One of Isaac's own appointed as new Council director

A visionary local government professional with a focus on wholistic community sustainability, capacity building and pure people power has been appointed as Isaac Regional Council’s new director.

Dan Wagner was among a competitive national field of 17 internal and external applicants for this important community facing leadership role of Director Planning, Environment and Community Services (PECS). 

Mr Wagner replaces Jeff Stewart-Harris who is now serving Council as its new CEO from last week following Gary Stevenson PSM’s departure into phased retirement.

Mr Wagner has an extensive working history with the Isaac region, most recently as Council’s Manager of Liveability and Sustainability. He has a diverse background in strategic and regional planning in both Queensland and New South Wales, community engagement, environmental planning and assessment, economic development, project facilitation and regulatory functions.

CEO Jeff Stewart-Harris said Mr Wagner has a depth of experience across much of the PECS directorate to lead and implement the Isaac vision within his portfolio.

“That vision includes continuation of the development work undertaken since 2019 to focus on building communities through engagement, trust innovation and value across all departments in the directorate,” Mr Stewart-Harris said.

“Dan joined Council in mid-2019 and has delivered a great performance in that role – including being part of the award-winning team to help deliver the new Isaac Regional Planning Scheme, and emerging work in development of Council’s social sustainability and environmental policy frameworks.

“During the three-stage selection and interview process, Dan presented an enthusiastic, clear, creative, and compelling vision for the future of the PECS Directorate. The strong emphasis on inclusion, empowerment and growing capacity of people and teams made for compelling reasons for Dan’s appointment.”