Victorian ALP secretary Noah Carroll is being tipped to succeed George Wright, who has resigned as Labor’s national secretary.

Wright, who has been secretary since 2011 and is widely respected in Labor, has directed two national campaigns – the first in 2013, in which Kevin Rudd was considered to have “saved the furniture”, and the second this year, when Bill Shorten ran the Turnbull government close.

Wright was at NAB immediately before becoming national secretary and will return to the business world in a senior corporate affairs role with BHP Billiton in Melbourne.

Earlier in his career he came to prominence working with then-ACTU secretary Greg Combet on the highly successful Your Rights at Work campaign, which helped defeat the Howard government in 2007.

Wright said that “after two federal election campaigns, two ALP national conferences and numerous byelections it is time for me to spend more time with my family in my home town of Melbourne and to seek new challenges and opportunities”.

He said the party was in “good shape, well-positioned to help Labor take the next step and win government”.

Shorten said Wright had “been central to the work of rebuilding Labor, growing our membership and engaging with supporters and volunteers in new and better ways”.

“Our entire movement thanks him for his distinguished service and we wish him all the very best with what the future holds,” he said.

Carroll is from the right and directed the 2014 state campaign that defeated a first-term government and installed Daniel Andrews as Victorian premier. In 2015 he undertook the Harvard Business School’s general management program.