SPASA Australia CEO Gary Nye retires

Gary Nye, the inaugural CEO of SPASA Australia, is calling it a day. He will be replaced by SPASA WA manager Bryce Steele on secondment for a period of six months.

Nye was appointed to the CEO role in August 2014.

During his tenure in leadership roles in both SPRAA and then SPASA Australia he was involved in the development of the Certificate III and IV in Swimming Pool and Spa Service and the merger of SPRAA into SPASA Australia.

SPASA Australia president Lynley Papineau says that Nye was also instrumental in putting together the Strategic Business Plan for SPASA Australia and the SPASA Convention and 2015 National Awards of Excellence.

The decision to fill the vacancy through a secondment was made as a temporary measure as the Board of SPASA Australia works to finalise the development of a single entity national association. The office will be based in Steele's home state of WA.

“The next six months are about taking the single entity concept to the members and communicating the benefits. The process will be best served by having someone with knowledge and experience with associations and our industry,” says Papineau.

Reasons for a secondment

Papineau says that SPASA Australia is in the final stages of the merger blueprint document which, when completed will still need to be considered by the SPASA Australia board, the state boards and the state members.

“The secondment is only for six months because it’s dependent on the merger proposal being accepted,” she says. “The next six months are about finalising the document and the communication to the members, then we’ll look at the engagement of a fulltime CEO. That’s why the board thought it would be better do a secondment rather than a recruitment as this stage.”

She says they will evaluate the situation in six months.

She says a lot of the time and energy so far has been put into the merger of SPRAA, the integration of NSW and the organisation of the convention and the awards night.

“But we’ve been talking about the single entity for a long time,” she says. “Most of the states will have their AGMs by March or April next year – and I think it’s important to have some decisions by that time.”

In early August all the state CEOs plus Nye and Papineau met to progress discussions and give each of the states the chance to comment on the benefits of and raise any concerns regarding a single entity.

“It was great,” she says. “It was good to have all five states around the table and all working well together.”

Papineau says one of the other benefits of the secondment is that both herself, as president of SPASA Australia, and Bryce Steele as executive officer, will be based in Perth and in the same time zone, so it will be easier to work together.

Decision to retire

Nye says there were two factors behind his decision to retire.

“The first is my wife and I were up in the Whitsundays recently for a holiday, and that helped us decide that we never wanted to spend another winter in Melbourne. And this winter has been one of the coldest in years,” he says.

“The other factor is that things have probably moved slower than I originally expected – and I’m not frustrated at that, but I think the time is right to swap over before we get to the pointy end.

“Originally I committed to two years to get the job done, based on the information I had at the time. It’s not going to be finished in that time-frame, and I think it’s better to make the swap now rather than leave SPASA up the creek in twelve months’ time.

“I was happy to stay until the end of the calendar year, but the board made a decision to make the change at the end of the quarter. That will give us time to get the accounts in order and move the office over to Perth.”

He says that in February they engaged an organisation called the Associations Forum to work with them to help plan what the organisation will look like in the future.

“We still haven’t got that document,” he says. “And after we get it, it has to go to the state boards, and there will be some questions from them I’d assume. Then after working through that it will have to go to the membership. My personal opinion is that might not happen until this time next year.

“The season is going to start very soon so nothing is likely to happen with the membership until Easter next year. And after that there’s all the activity resulting from the document. In my mind, all that would have been happening now.

“I’d say there’s at least another year before this is finalised. I thought it was in my best interest and in SPASA’s best interest to do it now.”

He says he wants to get started on enjoying his retirement.

"First there’s a few things around them home we want to get done. But basically in future, a week after Mother’s Day we want to hook up the caravan and head north, and not come back to Melbourne until October.

“When I’m back here in in summer I’d be happy to pitch in and lend a hand, but I don’t want to work fulltime anymore.”

Bryce Steele

Steele takes on the role as executive director of SPASA Australia after 15 months with SPASA WA, and for six years prior to that he was business manager for the Master Plumbers & Gasfitters Association of WA.

“Gary has set the foundation over the past 12 months with the integration of SPRAA and SPASA NSW into SPASA Australia, developing member benefits and ensuring that the swimming pool and spa industry was being represented as one at a national level,” says Steele.

“I am looking forward to taking on the role and working with the states to further build a better SPASA Australia.”

Nye will officially retire and hand over to Steele at the end of September 2015.