Jenna Cairney currently Acting Deputy Secretary Business and Jobs within the Department of State Growth.
The Business and Jobs division provides advice and assistance to businesses to aid economic growth. It is also partners with communities to remove barriers to employment, training and workforce participation.
Jenna’s substantive position is as Executive Director Business Tasmania in the Department of State Growth.
Business Tasmania includes teams of highly skilled specialists who provide advice, strategy and policy direction in the areas of Small Business, Tourism and Hospitality, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence, Science and Technology and Agribusiness. Business Tasmania also includes a Commercial Finance team with expertise in financial assistance, which supports the work of the Tasmanian Development Board.
Previously, Jenna served as the Director of Communications Media and PR for former Premier Peter Gutwein and current Premier Jeremy Rockliff.
Jenna’s background is in journalism and editorial leadership, and she spent more than a decade editing newspapers, including the Hobart Mercury, Townsville Bulletin and Sunshine Coast Daily – as the first female Editor of each. She served as Deputy Editor of The Land, Editor of the Grafton Daily Examiner and Chief of Staff of the Warwick Daily News.
Originally from Dundee, Scotland, Jenna has studied in Scotland, the US, Italy and Australia, and holds a BA Honours in Journalism and Italian and a Graduate Certificate in Commerce. Jenna is part-way through a Masters of Business Administration.