Top team wiped: GORCAPA faces full executive team turnover

THE Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA) has lost its fifth top executive in less than 12 months, with its chief financial officer becoming the latest to leave.

Steve Major has this month decided to step down into retirement, ending an almost 30-year history with the land management body, witnessing its transformation from the Lorne Foreshore Committee of Management into the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee in 2004 and finally into GORCAPA in 2020.

His retirement follows the departure of Andy Mathers last month, former chief executive Jodie Sizer’s shock resignation in May, Cath Olive’s in March, and Dr Lisa Mills in September 2024 after less than a year with the organisation.

Mathers has since returned to his broadcasting roots, taking a newly created post at Sports Entertainment Network, but according to their LinkedIn profiles, Sizer, Olive and Mills each chose to leave their roles for a period of unemployment.

What remains is effectively a new executive team, each still in “acting” positions, led by interim CEO Christine Ferguson, who recently concluded a six-month stint as a state government-appointed municipal monitor to the Colac Otway Shire council.

Questions put to the board and its chair Libby Mears – who was re-appointed for a second term in December – about the board’s plans to navigate the significant shake-up to GORCAPA’s workforce, and whether the exodus is the product of a culture problem or challenges relating to a diminishing budget, remain unanswered.

Instead, in response, a GORCAPA spokesperson said leadership changes were a natural part of any organisation’s evolution.

“These transitions occur at a time when we are well-positioned to continue delivering on our responsibilities,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re taking on new responsibilities right along the Great Ocean Road, including management for ports, sections of National Parks and popular tourist destinations and we are working hard to continue improving the way we do this.”

In April, the organisation announced it was on track to manage 170,000 hectares of parks and coastal reserves along the Great Ocean Road by November.

The state government also did not directly respond to questions from this masthead about GORCAPA’s funding model, leadership and culture.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the government has “a strong record of investing in and supporting the Great Ocean Road region and will continue to do so”.

“We’re working with GORCAPA and the local community to make sure this beloved part of Victoria continues to thrive.”

Recruitment is under way at GORCAPA for a permanent CEO.