Wimmera CMA board announces interim chief executive

Release date: Monday February 28, 2011

Former Corangamite chief executive Don Forsyth will start as interim chief executive for Wimmera Catchment Management Authority tomorrow (March 1).

Wimmera CMA board chairman Merryn Eagle said Mr Forsyth, who retired from his Corangamite role last year, will fill in until a new chief executive starts. “We are pleased that someone of Don’s experience and knowledge of catchment management is able to fill this role until we recruit a new chief executive,” Mrs Eagle said.

"Don has strong links with the Wimmera, having attended Longerenong College in the late 1960s and marrying former Horsham woman Robyn Robinson. Don was chief executive for Corangamite CMA from 1997, when the Victorian Government established CMAs, until July last year.”

Mrs Eagle said the Board had engaged a professional agency to help the Board recruit a new chief executive. She expects it will be around four months before a new chief executive starts in the Wimmera role.

Marc Thompson finishes as Wimmera CMA chief executive today (February 28). He is leaving the region with his wife Bonnie to work in an Indigenous community in Western Australia. Mr Thompson has been chief executive for the past six years.

Mr Thompson’s new position is chief executive of the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation in Roebourne in northern WA. The Thompsons will retain their property at Wartook with a view to returning to the region in the future.