In profile: Alexandra Grant
In profile: Alexandra Grant
Alexandra Grant (nee McDermott) (OA2003) arrived at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Year 10 in 2001, in one of our first coeducational cohorts. She showed great promise in the classroom in English and History and outside the classroom in debating and hockey. Alex became School Captain in 2003 and was only the third girl to hold the office.
After finishing Year 12, Alex took a gap year at The King’s School Gloucester – a fellow choir school – and travelled Europe before studying economics and politics at the University of Wollongong.
By Richard Hansen.
Alex discovered her passion for economics and politics at university and took an opportunity to make a difference through public policy. She started her career at The Treasury and has then served across the Australian Public Service as a senior government advisor and diplomat specialising in economic and international development, gender, employment, skills and training policy, and Indigenous Affairs.
She has represented Australia at APEC and the G20 in Brisbane and St Petersburg and helped establish the National Skills Commission. Alex co-authored Australia’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
Alex has also spent time living and working in remote First Nations communities in the NT working with the Wadeye community to get the local TV station up and running, start a CDP house painting project and set up a girls’ community group to improve their mental and physical health. Following this transformative experience, she began her role as Director at the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation to pursue her passion for community development.
Alex is the Chief Operating Officer at Camali Group – an Australian consulting firm specialising in government relations, defence, economic and social policy. In 2023, she spent time delivering an address discussing the importance of an integrated approach to early education with UNICEF, World Bank and Saudi Government at the Human Capability Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Her experience spans across the Australian Government, private, and not-for-profit sectors, including roles at the Prime Minister and Cabinet Office, Foreign Affairs and Trade, and The Treasury. She joined us back at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in 2023 as an industry professional for the careers event run by the Old Andreans Association called Learning the Ropes.