New council chief executive ‘loving’ his job

Three weeks at the helm, Nelson City Council chief executive Nigel Philpott is loving his new job.

“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure,” he admits. “My only involvement with local government is as a ratepayer… so I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I’m loving it.”

Nigel joined the Royal Navy at 17 which took him around the world. He first visited New Zealand in the 1990s and “fell in love” with the country.

A job offer from the Royal New Zealand Navy allowed him to return and that eventually led him to Wellington where he took up jobs in the Ministries of Social Development and Education, working on social housing and developing a national education strategy, respectively.

The education work then led Nigel to become the chief executive of Primary ITO.

“It was basically a failing business,” he says.

“Losing $2 million a year, staff engagement had gone through the floor, and its reputation wasn’t great.”

However, he found the opportunity to lead and shape a culture “really exciting” and managed to turn the organisation around.

Now, Nigel wants to use the skills he’s put into practice at Primary ITO at Nelson City Council.

“I want to bring a commercial perspective,” he says.

“In terms of value-for-money services, but for me, it’s going to be a focus on leadership. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about building great teams and empowering them to do their job, not telling them how to do it, but agreeing what are the outcomes we’re looking to achieve and letting them get on and deliver.”

Thus far, Nigel’s highlight has been meeting staff and seeing the passion they have for their work.

“Everywhere I go, people light up when they start talking about what they’re working on, and that’s really exciting. And it’s so diverse, from resource management, city development, biosecurity, navigation safety. You keep going on and on, people don’t realise how complex councils are.”

And despite the complexity of the sector increasing with central government reforms in water and resource management, a sector-wide review, and a troubled economic environment adding to the turbulence, Nigel isn’t fazed.

“I always love a challenge. I don’t like business as usual; I like to be stretched, and I like to think about opportunities,” he says.

“Every cloud has a silver lining, and I think all these reforms have an opportunity for staff, for ratepayers, for the region.”

Currently, Nigel’s days are filled with meetings as he gets up to speed with the different areas of council work, as well as meetings with major regional stakeholders.

Once he’s found his footing, his work will involve helping council’s senior leadership team and working with elected members to unlock potential for the city.

“I see the opportunity for this great little city, this great region, to attract people from across the country, across the world.”