New chief takes the reins
The Southern Institute of Technology has appointed Onno Mulder as its chief executive officer.
Mulder will relocate from Christchurch to start the position on May 24.
‘‘I’m absolutely delighted to be moving down to work for SIT,’’ he said.
Mulder had been the former chief executive of CityCare, a Christchurch City Council owned infrastructure company, for 15 years.
Mulder said ‘‘I’ve always had a strong belief in the importance of education and I believe that through education we can support students to learn new skills that will help them to make their mark on the community. That’s why I’m excited about taking a career change into education.
‘‘SIT has a strong record of innovation in education and this is an opportunity to play a role in its development as part of Te Pu¯ kenga. I’m looking forward to working with all stakeholders as we continue growing the Southland economy,’’ he said.
Maree Howden had been acting chief executive at SIT for about 10 months after Penny Simmonds stepped down from the top role to become Invercargill’s MP for the National
Party.
SIT chairwoman Alison Broad said ‘‘they’ve [Howden’s team] done a great job of keeping things running positively.’’
Howden chose not to apply for the full position, Broad said. She has returned to her permanent role as Head of Faculty, Health, Humanities and Computing, and deputy chief executive.
Broad said the board was excited for Mulder to be joining the team because of his depth of experience from his previous role.
‘‘His experience in the construction and infrastructure sector, and as an industry client of the vocational training sector, will bring fresh perspectives and opportunities to SIT’s work,’’ she said.
Broad said SIT’s future looked ‘‘really bright’’, and it had a higher number of enrolments this year than it did last year.