Mandurah Chief Executive Officer Mark Newman has received the Eminent Service Award in the WA Local Government Association 2011 Honours Program.
Mark accepted the award at a gala dinner in August for his 34 years of dedicated service to Local Government.
He began his career in January 1977 in the WA Department of Local Government and has an unbroken record of serving the community.
In March 1993, Mark joined the City of Mandurah and held four directorships before taking up the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 1995 and the top job in 2003.
Mandurah Mayor Paddi Creevey said Mark had made an outstanding contribution to the success of the City.
“Mark’s energy, his willingness to be totally involved and his dedication to ensure Mandurah is the chosen place for people to live, work and play, have been recognised by this award,” he said.
“His 18 years with the City have provided a stable and guiding leadership that have achieved many entrepreneurial initiatives to take Mandurah from a regional holiday destination to a successful commercial centre, whilst retaining the lifestyle that is Mandurah.
“Mark has been an active driving force in the region by being a key participant at both the Peel Region and Outer Metro Growth Council forum.
“He has worked diligently with both sides of the political spectrum and this approach is one of the major reasons why Mandurah has been very successful in obtaining community and other infrastructure funding from various state and federal governments.
“Sound planning and developing a local government that strives for organisational excellence is Mark’s trademark.
“We are certainly privileged to have Mark at the helm to lead the City into an exciting future.”
Mark Newman believes that one of his important contributions has been the City’s Culture Transformation Achievement Award.
In 2005, the City had made several attempts to introduce programs that would build on leadership capability and improve the culture of the organisation.
Mark Newman said it was critical to attract and retain the best people, so the Council embarked on a culture program called ‘Blueprint’ to ensure we could make the City a great place to work.
“This leadership and culture program was developed and run by Human Synergistics Australia, which has a mission of Changing the World – One Organisation at a Time,” he said.
“By 2007 changes had greatly improved the way we worked and in 2009 we had built on those good results.
“This year I was proud to accept the award on behalf of 530 great employees who have made an outstanding contribution to changing the culture of the organisation.”
