The government has announced the appointment of new heads for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board, while ASIC announced a several senior appointments.

The headline news was that Gilbert + Tobin partner Gina Cass-Gottlieb will take over as chair of the ACCC when Rod Sims steps down in March next year. Cass-Gottlieb is an experienced competition lawyer.

She was appointed as a member of the new Financial Regulator Assessment Authority in September, alongside former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore.

The government has appointed David Irvine to a further two years as the chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board. Irvine has been a FIRB member since 2015 and was first appointed chair in 2017.

He is former director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. He is also a former ambassador to China and former Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.

ASIC appointed Zak Hammer as executive director operations, Peter Dunlop as chief financial officer and Nicole Collins as chief people officer.

It also appointed three regional commissioners: Mark Adams for New South Wales, John Wallace for Victoria and Rhian Richards for Western Australia.

ASIC said the role of regional commissioner is to support local ASIC staff and maintain relationships with local stakeholders, including state government, business and consumer groups.