Annie Parker wraps up as Tech Central head

Tech Central, a Sydney-based innovation precinct, will start recruiting for a new executive director from next week following the departure of Annie Parker.

Parker has been with Tech Central from the beginning: she joined the Greater Sydney Commission in December 2021 to lead the establishment of the technology and innovation hub.

Writing on LinkedIn, Parker said the community "has solidly embraced the concept of coming together as one to deliver on the promise of innovation for Sydney on the global stage.”

She thanked Greater Sydney Commission chief commissioner Geoff Roberts and former IBM and Telstra boss David Thodey, who was on the steering committee that established Tech Central, for “entrusting the role [of executive director] to me in the first place”.

Tech Central’s most notable member company is Atlassian, which is building a 39-storey global headquarters in the precinct.

Before Tech Central, Parker spent nearly four years with Microsoft, joining as global head of startups, and from June 2020 to October 2021 as global lead equity and inclusion, Microsoft for Startups.

She was also director of the volunteer after-school group Code Club for five years.

Since Tech Central is part of the Greater Sydney Commission, recruitment can't happen while the government is in caretaker mode. This ends with Saturday's election.