A new appointment to ARCIA and other updates

ARCIA is delighted to announce that we have appointed Paul Davis as the first ever Chief Executive Officer of the association.

This is a major change for the association. We all recognise that while having volunteers and of course Ian Miller doing most of the work has worked very well for the last 15 years, we need to achieve so much more.

Paul is looking forward to leading ARCIA in the next stages of our development and to start to take on the mantle of leading our industry into the future. With the industry knowledge that Paul has gained over many years with Comms Connect, plus the fact that he already knows many of you personally, we are confident that this will be a great opportunity to really make a difference.

The wireless industry landscape is growing and changing, and while we may still have the word ‘radio’ in our title, the wireless industry needs a group to be the real voice of the communication industry to government and other sectors. Paul has been tasked with major areas to enable growth of both members and participants in our industry.

By the time you read this, our annual planning days will be run and for the first time in a couple of years we will enjoy this face to face. When the committee and partners get in a room and focus for a few hours it is very beneficial for the next 12 months. Much of this year was focused on the getting the new CEO systems and platforms in place. Planning for our annual gala dinner was of course high on the agenda, as we really have not had a major event for three years and we are sure everyone is bursting to attend Melbourne in October.

In July and August ARCIA held training and local events in Sydney and Brisbane and our Western Australian members enjoyed a Sundowner. It is fair to say these events are building back to the numbers we used to expect, but each event was enjoyed by members and the feedback has been great.

August also saw our Annual General Meeting and it was very pleasing to see that virtually all of our committee members have remained involved in the association; we thank those employers who give permission for their staff members to be involved in running the association. We were sorry to lose Mark Byford in Adelaide; although Mark will remain in touch with the industry in Adelaide, he has moved into a business of his own in a related field to communications, so we wish him well. It also means that at present we do not have an official South Australian representative on the committee — if you know of someone who would like to be involved, please let us know so we can fill this important position.

Finally, all of the efforts we are making to expand the association and add a full-time CEO are thanks to the continued support of members and partners over the last three years. Without your continued financial support, none of this would be possible. However, with what we are seeing in the world and Australian economy right now, we know that wireless has a critical part to play.

Hamish Duff, President

Australian Radio Communications Industry Association

Image credit: iStock.com/patpitchaya