Date: 20 June, 2013

Three resign from Northland Inc board

The Northland Regional Council says it is disappointed but understands and respects the decisions of three members of the Northland Inc board who have resigned after differences of opinion over the organisation’s management.

The trio – directors Russell Shaw, David Caselli and James Parsons – were appointed in October last year and made up the audit and risk committee for the regional economic development agency and tourism organisation.

Council Chairman Craig Brown says the three directors cited differences in views on Northland Inc’s management as the reason for their recent resignations.

Mr Brown says he does not want to go into the specifics of the differences of opinion at this time.

“While obviously we’re disappointed, we respect the directors’ collective decision to resign and thank them for the very valuable role they have played in Northland Inc’s transition from what had been Enterprise Northland and Destination Northland.”

Mr Brown says all three were hired several months after Northland Inc’s establishment specifically for the considerable professional skillsets they possessed and stressed their resignations were in no way linked to any shortcomings in this regard.

He says the resignations have prompted the council to implement some operational changes at the Council Controlled Organisation while its current hunt for a permanent Chief Executive continues.

Key among these is that Mr Mitten – who has been serving as both board chairman and acting CEO – has given up the acting CEO role in favour of the council’s Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Nicolson.

“This will free up Mr Mitten to focus more fully on his duties as Chairman of Northland Inc and allow Mr Nicolson and the council resources at his disposal to oversee the organisation’s day-to-day running until a permanent CEO is in place.”

Mr Brown says an official application period for the CEO’s position officially closed on Friday 14 June and an interview panel was now in the process of short-listing the 24 applicants.

He did not expect the resignations to affect the CEO recruitment process and says the interview panel is pleased with the calibre of the applicants for the role.

Meanwhile, Mr Brown says regional councillors will now review the size of the Northland Inc board to decide if – and when – new directors should be sought. The resignations mean it currently has three members, including Mr Mitten.

Mr Brown says the role of Northland Inc in supporting economic development in the region is “very much still a work in progress”. He did not believe the resignations would adversely affect Northland Inc’s role in enabling and facilitating the pursuit of regional economic development initiatives.

“Northland has a number of real competitive advantages, including our land-based primary industries, aquaculture, added-value manufacturing and tourism.”

“I want to assure the community that their regional council remains absolutely committed to working with them to unlock the North’s potential via Northland Inc.”

ENDS

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