CCI executive restructure

TheChamber of Commerce and Industry has completed a series of changes to its senior management with the recruitment of Diedre Willmott as its inaugural executive director policy.

Her recruitment comes after last year’s promotion of long-serving director Gary Collins to the new role of executive director business services.

The creation of the two new positions flowed from a strategic review instituted by chief executive John Langoulant, who wanted to streamline CCI’s management structure.

The management changes also reflect the growing size of the CCI, which has an annual budget of more than $40 million and 250 employees.

Another imminent change at CCI is the departure of the long-serving Bill Sashegyi, who has been director industry policy.

He will be leaving early next month to resume his engineering career as transportation director with Kellogg, Brown & Root.

His planned exit follows chief economist Nicky Cusworth’s decision last year to join the treasury department as director economic policy.

Ms Cusworth was heavily involved in policy development, a function that will be driven in future by Ms Willmott, who was a chief of staff to former premier Richard Court and is currently executive advisor to the chief executive and chairman of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

She will finish her current job in April and return to Perth in May.

At the CCI, Ms Willmott will head a team of policy staff working on business and economic issues, ranging from industrial relations to the environment. She will also be a member of the eight-person executive management team, which includes Mr Langoulant, Mr Collins, deputy chief executive Ross McLean, director employee relations Bruce Williams and director public affairs Bob Pride.

While CCI is best known for its role in public advocacy and policy development, most of its staff comes under Mr Collins’ business services function.

For instance, CCI employs 900 apprentices through its registered training organisation, Apprenticeships WA, making it the biggest employer of apprentices in the state.

Other services include EmployFast, which advises employers on training and recruitment issues, business visa and migration services, international trade services, and construction services, which advises employers on industrial relations matters.

It also runs leadership and training seminars, offers legal services and provides communication services in areas like online publishing and IT services.

As well as re-jigging its management structure, CCI has recently restructured its governance arrangements.

The major change was the creation of an eight-member board of management, which fills a comparable role to a public company’s board of directors.

Its is chaired by CCI president and former Clough managing director Brian Hewitt and includes company director Tony Howarth, Alcoa’s Wayne Osborne, CSBP’s Keith Gordon, Coogee Resources’ Peter Hood, Brightwater Care Group’s Penny Flett, David Gray & Co’s David Gray and Freehills’ John Atkins.

The board of management is a sub-set of the general council, which is also chaired by Dr Hewitt and has 22 members.

The general council signs off on CCI policies, while the board of management has responsibility for CCI’s business and finances.