Council announces new Shire leader as Stephanie Addison-Brown

The new Chief Executive Officer for the Shire of Augusta Margaret River was today announced as Stephanie Addison-Brown. Ms Addison-Brown will come to the Shire from the City of Bunbury where she has served as the Director of Corporate and Community Services for seven years and the Director Planning and Development for one year. Her wealth of experience includes implementing ‘Smart Cities’ initiatives, running Bunbury Wildlife Park, and overseeing the Bunbury City Library, Withers Library, Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury Visitor Centre, and the South West Sports Centre. She has steered major city projects, strategies and initiatives alongside her fellow colleagues on the Executive Leadership Team. Ms Addison-Brown has expressed her delight at being identified as the preferred candidate from the 45 applications received. “I am both excited and privileged to have been given this wonderful opportunity by Council, and am very much looking forward to joining the AMR team at the end of July,” she said. “The Council has a clear vision and mission to create a sustainable future for its community by protecting the natural environment, strengthening communities, fostering local economic prosperity and responsibly managing the community’s infrastructure and assets, and it will be my role to work with Council, the Shire team, the community and a range of other stakeholders to deliver this.” Shire of Augusta Margaret River President Pam Townshend said Council has absolute confidence Ms Addison-Brown has the right depth and breadth of experience to guide the administration into the future. “We are very pleased so have secured a leader of Stephanie’s calibre,” she said. “It is also wonderful to have found someone so close to the region who has such a deep understanding of our local community and environment. “I congratulate Stephanie on her appointment and extend to her our warmest welcome to the Shire.” Ms Addison-Brown has provided a biography of her work and life experiences for more information.   Biography I originally grew up in a village in Devon in the UK where I spent much of my childhood riding horses and hiking out on Dartmoor National Park. This is where my love of the natural environment began, and I have continued my passion for the great outdoors ever since. After finishing school, I completed a BA (Hons) Philosophy at the University of Reading, followed by post-graduate management studies with the UK’s Civil Service College. I subsequently spent the next few years living and working in London, Sydney and Christchurch (NZ), with plenty of international travel in between. Before coming to Australia, I worked for Lonely Planet (the global, ethical travel guide publishers) where I was the UK office manager for a global office which managed publications for countries and regions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After emigrating to Australia in 2004, I joined the team at the City of Mandurah and over the next seven years I worked on strategy, corporate performance, organisational culture, economic development, tourism and marketing. In 2011, I moved to the City Bunbury to join the Executive Leadership Team where I am currently the Director Corporate and Community Services (although I spent a year as Director Planning and Development overseeing the lodgement of the City’s Local Planning Strategy and Local Planning Scheme 8 and ongoing work to establish the Preston River to Ocean Regional Park). My current role includes a wide and varied range of portfolio areas from implementation of ‘Smart Cities’ initiatives to running the Bunbury Wildlife Park, plus most of the other things you might expect to find within a regional city portfolio (Bunbury City Library, Withers Library, Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Bunbury Visitor Centre, public art installations, sport and recreation including the South West Sports Centre and other sporting facilities, events, public relations, community development including youth, access, reconciliation, community engagement, customer service, corporate information, ICT, grants and so on). I also help steer major city projects, strategies and initiatives alongside my fellow colleagues on the Executive Leadership Team. My son Ben is almost 15, and we have two horses at home (one was a rescue who is now very happy and healthy!). We currently live in Gelorup, but will be moving to the Shire later this year. I am both excited and privileged to have been invited to join the team at AMR Shire, and look forward to working with everyone as we collectively drive a sustainable future for the community.