Visit Ballarat appoints new chair of the Board

PAUL Armstrong was appointed chair of the Visit Ballarat Board of Directors last week at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting.

Mr. Armstrong, left Ballarat about 20 years ago going on to build a strong career in a variety of leadership roles with a focus on football club management.

Mr Armstrong held the roles of regional manager at Geelong Falcons, GM at Western Bulldogs Football Club, operations manager at AFL Coaches Association and education manager at Federation University.

He currently sits as chair of the AFL Victoria Football Goldfields Commission.

Mr Armstrong, said with his career centred around leadership, management and motivation he was keen to put his hand up when he heard the Visit Ballarat board was looking for an independent chair.

Mr Armstrong who returned to Ballarat three years ago, said he is somebody who sees things from an independent view coming in with no allegiances or conflicts what so ever, somebody as a strong supporter of Ballarat and the region.

“I love this part of the world and [I am] very happy to be involved in a group enthusiastically spruiking the place,” he said.

Visit Ballarat, a membership based, not-for-profit incorporated association founded in 2012, is Ballarat’s peak regional tourism marketing and development organisation driving activities to attract visitors to Ballarat and the surrounding region.

In the financial year ending June 2018 Visit Ballarat generated a surplus of $463,659.00 from revenue of $3,393,683.00

To date the organization has grown the region’s tourism industry to over 2.2 million, helped create over 2,030 jobs and assisted in building over $577 million a year into the local economy.

Visit Ballarat members conduct business in sectors including accommodation, attractions, tour operators, wineries, restaurants, retail and others.

Mr Armstrong sees his new role, heading a board of 11 directors for a three-year term, as setting the culture and ethics of the board and the organization while responsible for providing information back to the 350 members.

Mr Armstrong said the first item on his agenda as chair is to meet personally with as many people as possible from the CEO and employees of Visit Ballarat, to the members of the organization and the Ballarat council employees working on tourism.

“The chair is responsible for the way the organization is run, overseeing the work of the CEO and the other employees, but as importantly overseas the input and direction the individual directors are taking,” he said.

“In particular with public money being spent everyone needs to be accountable.”