About
Debbie Cowan

Founder, Owner & Principal Advisor, RUNPAY™

Debbie Cowan founded RUNPAY™ in October 2025, an innovative Australian platform transforming the payroll procurement landscape by delivering independent, high-level comparisons across a Marketplace of payroll systems via a straightforward once-off payment model, complemented with by-the-hour executive-level payroll and workforce management advisory —finally enabling C-suite leaders to bypass lengthy sales cycles, streamline vendor evaluation, and secure strategic, cost-effective workforce technology decisions within their own budgets and business delegation.

With over 20 years of experience in the Australian Payroll and Workforce Management sector, she has always worked very closely with executive-level managers and Human Resources, Payroll and Finance teams, held Key Executive Leadership roles at Payroll Experts Australia® and AgileXperts® (driving ongoing multiple company-wide process and system optimisation and upgrades), co-founded Payroll Standard®, and played a pivotal leadership role in the Queensland Health Payroll System Implementation Project Recovery, successfully resolving mission-critical issues to restore statewide compliance and operational integrity.  

A very proud mother of three, Debbie took a purposeful career pause to focus on family before returning with renewed energy to launch RUNPAY™.  Her core grounding in HR/payroll operations plus executive leadership management expertise (upward and down) is complemented by a Bachelor of Health Science (Health Services Management) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where she was acknowledged for academic excellence by the Australian College of Health Service Executives (ACHSE now known as ACHSM) in receiving an Award for highest achievement in Health Services Management and Health Policy and Planning.  Relevant coursework encompassed Leadership and Human Resources (HR) strategy, financial governance, ethical decision-making, organisational administration, and health Informatics and Technology Implementation.

She always delivers authoritative, honest and real-world insight to every engagement, empowering C-suite leaders and their teams to make informed Payroll and Workforce technology decisions that enhance operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and drive long-term organisational success.

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