City’s new CEO looks forward

THE new chief executive officer at the City of Greater Geelong says she will be a collaborative leader but also one that looks forward, not back.

The council appointed Ali Wastie to the position in June and her first day in the job was Monday of this week, taking over from acting CEO Kaarina Phyland.

Before joining the city, Ms Wastie was CEO of the Bass Coast Shire for the past four-and-a-half years, and has held several roles in local government and the Victorian public service since 2004.

In an interview with this newspaper towards the end of her first day as CEO, Ms Wastie – who has relocated her home to Geelong – said she was very familiar with the municipality as her father was born in Portarlington and her mother had lived in Ocean Grove for two decades.

She said becoming CEO of the city was “too good of an opportunity to pass up, because of all of what Geelong has to offer and what it has to offer into the future”.

“I love the sector, I love local government – it is the sector that is closest to the community, you are left under no misunderstanding whether the community think you are doing a good, bad or otherwise job.”

Ms Wastie said she was also looking forward to working with the councillors and the city as an organisation.

“I’m a values-based leader, I’m very much about shared leadership, investing in people so that they come to work and know that they make a difference and can be part of a high-performing organisation.

“I’m a very approachable and accessible CEO. It’s not what I want to be, it’s what I am; it’s what I’m known for.”

Geelong and its many industries had huge potential to be a creative and clever city known around the world, she said, but noted one key challenge was “to make sure that we bring everyone along… that everybody is able to benefit from that growth”.

Ms Wastie said being the CEO of the city was “all about legacy”.

“We’re stewards, we’re custodians for the time that we’re here, and I’m honoured and privileged to be chosen by the council.

“So I don’t look so much in the rear-vision mirror, you have to adapt and change to make sure you’re continuing to meet the community need.

“I would like to think that under my leadership that we’re very successful with advocacy, working in partnership with industry, our key partners out there and government… but I don’t compare and contrast myself to previous CEOs out there; it’s all about working forwards and in partnership, not in isolation.”

She did not flag any change to the city’s plan to withdraw its membership of G21 in April 2024.

“I do absolutely respect the previous decision the council made,” she said.

In response to the question “Before I moved to Geelong, no-one ever told me that…”, Ms Wastie said “the Cats are the second-best team in Australia outside of North Melbourne!”