Dane Hudson

With a history dating back more than 110 years to Copenhagen, Denmark, ISS is a facility services company with a presence in more than 50 countries and employs more than 500,000 people worldwide. ISS Pacific is the Australian and New Zealand branch of the global giant, which provides facility management, cleaning, catering, maintenance, security, and support services to a range of industries across the country. The Pacific branch of ISS entered the market in 2002, and has grown substantially in the last 14 years to become one of the largest facility services companies in the country.

ISS Pacific employs more than 14,000 Australian and New Zealand workers, and has revenues close to $900 million.

Almost five years ago, Dane Hudson became the CEO of the ISS Pacific region. Originally a chemical engineer, he also has an MBA from Columbia University in New York, and participated in the Stanford University Executive Program. Early in Dane’s career, prominent Australian businessman Richard Pratt took an interest in him, and put him in charge, at a young age, of a $5 million branch of Visy Industries. From there, it was onwards and upwards for Dane who worked in consulting for six years before moving to Yum Brands and the retail food industry. "These initial jobs put me in good stead when I look back at my career, because I was fortunate to have had experience in a number of different industries," Dane says.

After working in different roles for Yum Brands in Australia, Dane was offered the opportunity to move abroad, which he says was a key point in his development as a leader. "I went to South Africa, where I was the CEO of the KFC business with revenues of around US$500 million," Dane explains. "It was a unique experience with a broad range of challenges and issues—plus, it was where I really learnt to be an independent and self-sufficient leader."