Ms Keenan, who started in the role recently becomes the first female CEO of the Moira Shire as she takes over the reigns from Mark Henderson, a lady with an impressive CV fit to see her reach her aim.
“My aim is to make Moira Shire the best in Victoria on all measures and to achieve excellence in customer service and social inclusion,” Ms Keenan said.
“The livestreaming of council meetings allowed me to see the way the Moira Shire councillors interacted and, while there was healthy debate, they are a cohesive group clearly working for the good of the community – some councils I watched in action were far from that!
“I was attracted to a council which is in great financial shape, with distinct communities and a lot of agricultural activity.
“I am now very happy to be here as Moira Shire CEO – everyone has been so welcoming.”
Ms Keenan has a very interesting CV, working in a number of governmental jobs of varying degrees and in a number of locations.
“I grew up in South Africa and studied Philosophy and Classical Civilization,” Ms Keenan said.
“I then moved to New Zealand as Advisor to the CEO of the Napier City Council, became very interested in formulating policy with input from people who worked at the front line of operations and studied a Masters in Public Policy.
“I seconded to central government to help draft and implement NZ’s 2002 Local Government Act which moved from ‘roads, rats, rubbish’ to triple bottom line reporting, community consultation and long-term community vision.
“I have also worked in labour market economics, was a director of NZ’s National Skills Strategy to upskill New Zealanders find immigration solutions to low skill agricultural labour shortages.
“I’ve held communications roles in government including writing speeches for Helen Clark and other Ministers before I moved to the Middle East where I was involved in business development and helped to set up an international Arab news service.
“I then came to Australia and was a stockbroker for two years before taking up the role as CEO of the Burke Shire on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
With large experience in management, Ms Keenan was the perfect fit for the job in Moira and she knows only too well how to deal with all levels of government, a trait that will hold her in good stead in her new role.
“I was CEO of a very remote Shire in the Gulf of Carpentaria (Burke Shire in Northwest Queensland), where I had accepted a year’s contract and stayed for two and a half years – it was time to move to a more populated region that could provide me with further career challenges and my family with more social and sporting opportunities,” Ms Keenan said.
“I had achieved what I set out to do – namely, to start the process of divestment of council housing stock to local Aboriginal staff and to get locals into management positions in council.
“I was ready for my next challenge.
“I am a person of action with a background not only in government but in business development and stockbroking so I well know how frustrated people can get with endless strategies that seem to achieve nothing and heavy bureaucratic process.
“My goal is to make things move more nimbly and be responsive to the mayor and councillors.
“I am very customer service focussed and think there are gains to be made in that regard. I am also always up for going out to bat for what we need from state and federal government to improve the liveability of communities in our Shire.”
So what will the newest and first female CEO bring to her role in the Shire?
“We have a great opportunity now that people in metropolitan areas have realised due to the pandemic what those of us here know – that regional living is fantastic,” Ms Keenan said.
“By facilitating business, industry and residents to move here, we increase the rate base and can deliver better services and provide better infrastructure.
“In addition to goals of sustainable economic development, I would also like to see increased visible Aboriginal culture in the shire.
“Moira Shire is in a great financial position, the business-as-usual runs well, our outdoor staff do a magnificent job across the Shire and there are some great staff here.
“Communicating with the community, ensuring people feel included and heard and improving our customer service and responsiveness are things that I’ll be working on up front.”
“I have a lot more staff to help me in my role, but there will be similar challenges of ensuring all communities in the Shire feel a sense of belonging.”
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