Hutchies new boss: Board and executive appointments

Hutchies brings in fresh blood, British investor Joe Lewis tightens his grip on Aust Ag, while there was change at the top of Change and the Museum of Brisbane is looking for a new boss, plus more

Oct 28, 2022, updated Oct 28, 2022

Russell Fryer and Paul Hart

Hutchison taps Fryer for MD role

Construction company Hutchison Builders has appointed Russell Fryer as managing director following the retirement of Greg Quinn.

Chair Scott Hutchison said Quinn was one of kind and was the first managing director from outside the Hutchison family.

Fryer joined Hutchies in 1998 and was recently the construction team leader and director.

The company also recently appointed Paul Hart and Jack Hutchison jnr as directors.

Keen retires from Aust Ag

Australian Agricultural Company has appointed Sarah Gentry as a non-executive director to fill the casual vacancy left by the retirement of Tom Keene.

Keene had been on the board for 11 years.

Gentry is a vice president at the AACO shareholder Tavistock Group, owned by British investor Joe Lewis. Lewis recently lifted his stake in AACo to 51 per cent.

Gentry manages investments in the food, agriculture, health and technology sectors for Tavistock.

She also has experience in finance and has degrees in economics and commerce from UQ.

Change changes chairs

Ben Harrison has retired as chair of Brisbane company Change Financial and will be replaced by director Eddie Grobler.

Tom Russell, who had been an alternate director, has also been appointed to the board.

Grobler has 34 years of experience in the payments industry including at Mastercard where he was executive vice president for real time payments.

Emporium’s new GM

The Emporium Hotel at South Bank has appointed Julie Manega as its general manager.

She was previously the director of sales and marketing for Emporium Hotels, but also worked at the Stamford Plaza Hotel.

She will start the role in December.

MoB in search for a new CEO

The Museum of Brisbane has appointed Renai Grace as executive director of museums and engagement and was now looking for a new chief executive.

Grace, who held the CEO post for six years, said it was a bittersweet decision to move on.

IAQ’s office bearers

The Infrastructure Association of Queensland has announced its office bearers for the 2022-23 year.

They are John Frew (chair), Loren Hickey (deputy chair), Louise Duffy (treasurer) and Luke Whistler (secretary). All four we re-elected from last year.

Mueller in the pilot seat

FCM Consulting, a corporate travel division of Flight Centre, has appointed Florian Mueller to lead a new aviation practice

The New York based Mueller would be responsible for devising strategies to help corporate travellers deal with the current complexities of travel.

Mueller was previously with Lufthansa but has been with FCM since 2019.

Two more for tourism body

Two new directors have been appointed to the board of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

Passions of Paradise managing director Alan Wallish and Banora International managing director Janine Bowmaker have joined the board.

The Reef Hotel Casino general manager Wayne Reynolds and Coral Expeditions commercial director Jeff Gillies were re-elected to their positions on the board.

Cairns Convention Centre general manager Janet Hamilton was elected as Cairns South Zone director while Baillie Lodges chief operating officer Craig Bradbery was elected as Cairns North Zone director.

Kemp gives way to Pope

After a decade as chief executive with homeless support group Common Ground Queensland Sonya Kemp said in a social media post that it was time to move on.

She will remain at the organisation through this month to allow for the transition to a new CEO, Sue Pope who has more than 20 years of experience working in the Queensland not-for-profit sector.

Pope was previously the deputy CEO with the Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other Drugs Agency.