Council appoints first CEO

The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council has appointed Steven Stanford as its first ever CEO.

President Bob Gutsell says the role was created to serve as the key starting point in the council’s renewed evolution, adding value back to the clubs it serves, and developing growth in fishing as a sport and recreation activity.

“Steven comes to us with an extensive history in business management with particularly strong skills in business development and sales management along with a host of general management skill sets,” Bob says.

He is also a keen fisherman and owns a charter boat that he leases to well-known skipper Nik Key, operating in the Hauraki Gulf.

“The significance of the title underpins our intention to secure the right kind of person for this role. A person that has both the general management and leadership skills required, but also to reflect that the role reports to the Council Board, which is a very different scenario to that of a general manager who normally reports (there are some exceptions) to a single person in an existing structure, as opposed to a board.

“One of his first jobs will be to contact all member clubs with the aim of understanding how they operate and looking for opportunities where the council can provide more value to the clubs and their communities than we do now.”

The council represents approximately 33,000 members of its affiliated clubs nationwide. One of its main events is the annual NZSFC Nationals fished the third week of February each year. It has a public outreach arm in LegaSea through which it makes submissions on various fish stocks on behalf of members and the fishing public.

It also established the Hiwi the Kiwi in-schools programme some 10 years ago to promote water safety and good fishing practices among primary school aged students. Over 400,000 children have participated in the programme.