Leadership team
Statutory appointments
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the head of NSW's independent prosecution service.
The Director is appointed under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986 by the NSW Attorney General, for a 10-year term.
Sally Dowling SC was appointed as Director of Public Prosecutions in August 2021.
Ms Dowling graduated from the University of Sydney in 1994 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1995. Called to the Bar in 1997, she worked in private practice until 2002 when she was appointed a Crown Prosecutor and joined the ODPP. In her 16 years in the Office, Ms Dowling prosecuted hundreds of matters, at trial and on appeal. She was appointed Senior Counsel in 2013 and in 2016 was appointed a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor and head of the Appeals Unit.
In 2017, Ms Dowling was appointed to the Racing Appeals Tribunal NSW, and in 2019 acted as Senior Counsel assisting the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into Crystal Methamphetamine.
In 2020 Ms Dowling returned to the private Bar, appearing in coronial inquests and in criminal and regulatory matters both for the prosecution and defence.
Ms Dowling has consistently mentored junior practitioners and contributed to the continuing legal education of solicitors and barristers in NSW. She has served on multiple committees of the NSW Bar Association, including the Education Committee, the Silk Selection Committee, the Equal Opportunity Committee and the Professional Conduct Committee.
Frank Veltro SC was appointed as a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in October 2022.
Mr Veltro first joined the ODPP as a solicitor in 1988, practising for four years before taking up an appointment as prosecuting counsel in Hong Kong. There, he appeared on behalf of the Crown in Supreme Court jury trials, in appeals in the Hong Kong Court of Criminal Appeal and before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
On his return in 1997 he practised at the NSW Bar before being appointed in-house counsel with the Commonwealth DPP in 1998. Mr Veltro was appointed a Crown Prosecutor in 2000 and a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in 2019, serving as the Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Sydney West Region and head of the Court of Criminal Appeal Unit. Mr Veltro has appeared in numerous complex trials and appeals in the Court of Criminal Appeal and in the High Court. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2020 and as an Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in May 2021.
Mr Veltro has also been a member of the NSW Bar Association’s Professional Conduct Committee and Criminal Law Committee and is presently a member of the Education Committee.
Helen Roberts SC was appointed as a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in October 2022.
Having been Associate to Gleeson CJ in the High Court, she joined the ODPP as a solicitor in 1999. She then held positions as Solicitor Advocate with the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office, as Deputy Coroner for the Northern Territory and as Crown Prosecutor with the NT ODPP, before returning to the NSW ODPP.
Ms Roberts was appointed a Crown Prosecutor in July 2010, running trials in the District Court, before specialising in appellate work in 2017. She was appointed as an Acting Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in February 2019, assuming joint responsibility for the Court of Criminal Appeal Unit.
Ms Roberts has appeared for the Crown in numerous complex appeals in the Court of Criminal Appeal and appeared in the High Court in special leave applications on behalf of the Director. She has twice been appointed as an Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, from March to August 2020 and in August 2022. In September 2021, she was appointed Senior Counsel.
She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of NSW Law School, teaching advocacy, and is Co-Chair of the Criminal Law Committee of the NSW Bar Association.
Michelle England was appointed as an Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in February 2022.
After practising as a solicitor at a leading commercial firm and at the Crown Solicitor’s Office, Ms England was called to the Bar in 2006. There, she had an extensive trial and appellate practice in criminal and administrative law. Ms England practised across a broad range of jurisdictions, with a focus on drug and terrorism trials in the District and Supreme Courts and appeals in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Following her appointment in 2021 as a Crown Prosecutor and an Acting Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor (first for a trial group and then for the Sydney West Region), Ms England appeared in numerous murder trials and appeals in the Court of Criminal Appeal and in the High Court.
Ms England has a long-standing commitment to leadership and mentoring. She has been an Australian company director of a large international anti-slavery organisation and has run prosecutor training overseas with a focus on gender-based violence. Ms England has also been a member of the NSW Bar Association’s Professional Conduct Committees and Criminal Law Committee.
