Rebecca Casson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Master Builders Association of Victoria (Master Builders) and will take up the role early next year. Ms Casson, currently chief executive officer of the committee for Geelong, replaces Radley de Silva who is retiring after five years as chief executive officer and 17 years with the Master Builders. Source: Timberbiz
Ms Casson was appointed from an extensive list of well qualified candidates.
Melanie Fasham, president of the Master Builders, said that Ms Casson’s extensive history of advocacy and outstanding organisational skills makes her an exceptional appointment.
“Construction is critical to the state’s economy being the largest full time employer in Victoria, supporting more than 280,000 jobs,” Ms Fasham said.
“This appointment will result in the Master Builders continuing to expand our leadership role representing the interests of the industry and the people who work in it, as well as further contributing to the industry through our extensive training program,” she said.
The board also paid tribute to Mr Radley for his outstanding and dedicated service to the Master Builders.
“I joined at the height of the HIH crisis, one month after its collapse and the significant impact that this had on the industry. This made it a steep learning curve of our membership but with hindsight, was the most beneficial in understanding the issues that they faced,” said Mr Radley.
Although it was a somewhat tough start to the role, Mr Radley’s work has had a number of milestones.
“Some of the key achievements that I reflect proudly on are:
a) The increased commercial focus of the organisation with 70% of its revenues emanating from commercial activities as against membership fees.
b) The finances of the organisation have strengthened significantly over this period with consistent seven figure surpluses and 40% increase in total assets.
c) Establishment of the state-of-the-art Building Simulation Training Centre which is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere.”
Mr Radley said that over the past five years the organisation had made significant progress in lobbying for changes to regulations in the industry culminating with the recent passing of legislation to introduce trades registration.
“The industry as a whole has been extremely buoyant over the last three years with our increasing population and this is forecast to continue into the foreseeable future.
“The industry contributes over 45% of the revenue of the state and employs over 330,000 people,” he said.
