Message from our Chair
Dear Stakeholder,
I would like to update you on a couple of matters.
CEO Recruitment
A selection panel of our board continues to work with an executive search company on the appointment of the CEO. This key leadership position is critical to ensure collaboratively we continue to grow the visitor economy across the Murray region. The process has been hampered by the recent flood event along the Murray and a successful appointment at this time has not yet been reached.
We have been very fortunate to have Will Flamsteed, as our current interim CEO, who is with us until mid-December. The past few months with Will at the helm have been extremely demanding. We could never have predicted that Will would find himself in the middle of a flood event, but we are grateful to have someone so professional and knowledgeable on the visitor economy and crisis management. His leadership throughout and the advocacy work on behalf of our river communities has been of paramount importance. Will has also ensured projects such as the Destination Management Plan and Local Area Plans were delivered in a timely fashion.
On behalf of the board, I would like to sincerely thank Will for his solid and tireless work and personally I have enjoyed working with him and I am extremely grateful for the assistance he has given us. Will is still with MRT for a couple more weeks and there is much work to complete!
Will has an exciting new role that he commences in the new year, as CEO of the Port Arthur Historical Site Management Authority in Tasmania, and we wish him every success in this key position.
I am pleased to advise that to ensure continuity we have appointed Karen Oliver as interim CEO from 9 January 2023. This will allow the permanent recruitment process to continue whilst ensuring that the needs of our organisation are met in a professional and efficient manner particularly through our flood recovery program.
Many of you will know Karen who has consulted for us on a range of strategic marketing projects over many years. Karen’s knowledge of tourism stems from 20+ years working on projects to support the Victorian tourism industry, extensive domestic and international travel, as well as previous roles in the regional marketing and research teams at Tourism Victoria. Karen will bring a wealth of experience and solid understanding of the Murray region, from working in different sectors to support the tourism industry, to her new role as interim CEO.
We welcome Karen to this role and look forward to her working on projects and activities that continue to drive our recovery and longer term ensures that the visitor economy of the Murray region once again thrives. Her involvement will also ensure a smooth transition when a permanent CEO is appointed.