Ms England was appointed Senior Counsel in October 2024.
Ken McKay SC was appointed as Senior Crown Prosecutor of NSW in November 2022, having served as Acting Senior Crown Prosecutor since December 2021.
He commenced practice as a solicitor with the ODPP in 1987, later becoming a Trial Advocate. Since his appointment as a Crown Prosecutor in 2000, Mr McKay has appeared in some of the country’s most complex and high‑profile jury trials in the District Court and Supreme Court.
He was appointed as a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in 2017, serving as a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor for Sydney and Sydney West. He was appointed Senior Counsel in September 2020.
Craig Hyland was appointed Solicitor for Public Prosecutions in February 2015.
Mr Hyland has more than 30 years’ experience in the criminal justice system. He joined the ODPP NSW in 1988, holding positions as a Solicitor, Managing Lawyer and Assistant Solicitor of Public Prosecutions (Operations).
In March 2009, Mr Hyland was appointed Solicitor for Public Prosecutions at the Office of Public Prosecutions Victoria, holding that role until his appointment to his current position.
Mr Hyland graduated from the University of NSW in May 1985 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Jurisprudence. He was admitted as a solicitor in December 1986 and holds postgraduate qualifications in Public Administration from the University of Sydney.
Deputy Solicitors for Public Prosecutions
Ms Whitehead joined the ODPP in 1997 after working in commercial litigation at a large corporate firm. She was an instructing solicitor in District and Supreme Court trials before becoming a committal lawyer in 1999. She was appointed as the Managing Solicitor of a Sydney trial group in 2017 and worked part-time as Policy and Legal Advisor, assisting with policy and law reform.
In 2019 Ms Whitehead was appointed as Deputy Solicitor for Southern Operations, with responsibility for three offices in regional NSW. She also assumed responsibility for EAGP (committal) processes statewide.
In 2023 Ms Whitehead transferred into the Deputy Solicitor (Legal) role where she manages the Appellate Litigation and Legal Resources teams and has responsibility for the development of policy and law reform for the ODPP, in collaboration with Director’s Chambers. Ms Whitehead represents the Director at numerous interagency forums, including as Chair of the Sexual Assault Review Committee and Domestic Violence Review Committee and attending the Law Society Criminal Law Committee. Alongside the Deputy Solicitor (Legal Operations), she is responsible for numerous legal areas which arise in ODPP prosecutions including subpoenas, privilege, mutual assistance, criminal justice certificates and Public Interest Disclosure, and is one of the ODPP’s Right to Information and Privacy Officers.
Ms Whitehead graduated with Honours in Arts/Law from the University of Sydney and was admitted as a solicitor in 1992. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Business Studies (Public Sector Management) from the Queensland University of Technology.
Ms Kwiet began working a prosecutor with the ODPP in 2009. She has worked in the Parramatta and the Sydney offices as well as in the Specialised Prosecution Unit, which prosecutes police officers, high profile matters and organised crime. In 2018 Ms Kwiet became a Senior Legal Adviser in Director’s Chambers and in 2020 became Principal Legal Adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Kwiet was appointed to the position of Deputy Solicitor of Public Prosecutions (Legal Operations) in 2023. She has oversight of 130 staff including the Specialised Prosecutions Teams, the Witness Assistance Service and the Drug Court. She is also the Executive Lead for First Nations initiatives at the ODPP and works closely with the Witness Assistance Service on strategic projects to enhance the support provided to witnesses and victims of serious crime by the ODPP, as well as in the criminal justice system more broadly. Ms Kwiet is also responsible for other legal areas including subpoenas, privilege, mutual assistance, criminal justice certificates and Public Interest Disclosure, and is one of the ODPP’s Right to Information and Privacy Officers. In 2022 Ms Kwiet received the Director's Service Excellence Award for outstanding Management and Leadership.
Ms Kwiet graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 2008 with Honours in a combined Law/Communications degree and was admitted as a solicitor in 2009.
