Clara Yates is a Principal at SPP

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Clara Yates is a Principal at SPP and works closely with organisations to tackle their major strategic challenges. Clara brings particular expertise in the Education sector having worked with Universities, VET providers, Online Education Providers, Research Institutes and education policy makers for over 7 years.

Clara’s sector experience also spans government, consumer goods, sports and entertainment, transport and logistics, and not for profit. A former engineer, Clara brings functional expertise in business case development, growth strategy, organisational strategy and transformation and performance improvement.

Prior to joining SPP Clara worked for the Victorian Government in senior strategic planning and policy roles. She holds degrees in engineering and science from Melbourne University, and a MBA from Melbourne Business School where she graduated on the Dean’s Honours List.

Industry Focus
  • Consumer
  • Education & Research
  • Government
  • Not For Profit
Services Focus
  • Customer Driven Growth
  • Strategy & Decision Making
  • Transformation
High Impact Work
  • Supported a dual sector university assess the feasibility of introducing a new education delivery model. This project encompassed major questions regarding the most impactful education delivery practices for students of different backgrounds and levels of preparedness, the implications of broader sector trends, and commercial viability.
  • Multi-year engagement working with a Go8 university supporting a service improvement transformation, enabled by an upgrade of core enterprise systems.
  • Supported a regional university to evaluate a large section of their course portfolio against strategic and commercial criteria, including student demand and industry trends. The project ultimately delivered a product improvement roadmap for the university.
  • Supported a major faculty within a leading ATN university develop its 5-year strategy. This project involved facilitating a number of workshops with the faculty executive to clarify strategic priorities, and subsequently working closely with senior academics and researchers to translate high level objectives into feasible implementation plans.
  • Led a regional market growth strategy for a large Asia-Pacific transport and logistics company. Findings were supported by a comprehensive assessment of external market conditions as well as the effectiveness of internal operating capabilities.
  • Developed a pricing and ticketing strategy for a major leisure and entertainment company. This project involved benchmarking, research, and financial modelling to support the development of realistic options for increasing overall ticket yields.
  • Led an organisational structure review of a state government service delivery agency. Worked closely with the executive team to design new structures that aligned with policy and legislative requirements and met budget targets.
  • Led an off-field performance benchmarking study of all national league teams and member organisations, with the aim of identifying opportunities to grow participation and build more sustainable operations. The study involved broad consultation across stakeholder groups to validate benchmarking data and draw insights from the analysis.
Authored Insights