Campaspe Shire Council CEO Pauline Gordon has announced the appointment of four Executive Directors to fill the vacancies that had existed over a lengthy period while dealing with the impacts of COVID, floods and staff attrition.
"I am delighted to welcome these highly regarded people into these roles and very much look forward to having them on board to help us move on from what has been an extremely challenging time," Ms Gordon said.
"We have been so fortunate to have had staff across the organisation who stepped up to temporarily fill a range of vacancies, often juggling two roles, and their own personal circumstances as a result of the floods, but we know that is not sustainable long term," she said.
"I want to sincerely thank and acknowledge those staff for ensuring the organisation had the support and leadership during one of the most difficult times in our community."
"We have a lot of work to do in the flood recovery space, and we also have some big commitments to deliver improvement to services, infrastructure and efficiency of services and we must have the resources to be able to do that," she said.
Campaspe Shire Council was in the unique position of welcoming a new CEO when Ms Gordon joined during the October 2022 floods, with four acting directors in key senior roles.
"I feel privileged to be able to go through this process of shaping our future by recruiting to the director roles and am excited to have these Directors on board to work with our wider Council team," she said.
The appointees will join Ms Gordon and recently appointed Director Emergency Management Shannon Maynard on the Executive Leadership Team.
The Executive Director appointments are:
Michael Sharp, Director Sustainability
Michael is a senior local government executive with more than 23 years' experience in leadership and management across a range of areas including statutory and strategic planning, subdivision engineering, economic development and building control along with the planning of open space and community facilities.
Michael was previously Director Planning and Development at Hume City Council and holds an honours Degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Master of Business Administration.
Michael is passionate about developing staff and creating high performing teams and the potential of place-based planning in building community wellbeing and the alignment of the people, processes, and systems of Council to support the delivery of these plans.
Kate Lemon, Director Infrastructure
Kate joined the former Shire of Rochester in 1990 as part time Branch Librarian after having been employed as a Library Officer with the City of Bendigo. After various roles in the Community Department, including the role of Aged & Disability Services Manager, in 2010 Kate was appointed to the position of Public Environments Manager, and in 2020 Kate took on the role of Manager Community Business which comprised Local Laws, Saleyards, Port of Echuca, Echuca Caravan Park and the Animal Shelter.
Kate's qualifications include a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and a Master's in Business Administration.
In 2022 Kate took on the role of Acting Director Infrastructure, this portfolio includes road maintenance and construction, project management, asset management, engineering, properties, building maintenance, parks, gardens, plant, and fleet.
Living in Rochester and working at Campaspe, Kate is passionate about, and has been an active member of her Campaspe community.
Jo Bradshaw, Director Communities
Jo has spent 20 years in Local Government working in community planning, policy development, regulation and service delivery. She has a proven track record in business transformation, sector reform, continuous improvement, and leading high performing teams. Jo is described as having a 'can-do' attitude and as a highly respected leader across the Community Services and Local Government sector with a reputation for leading and delivering high quality services and programs for the community.
Throughout her career Jo has worked across all aspects of the Communities Directorate including Child & Family Health, Early Years, Community Care, Economic Development, Tourism, Libraries, Youth Services, Festival & Events, Customer Service, Arts & Culture to name a few. Jo values and has developed strong relationships with staff, community and Councillors.
Jo also has a strong connection to the Campaspe community as she grew up on a dairy farm in Tongala and her family still live in Campaspe. Jo says, she is looking forward to living and working in the community again.
Director Corporate, Matthew McPherson
Matt commenced with Council in 2008 as an Asset Analyst, having previously worked as a Financial Planner and Telecommunications Business Analyst. In 2012 Matt took on the Strategic Asset Manager role and was responsible for project management and assets. In 2016 Matt was successful in being appointed to the ICT Manager role and in 2022 he took on the acting role as Director Corporate which includes Finance, Information Communication Technology, People and Culture, Customer Service, Communications, Risk and Audit Committee.
Matt's qualifications include Bachelor of Computer Science & Engineering (Hons); Diploma in Financial Planning and an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning.
Hailing from Numurkah Matt is a country person at heart, his family live and work in Echuca and Matt has been involved in the community as treasurer on school council and with children's sporting activities.
Matt is looking to focus on risk management, operational reporting, and strategic direction, empowering and guiding rather than directing his teams and fostering a collaborative, transparent and supportive team culture in the corporate directorate and across the organisation.
