HR support provider support youth and Illawarra business leaders

After Sharon Wingate resigned to take up a role with IRT, Yvonne Walker was chosen as the successful applicant.

The position was advertised to TIC members in December and the announcement made official on Tuesday.

Ms Walker is herself a member of TIC and runs an HR Consultancy called HR with Ease, which will continue to provide human resources support for clients across the Illawarra and beyond.

She is the managing director and principal of the Illawarra-based human resources consultancy, which in itself is very innovative.

In September 2014 the business that specialises in performance management launched a business-student partnering program.

The new initiative run by Ms Walker is believed to be the first program of its kind in the Illawarra specifically tailored for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

She said the HR With Ease "Mentors Me" mainly targeted businesses that did not have HR capabilities in-house.

After using the Mentors Me approach in her own business, she decided it had been so successful for her and for people training in the HR industry that she should felt she should offer it to others.

"As a small Illawarra employer, I am committed to the development of young people in the region and I have provided opportunities to students who work," she said.

Mrs Wingate helped organise the first meeting of the year in which the keynote speaker, former commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and O'Connor Marsden & Associates principal Jerrold Cripps, revealed a connection to Wollongong many did not know before Tuesday.

"Probably what is not known to people here ... is my family lived on this spot [Novotel Wollongong Northbeach] in the 50s," Mr Cripps said.

"There were four houses here facing North Beach and my family had one of them."

It was Mr Cripps who oversaw the ICAC inquiry into Wollongong City Council.