BayTrust announces appointment of new Chief Executive

20 November 2014

BayTrust announces appointment of new Chief Executive

Jenny Mahoney, Chair of Bay of Plenty Community Trust (BayTrust), today announced that Alastair Rhodes has been appointed to the new role of Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Rhodes will be replacing the current Trust Manager, Bruce Cronin, who retires next month after more than 18 years of service.

“We’re thrilled to have Alastair join our BayTrust team,” said Mrs Mahoney. “He brings a wealth of commercial acumen, strategic leadership and passion for change to the organisation.”

Mr Rhodes is currently the CEO at Rotorua Airport, and says he and his family have embraced the Bay lifestyle since relocating from Auckland 18 months ago.

“My wife and I believe this is one of the best places in the world to raise a family,” says Alastair. “We live on a lifestyle block between Tauranga and Rotorua with our two young daughters, and they’ve already collected a menagerie of animals! We’re all loving it and are committed to the region.”

With a long and distinguished career primarily in the aviation sector, Mr Rhodes sees this new role as an opportunity to transfer his skills and experience from the commercial to the philanthropic sector.

“I believe there are so many opportunities for the Bay to continue to grow and thrive,” says Mr Rhodes. “The sum of the whole of the Bay of Plenty is definitely bigger than its individual parts and that’s why the BayTrust job interested me. I believe I can play a key role to help unite and enhance our different communities as collaboration across the Bay is critical to our future success as a region.”

Mr Rhodes says his first few months will be spent meeting the many and varied stakeholders in the region, and strengthening his understanding of the strategic direction of the Trust.

“BayTrust is a well-respected organisation, with an experienced and proactive Board whom I am looking forward to working with,” says Mr Rhodes. “I’ll be asking a lot of questions, listening to the answers and thinking about the implications in order to help shape future opportunities for the Trust and our wider community.”

“One of the challenges for me will be working through and understanding the different needs and requirements of a very diverse and large region,” says Mr Rhodes. “I believe BayTrust has a unique opportunity in that it can take a very long term view of how we can best assist the community with the Trust having $180m in assets and distributing over $3m in grants to the community each year.”

“The community is losing an advocate and champion with Bruce’s pending retirement,” says Mrs Mahoney, “but we’re excited about what Alastair will bring to our organisation and the wider Bay community.”

ENDS

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