The Franchise Council of Australia has appointed a new CEO. Mary Aldred will take up the role on 3 April, 2018.
Bruce Billson, chair of the FCA, said Aldred has been selected from a top-class field of candidates for her extensive experience across government, industry and the corporate sectors and brings a very strong focus on membership engagement, stakeholder collaboration and effective advocacy.
Aldred is currently CEO of the Committee for Gippsland, a position she has held for seven years.
Her career also includes political experience. Aldred was an intern in Washingston with a US Senator, and has worked with Bruce Billson.
“More than a decade ago, Mary worked with me as part of my Ministerial office team at which time I became aware of her considerable talents and capacity which have been deployed and further developed in the years that followed,” Billson said.
Aldred described the role of CEO at the Franchise Council of Australia as “a once in a generation opportunity to work in the engine room of the national economy. There are transformational challenges and opportunities presenting to the industry,” she said.
“Sector confidence, strong advocacy, a focused and engaged membership elevating industry standards and developing the industry’s reputation as an employer of choice will be early areas of focus in my new role,” she said.
“The industry is about people, and I want to drive a renewed focus on the mums and dad working small businesses to create jobs, young people in our industry starting their first job, and building regard and recognition for a sector that contributes $146 billion to the Australian economy,” she said.
Aldred left school at 15 to work in her parent’s small business, and so brings a real life understanding of small business, said Billson.
In a message to FCA members he said “She understands the operational and financial commitment families make in small business, along with the thrill and passion for entrepreneurialism. This perspective, combined with her executive experience, resourcefulness and success in effective member organisation leadership means that the FCA will benefit from Mary’s strong focus on membership and partner engagement, stakeholder collaboration, strong advocacy for the franchise sector and pursuit of key FCA strategic objectives.”
He said an early task set by the FCA board is “to lead a review and refinement of our strategic plan to sharpen the focus on key objectives and to make sure the organisation is structured in a way that best support the delivery of these objectives and priorities.”