Ms Weekes began her career at the ODPP as a Legal Clerk in 1995. She later worked as a solicitor at the Penrith office before moving to the Parramatta office in 2017 in the role of Trial Unit Co-ordinator. Ms Weekes became a Managing Solicitor at the Parramatta office in 2018 and in 2022 acted as Deputy Solicitor (Operations) in the Sydney, Southern and Northern Regions. Ms Weekes was appointed as Deputy Solicitor (Operations) for the Northern Region in 2023 and divides her time between the Lismore, Newcastle, Gosford and Sydney offices.
Ms Weekes has been an active member of the ODPP’s Workplace Wellbeing Taskforce since its inception and is involved in numerous projects central to enhancing the ODPP’s operations. She is Chair of the Circuit Operations Review, Strategic Transparency and Visibility Project, Whole of Office and Local Briefer’s Diary, and the Northern Police Liaison Group Meeting. She is also the ODPP’s Business Representative on the Digital Briefing Project and Information Management and Technology Committee. Within the Office, Ms Weekes manages Supreme Court Arraignments, District Court Practice Notes, workload weighting and new templates for the ODPP’s case management system. In 2019 she received the Director's Service Excellence Award for outstanding Management and Leadership.
Ms Weekes graduated from the Legal Profession Admission Board in 2005 and was admitted as a solicitor in 2006.
Ms Hocking has more than 20 years’ experience at the ODPP. She joined the Office as a Legal Support Officer, later becoming a solicitor at the Sydney and Campbelltown offices. Since 2015 Ms Hocking has been a Managing Solicitor at the Parramatta, Wollongong and Campbelltown offices. She was appointed as Deputy Solicitor (Operations) in 2023, having acted in the role on numerous occasions since 2019, and currently oversees the Wollongong, Wagga Wagga and Dubbo offices and the ODPP’s Regional Group.
Ms Hocking has a particular interest in Learning and Development programs and in creating efficiencies through innovation and technology. In 2021, she received the inaugural Director’s Service Excellence Award for Innovation.
Ms Hocking graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2004 with Honours in Arts/Law. She was admitted as a solicitor in 2005.
Ms Croker has more than 20 years’ experience in the criminal justice system, having joined the ODPP in 2002. She worked as a solicitor at the Sydney and Campbelltown offices before becoming the Managing Solicitor at Penrith in 2014. In 2017, Ms Croker moved to the Managing Solicitor role at Campbelltown. She acted as Deputy Solicitor for the Northern Region in 2022 and in Sydney Operations in 2023, before being appointed as Deputy Solicitor (Operations) in 2023, with oversight of the Campbelltown, Parramatta and Penrith offices.
Ms Croker has participated in the ODPP Future Leaders Program and the Women in Leadership Executive Ready Program. She has a particular interest in mentoring and coaching, and in implementing systems to improve efficiency within the Office.
Ms Croker graduated from the University of Western Sydney in 2002 with First Class Honours in a Bachelor of Laws/Social Science. She was admitted as a solicitor in 2003.
Senior Staff
The ODPP's other senior executives are appointed under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (NSW).
Brendan Oldham was appointed as Director, Information Management and Technology in March 2017.
He has previously held roles at organisations including the Audit Office NSW, Deutsche Bank and Deloitte, where he spent five years working in the United States on global IT programs.
He holds an MBA in Technology Management and has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Newcastle.
Michael Goddard was appointed as Director Finance and Facilities and Chief Financial Officer in August 2023.
A Chartered Accountant who has worked in the Australian public sector and in the United Kingdom, he has more than 25 years of experience in the finance and planning fields. He previously spent 13 years at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, including as Head of Finance/CFO. He holds a science and management degree from the University of Leeds in the UK.
Nigel Richardson was appointed as Director Human Resources in July 2015.
He has worked in human resources at the ODPP for 27 years, including as Personnel Co-ordinator, Assistant Manager Personnel and Manager Human Resources.
He has also held HR roles with the Public Service Board, Department of Industrial Relations and Employment, the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Archives Authority.