SWCC CEO Steve Ewings.
South West Catchments Council (SWCC) has a new Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ewings.
An internal appointment, Steve has spent the past four years getting to know the South West NRM region from the ground up.
Steve started with SWCC in 2014 as a Sustainable Agriculture Project Manager and was later promoted to Operations Manager where he was responsible for SWCC’s day-to-day operations across the South West.
During his time as Operations Manager, Steve lead the development of SWCC Consulting in a bid to diversify income streams and reduce SWCC’s reliance on State and Federal Government funding.
Steve also has extensive experience managing large-scale projects as well as government and commercial contracts.
This will ensure Steve is well positioned to lead SWCC into its new Regional Land Partnerships (RLP) contract with the Australian Government.
“The change from a grant-based funding model to a competitive, commercial contract arrangement is a huge transition for the Natural Resource Management (NRM) sector nationally,” he said.
“Community-based environmental and Landcare organisations across the country have been accustomed to accessing grant funding through regional NRM organisations, like SWCC, to address highly localised priorities for their communities.
“The new commercial contracting model is very different both in form and content.
“It is highly prescriptive in the services the Australian Government wants to purchase from SWCC, to meet national and international environmental obligations and demands scientifically demonstrated outcomes in return for its investment.”
Steve said it would be a challenging time for everyone involved but was confident the community would adapt and continue to maximise opportunities to enact powerful conservation and sustainable agricultural actions across the region.
