principal in December 2022, while Tessa will relocate to Canada from her previous base in Australia in March 2023. Their appointments mean our 700-strong global team will now have six Principals in the Canada office.

The appointments will give our clients in Canada access to a wider array of services, including organizational performance, leadership development, and business and digital strategy.

We started operations in Australia 24 years ago and have since opened offices in the United Kingdom and Canada. Since we established a presence in Canada in 2019, we have supported clients including the University of Alberta, York University, Laurentian University, Government of Ontario ministries and the Salvation Army Canada.

About Kelly

Kelly, who holds a PhD in political science and government, has more than 15 years of experience working with the public sector as an adviser, international researcher and management consultant. She brings extensive experience working with the public sector on major whole-of-government and organizational strategies and transformations. She is currently a board member with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada in the Toronto Region.

Kelly is particularly excited to help our government clients to improve services for end users and to modernize the public service.

“Canada’s public sector is at a critical point in time where it needs to accelerate to join its global peers in providing more efficient and effective public services, while ensuring it has the right structures and talent to deliver them. I look forward to continuing to support Nous Group’s public sector clients in Canada to transform and modernize,” Kelly said.

Since joining Nous in September 2020, Kelly has played a leading role in influential projects including:

  • leading a project with Ontario’s Laurentian University to review its operations and governance, to help set Laurentian up for a multi-year transformation program to deliver better services for staff and students and to build capability across functions and governance
  • leading a project with the Ontario Government to drive adoption of an enterprise digital tool using human-centred design and change management approaches
  • leading multiple streams of work on a broader public sector service excellence transformation program, including developing and implementing plans to improve IT and facilities services, enterprise organizational design and labour relations strategies.

About Tessa

Tessa co-leads Nous’ Organizational Performance and Leadership practice globally and brings deep experience supporting organizations to realize enhanced organizational performance and leadership. Her background as an Organizational Psychologist shapes her ability to solve complex client challenges and enables her to develop evidence-based and enduring solutions. She works across sectors and brings expertise in organizational strategy, culture, transformation, operating model, workforce and leadership.

In her decade at Nous, Tessa has delivered benefits to an array of clients, including:

  • leading multi-year partnerships with several Australian Government departments to enhance capability and performance through designing learning and development strategies, capability frameworks, mobility frameworks, culture change and leadership programs
  • partnering with several Australian universities to support organizational performance and leadership improvement across their executive groups and whole universities
  • strategic planning to transform Australia’s largest tribunal, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, delivering a new strategy to increase accessibility and respond to digitization.

“Organizations across the world are on a journey to lift their performance, capability and leadership. Nous has broad experience working with clients across Australia, the UK and Canada to transform their organizations. I look forward to continuing to innovate our approaches to meet the needs of more Nous clients across Canada,” Tessa said.

Tim Kennedy, the head of our office in Toronto, said Kelly and Tessa’s appointments were further signs of the growing strength of Nous in Canada.

“Kelly Rowe has delivered a lot of value to our government and university clients, helping them to transform and modernize, and Tessa Dehring has played a transformative role in lifting performance and enhancing leadership capability for organizations in Australia,” Tim said.

“Their appointments indicate the experience of our 700-strong team of consultants, which is increasingly being invited to be trusted advisers to governments, universities and not-for-profit organizations in Canada as they seek to realize a bigger idea of success.”

Connect with Kelly Rowe and Tessa Dehring on LinkedIn or contact us today to arrange a meeting.