WiseTech Global has appointed Jeff Howard as its Chief Financial Officer, adding a seasoned listed-company executive to the senior leadership of one of Australia's largest technology firms. The Sydney-based developer of the CargoWise logistics platform confirmed the appointment on 1 September 2026, with Howard due to commence in the role on 28 September 2026.
Howard joins WiseTech after a run of senior finance and general-management roles in the Australian media sector. He served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Seven West Media from 2024, having joined that company as Chief Financial Officer in January 2020. His earlier career spanned finance leadership positions across media and banking, giving him a background in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and business transformation that WiseTech has pointed to as central to its choice.
The appointment fills a role that has been held on an interim basis for almost two years. Caroline Pham has served as interim Chief Financial Officer since October 2024 and will remain with WiseTech to support an orderly handover to Howard. The company framed the change as the completion of a considered search overseen by the board, and credited Pham with steering the finance function through an unsettled period.
The hire lands at a consequential moment for WiseTech. The company spent much of 2026 working through boardroom upheaval, including the departure of founder Richard White as executive chairman, and has been rebuilding the stability of its senior ranks while defending the growth story around CargoWise. A permanent chief financial officer with experience running a listed company gives investors a clearer point of accountability for financial discipline and disclosure at a business whose valuation rests heavily on recurring software revenue and margin expansion.
Howard's arrival also signals continuity in how WiseTech intends to communicate with the market. His time in the chief executive's seat at a listed media group, and before that as its finance chief, means he steps into the role already fluent in the demands of quarterly scrutiny, shareholder engagement and the reporting expectations that come with index membership. For a company that has faced questions about governance and leadership churn, appointing a known quantity with public-company reporting experience is as much a stability signal as a technical hire.
WiseTech, whose CargoWise software underpins freight and logistics operations for forwarders and carriers around the world, remains one of the most closely watched names on the Australian Securities Exchange. The finance leadership change is the latest in a sequence of senior moves as the company settles its board and executive team ahead of its next reporting cycle.
