Director-General

Patricia O’Callaghan

Director-General, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation

Patricia ‘Trish’ O’Callaghan joined the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation as Director-General in November 2024. She has held significant senior executive positions during the past 15 years and has a passion for growing companies, communities and bettering the lives of people.

Trish has a wealth of experience in tourism, having previously served as CEO of Tourism and Events Queensland. Prior to this, she headed up Destination Gold Coast from February 2021 to December 2022; following nine years with Townsville Enterprise, first as General Manager for Tourism and Events before being promoted to CEO; a role she held for five years.

With extensive experience in strategy development, advocacy, corporate communications, government, stakeholder and media relations, and marketing, Trish has a proven record of working with communities to convert strategy into tangible outcomes.

Trish was previously accepted into the Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue, named 2018 BOSS Young Executive by the Australian Financial Review, and was the recipient of the 2014 Australian Institute of Management – Young Manager of the Year Award for Queensland.