Byers oversaw a range of significant organizational development initiatives and major changes to the way in which offenders are managed.
Byers started his career as a public servant in the Department of Agriculture where he was involved in human resources and industrial relations work.
In 1987, he moved to the Treasury as Deputy Secretary (Corporate Services) and thus chief operating officer for the department.
In 2000, Byers introduced "integrated offender management", a computerised system which was designed to aid in greatly reducing reoffending.
But it made no difference to re-offending rates by prisoners, with one criminologist Dr Greg Newbold saying the system had become "a large and expensive failure".