Macquarie Government, part of Macquarie Telecom Group, has announced the appointment of Defence ICT industry leader and former CEO of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Mike Foster, as Director of Strategic Growth.

The newly created position has been designed to lead Macquarie's expanding Defence and National Security capabilities and pursuits, including vertically integrated cyber-security, cloud, data centre and telecommunications services.

Foster also joins Macquarie Government to support the policies relating to the Hardening Government IT (HGIT) Initiative, which is uplifting cyber-security capability across government agencies. Macquarie works with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which has been selected as the fourth trial agency in the HGIT's Cyber Hubs Pilot.

Foster says his decision to join Macquarie Government was made easy given the company's track record managing and mitigating the cyber threats launched against Australian government agencies.

"For over a decade Macquarie Government has gained unparalleled insight into the digital landscape in which Australian government agencies now operate," Foster says.

"The expertise the Macquarie team has gained from providing cyber-security, infrastructure and cloud services to a wide range of Federal Government agencies is unparalleled. That expertise is highly valued by the Federal Government and I'm excited to be leading the company's next evolution to further support the Defence and National Security sectors."

Macquarie Government Managing Director Aidan Tudehope said the appointment of Foster demonstrates the organisation's ongoing and robust investment in homegrown talent and is reflective of its impressive multi-year growth.

"Mike's deep experience leading large and complex ICT programs for Defence will be critical for Macquarie Government as we continue to build on our capability offering to Federal and State Government customers," Tudehope says.