Sarah Johns, Chief Financial Officer

CPA • BBus (Accounting)

Sarah is a gifted finance executive with extensive domestic and international experience in the mining and resources, project and infrastructure development, professional services and software sectors.

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About Sarah

Sarah brings substantial commercial expertise to Xenith, having held senior finance and governance roles within base and precious metals, coal, oil and gas and mining services during a career spanning more than 20 years.

Sarah was appointed Xenith’s Chief Financial Officer in June 2023 however her diverse skillset enables her to make contributions far beyond that of a typical CFO. Aside from finance, she also provides leadership and guidance in HR, legal, marketing and IT.
Having joined Xenith in an era of transformation, Sarah is relishing the opportunity to refresh foundational governance, systems and standards that will ensure Xenith is set up for continued success.

During her career, Sarah has held financial management positions with Aurelia Metals (ASX: AMI), Armour Energy (AJQ), PanAust (previously ASX: PNA) and RPMGlobal (ASX: RUL).
She has led diverse cross-cultural teams and been involved in projects and operations in Australia, Europe, Asia and South America.

Sarah’s professional motivation is to enhance the connection between the operations and the financial outputs, as this is an essential pathway for sustained and diverse organisational growth. Her strengths include managing ambiguity, negotiating through tough operating environments and translating complex issues into actionable business plans.

Sarah is always curious to learn and embraces continuous development. Working alongside Xenith’s technical experts and clients provides an ideal learning environment within an industry which is crucial to Australia’s continuing economic wellbeing.

On a personal note…

Growing up on farms in rural North Queensland, Sarah enjoys the outdoors and running.  Her two sons are her pride and joy.

Skills and expertise

  • Compliance and governance: Financial and regulatory compliance, internal and external audit, control improvement, Board and governance reporting, Annual Report preparation, ASX reporting.
  • Performance management: Active management and analysis of operational and financial outcomes with emphasis on continuous improvement and value generation.
  • Insurance and financial risk management: Leveraging enterprise risk management tools to minimise financial loss through control and risk transfer.
  • Mergers & Acquisitions and capital management: Due diligence, mergers and demergers, project development and capital allocation, equity raising, funding management.
  • Process efficiency: New system implementations and process improvements.

Career highlights

  • PanAust: Key member of the Finance Department which oversaw PanAust’s massive growth, from being a ~$150m market cap exploration company, to ultimately a $2b market cap ASX100 entity prior to PanAust being taken over.
  • Aurelia: Established mature governance and compliance regimes involving process improvements supported by automated systems.
  • RPMGlobal: Assisted with IPO preparation and ASX listing.
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