Our people

Meet our executive team and learn about their areas of responsibility.

The members of our executive have extensive professional experience both in government and private sector, within Australia and overseas. They have specific responsibilities and are bound by a corporate governance framework.

All staff are bound by a code of conduct:

understand expected standards of conduct and behaviour
maintain our integrity and reputation
comply with relevant laws and policies
decide how to deal with ethical problems.

Our executive

Phil Minns

Deputy Secretary
Chief Commissioner of State Revenue
Commissioner of Fines Administration

Phil Minns was appointed as the Deputy Secretary, Revenue NSW, Chief Commissioner of State Revenue and Commissioner of Fines Administration in July 2025.

Phil joined the NSW Ministry of Health where he was Deputy Secretary, People, Culture and Governance in November 2017, focussing on governance, culture, workforce and capability.

Phil joined NSW Health from the Public Service Commission (PSC) where he was the Deputy Commissioner from 2015 to 2017. Prior to this, he was Deputy Secretary, Government, Corporate and Regional Coordination, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) where he had been since February 2012. At DPC, he was responsible for the corporate services and governance functions for the department as well as services to the Ministry, strategic events and communications.

Phil joined DPC from the Department of Defence where he was the inaugural Deputy Secretary, People Strategies and Policy, and a member of the Defence Committee from 2008 - 2012. With the Defence Committee, he developed ‘Pathways to Change’, an organisation wide people strategy, to frame the departments and the services response to cultural issues identified within the Australian Defence Organisation.

Phil’s career has blended time in senior corporate roles within the manufacturing sector and government as well as consulting to private and public sector organisations on organisational strategy, cultural change and a host of workforce focussed strategies.

Benedict Hewitt

Acting Executive Director, Technical Advisory Services
Commissioner of State Revenue

Ben Hewitt joined Revenue NSW in July 2016, following three years in the Secretary’s Office of the former Department of Finance, Services and Innovation. With a career spanning 29 years in government policy and administration, Ben has held various policy roles in the NSW Government, including The Cabinet Office and the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

As Director, Policy & Legislation at Revenue NSW, Ben has led numerous legislative reform projects across taxation, fines, and state debt statutes. His expertise and steady leadership continue to shape our policy landscape and drive meaningful reform.

Dr Matthew Phillips (PhD)

Executive Director
Customer Service – Taxes and Grants

Dr Matthew Phillips (PhD) joined Revenue NSW in February 2025 as Executive Director Taxes and Grants; leading the team responsible for customer transactions for all tax and grant products including undertaking assessments, revenue collection, enquiries and assisting customers to understand their entitlements and obligations.

Prior to this, he was at the Electoral Commission from 2016-2025 as the Executive Director Corporate and Chief Audit Executive leading functions including finance and procurement, communications, people & safety, the enterprise portfolio management office and funding transformation. Matthew was then appointed acting NSW Electoral Commissioner by the Governor of New South Wales from April to December 2024.

Matthew has also held senior executive roles in NSW Treasury, in local government and in several Commonwealth agencies.

David Ranasinghe

Executive Director
Customer Service - Fines & Debt

David joined Revenue NSW in February 2022 as Chief Digital Officer driving technology change through Revenue NSW’s software development and business process transformation program. David is passionate about delivering innovative and supportive outcomes for customers.

When the opportunity arose in early 2024 to lead the Fines and Debt team David was eager to utilise his strengths in driving innovative solutions for our customers. David was appointed Executive Director of fines and debt in April 2024.

David previously worked in the health care sector as Chief Technology Officer for Healius Limited and prior to that at the Commonwealth Bank where he held several divisional Chief Information Officer roles with responsibility for payments, online business banking, merchant acquiring and commercial lending.

Karen Ko

Chief Digital Officer
Revenue Digital

Karen Ko joined Revenue NSW in 2022 as Director Digital Services Fines and Debt and has been acting Chief Digital Officer since February 2024.

Karen has over twenty years’ experience delivering strategic programs, implementing technology and digital product transformation initiatives across both private and public sector. Karen is passionate about building a customer centric culture, maximising the agility of teams, and taking a product lens and mindset. She thrives on motivating teams to achieve outcomes and developing team capabilities to their full potential.

Leona Lobo

Director
Strategy and Innovation

Leona leads the Strategy & Innovation function at Revenue NSW, where she drives organisational transformation and strategic initiatives that enhance experiences for both customers and staff. In this role Leona has led the establishment of the Customer Action Program, the roll out of the Psychological Safety Essentials program and our most recent Aspire Delivery plan. Most recently, she successfully led the Better Revenue Outcomes program, an initiative that fundamentally transformed tax compliance processes while achieving measurable improvements to the customer experience for taxpayers across New South Wales.

As Director of Land Tax, Leona demonstrated exceptional operational leadership, overseeing a substantial team responsible for critical revenue administration functions. During this role, she played a pivotal part in supporting the delivery of COVID-19 relief measures, ensuring essential support reached taxpayers during unprecedented circumstances. She also championed the adoption of innovative technologies to drive operational efficiency. Leona also established the Operational Excellence and Strategy team, which successfully delivered impactful leadership development and people programs across the organisation.

Prior to joining Revenue NSW, Leona built extensive expertise across the public and private sectors. Her government experience includes strategic planning at the Public Service Commission, where she contributed to workforce and organisational development initiatives including the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework and ICT career pathways; project delivery at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, working at the centre of government decision-making; and program management at the former Department of Commerce. Leona has also held roles in HR across multiple private sector organisations.