The nation’s quarry organisation has elected a new chair and deputy and confirmed a decision to recruit a full-time Chief Executive.
The nation’s quarry organisation has elected a new chair and deputy and confirmed a decision to recruit a full-time Chief Executive.
At the Aggregate and Quarry Association’s AGM yesterday in Hamilton, the chair for the past three years, Brian Roche stood down along with deputy Jayden Ellis, though both were re-elected to the AQA Board. At a subsequent board meeting, 31 year old Fulton Hogan South Island Quarries Manager Jared Johnston was elected Chair. His deputy is another Canterburybased quarryman, Mike Higgins, who commutes to Matamata weekly as Quarries Development Manager for major Waikato-based quarry and cartage company, J Swap Contractors.
At the AGM, the industry voted in support of a Board move to hire a new full-time CEO, to replace Roger Parton who is retiring after 12 years in the part-time role. The AQA Board has the financial support of major industry players to hire the organisation’s first full-time CEO and this was supported by a motion at yesterday’s AGM with only one dissenting vote.
Advertisements for the new role will appear this weekend and new AQA chair Jared Johnston hopes an early appointment can be made.
‘We have a range of challenges facing our industry mostly around where quarries interface with people on urban fringes. We want a new CEO who can work with Government, councils communites and our members and create a new dialogue and some win/win outcomes.’
In a first act, Mr Johnston and Mr Higgins are developing a survey of AQA membership to test industry views on a range of issues, including emerging new regulations for quarries.
‘We want a whole new approach to engagement and that starts with our members,’ says Jared Johnston.