The two remaining external board directors have been appointed to Redland Investment Corporation (RIC), Council’s new investment arm established to generate new revenue streams and minimise rate increases.
Council financial services spokesman Cr Mark Edwards said now the board directors had been appointed, the company wholly-owned by Council could get on with spurring on investment in the Redlands.
“I welcome the appointment of Greg Kempton and Mitch Nielsen to RIC’s board as both men have 30-plus years’ experience in the development and construction industry and will provide steady direction to RIC,” Cr Edwards said.
You may also like these stories
“Mr Kempton has been a senior executive of some of Australia’s largest construction and property development companies and has demonstrated the ability to make businesses more profitable.
“When he recently retired from Watpac’s Managing Director position, the publicly listed contracting business had grown from $120 million to $1.5 billion in revenue under his stewardship.
“Mr Nielsen has qualifications in engineering, project management and finance and has been involved in delivering property projects across a wide range of formats, which will serve the corporation equally as well.”
The appointment of these two experienced directors follows Philip Hennessy being appointed chairman of the board.
Mr Hennessy has a track record of driving good governance for boards and maximising returns from non-performing assets. He has worked as Queensland chairman of international accounting firm KPMG and sits on the board of the University of Queensland, Metro Mining Limited and Mater Hospital Foundation, among others.
Since commencing a non-executive career three years ago, Mr Kempton has held directorships in the education, mining services, power, construction and transport industries.
He was Baulderstone Director for Queensland from 1993-2001 and Watpac Group Managing Director from 2001-2012, where he successfully managed large property portfolios.
While at Baulderstone, Mr Kempton managed delivery of the iconic Teneriffe woolstore apartments in Brisbane, teaching him best practice principles for developing waterfront precincts.
“The Teneriffe woolstores was a hugely successful project that became the catalyst for developing the rest of Teneriffe,” Mr Kempton said.
“Managing the conversion of the old, historic woolstores and new apartments into a stylish precinct along 800 metres of Brisbane River frontage showed all stakeholders how well the old and new could be integrated to achieve results.
“This experience will be invaluable as Redland Investment Corporation moves into managing the development of Redlands’ Toondah Harbour and Weinam Creek Priority Development Areas on behalf of Council.”
Mr Nielsen is Managing Director of Indigo, a privately owned development group with diversified experience in all property sectors.
“I have worked with construction and property development companies since completing a Bachelor of Engineering in the mid 1980s,” Mr Nielsen said.
“My skills run across the whole gamut of land development and upvaluing, so I will be able to help analyse the underutilised land parcels RIC is managing and suggest ways to realise maximise value for the benefit of the Redlands’ community.”
Mr Kempton and Mr Nielsen were appointed as directors at RIC board meetings held on 30 July and 27 August respectively.
RIC’s charter is to identify alternative revenue sources for Council and uplift some underutilised land.
Establishing RIC follows in the footsteps of neighbouring Councils, like Brisbane City, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich, that established investment arms years ago to keep the financial benefit resulting from uplifting land for the community, rather than handing it on to private developers.
For more information on RIC visit http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/AboutCouncil/RedlandInvestmentCorporation/Pages/default.aspx
