HDC Executive Appointments Announced
Hastings District Council Chief Executive Ross McLeod has now announced five of the six appointments to Council’s senior management team.
These newly created positions are part of a broader improvement programme which will see Council embark on a host of service improvement projects.
These projects aim to improve the organisation’s service to its community and its capability to deliver, and takes it in a bold new strategic direction set by the elected Council.
On Thursday, HDC staff were informed David Fraser had been appointed to the Group Manager: Asset Management.
Yesterday, staff were told who would fill four of the five remaining positions.
The latest appointments to the Executive Leadership Team are:
John O'Shaunessy will take up the position of Group Manager: Planning and Regulatory Services. John comes to us from Napier City Council, where he is currently Town Planning Manager. John has a strong background in delivering regulatory services in a customer focused manner.
Dennis Morgan will take up the position of Group Manager: Strategy and Development. Dennis has extensive experience in strategy and policy development in both local and central Government most recently as the Community Development Manager for the Napier City Council. He has vast experience in the social wellbeing area and a strong background in building partnerships for delivery with other agencies.
Mike Maguire will take up the position of Group Manager: Corporate and Customer Services. Mike has been in the role of Group Manager: Resource Management at Hastings District Council since 2001 and has also during this time led the Shared Business and Customer Service Project team. Mike has extensive Local Government experience at a Senior Management level.
Tony Gray will take up the position of Chief Financial Officer. Tony has extensive financial experience having been Chief Financial Officer of a number of large organisations for the past 20 years. His current role is as General Manager Secretariat and Group Monitoring for Te Rknanga o Ngi Tahu, New Zealand’s second largest Maori iwi organization having assets of over $600m. He has previously been Chief Financial Officer at Mighty River Power and TVNZ. Tony is relocating back to Hawke’s Bay following many years of working in other locations throughout New Zealand and overseas.
Mark Clews has been appointed to the position of Principle Advisor: District Development. Mark has consistently demonstrated a very high quality of strategic planning skills in relation to the future development of the district in his current role at Council. Mark will be a key contributor to Hastings District Council and its future success.
Mr McLeod is still in the process of finalising the appointment of Group Manager: Community Facilities and Programmes and staff will be informed in due course.
These new positions replace the existing executive management roles of Council.
“I’m confident these new appointments, together with the service improvements and other changes council is making, will enable the Mayor and Councillors to better deliver on their progressive vision for Hastings," Mr McLeod says.