GLENELG Shire Council has appointed its new chief executive officer.
Helen Havercroft will take up the permanent role on Monday, July 29.
Ms Havercroft was formerly director of customer and community with the Alpine Shire Council.
Mayor Karen Stephens said Ms Havercroft had substantial international leadership experience and a passion for community.
Originally from the UK, Ms Havercroft has 20 years’ experience in leadership, leading large teams located across countries and continents and demonstrating a very clear understanding of community engagement methods.
After graduating from Nottingham University with an honours degree in geography and archaeology, she trained as a tax inspector with HM Revenue and Customs (the UK equivalent of the Australian Taxation Office), working there for more than 12 years in a number of roles, including head of the tax compliance business unit.
She then moved into local government in the UK as head of growth and development with a regional council, where she was also appointed chair of the UK’s first heritage action zone.
In 2018 she was appointed CEO of the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic, a role she held for three years.
Ms Havercroft moved to Australia with her family in 2021 to join the Alpine Shire Council in Victoria’s northeast.
Besides her diverse professional career, she volunteered at the London 2012 Olympics as a team leader at the water polo venue to share her coordination and management skills.
Ms Havercroft said she was looking forward to her new role at Glenelg Shire Council.
“This is a fresh challenge that I am excited about,” she said. “I am looking forward to meeting the teams I will be working with including councillors, officers and the community.
“I have extensive executive level experience liaising with all levels of government which I believe will be a significant advantage to Glenelg Shire Council.
“I look forward to bringing my knowledge and experiences to the next phase of council’s journey.”
Interim CEO
In the meantime, council is in good hands with interim CEO Craig Niemann at the helm, Mayor Stephens said.
Mr Niemann’s wide experience and big-picture perspective will be highly valued, Cr Stephens said on Monday, Mr Niemann’s first day in the role.
He has been appointed for eight weeks, until July 29 when permanent CEO Helen Havercroft takes over.
Mr Niemann has been part of seismic changes in local government during his 40-year career.
These transformations have included the council amalgamations in Victoria in 1994, which saw five Bendigo region councils merged into one; the rise of Bendigo and central Victoria as cultural destinations, renowned for art, food and wine; and upgrade of Bendigo regional airport with daily QantasLink flights to and from Sydney.
Mr Niemann, 59, is a former CEO of the City of Greater Bendigo, a role he held for 16 years before ‘retiring’ in December 2023.
Before that he was a director at Greater Bendigo for two years and CEO of Loddon Shire for eight.
Cr Stephens said Mr Niemann’s appointment was an exciting opportunity for Glenelg to have someone of his experience. “Craig is highly regarded and respected in the local government sector,” she said.
“Glenelg is a dynamic shire. We’re a border council, we have our own local port which council manages, as well as the commercial port, the aluminium smelter, and we have a powerhouse of agriculture in the northern part of the shire, so it’s a really interesting mix.
“We’ve have so much potential. We’ve been a hotspot for renewables ... the potential growth for this region is huge.”
Mr Niemann said the word ‘region’ was key. “These issues go beyond municipal boundaries, so it’s important that we take a big-picture look of what the opportunities are across southwest Victoria and into South Australia. That’s been happening for a long time.”
Mr Niemann said his role in particular was to help Glenelg council through their decision making and preparing for a new CEO, and support community needs as well.
Learning about Portland will be a steep learning curve he says but a challenge he is looking forward to. “The only thing I really know about Portland is people always say how beautiful it is. I’m keen to explore the town and region.”
Mr Niemann chose local government over private enterprise as a career because of the opportunity to serve community.
Raised on a dairy farm north of Bendigo, community service was instilled in him by his parents.
As he loved numbers, he started an accounting degree at university but left halfway through his first year.
“I wasn’t enjoying just learning, I wanted to ‘do’. So I applied for a job as a junior clerk with the Borough of Eaglehawk and was successful. It was a really nice mix of finances, but also community.
“I then worked for a really, really small council, the Shire of West Loddon, with six people in the office.
“I lived in a small community called Serpentine for 19 years, started a family there and was involved in sport and community. You really appreciate the role that people play in community and the importance of getting it right as best you can. And the different roles and responsibilities of different agencies to help make that work.
“Then amalgamation happened and I became CEO of a new council, Loddon Shire, and spent eight years there, then two years as a director of Greater Bendigo, then CEO.
“Sixteen years later I thought it’s time for me to make a change. I’ve had a nice break and was starting to think about what I would do next when the Glenelg role was offered.
“I’m not ready for retirement yet, it was a take-stock break. I’m looking at opportunities around boards, I’m on the Bendigo Health board, even if its part-time work. I’m keeping my options open.”
Mr Niemann lives in Bendigo with his wife; their three adult children also live in the town. He will avoid the 4.5-hour commute to Portland and stay here for most of the eight weeks but will return to Bendigo occasionally for other commitments.
Mr Niemann replaces Greg Wood, who finished his six-month term as acting CEO last Friday.
