A profile of FPA Australia’s new CEO

The former head of the Civil Contractors Federation Victoria, John Kilgour, has been appointed as FPA Australia’s new CEO. He spoke to Fire Australia about his background and his plans for the future.

PAUL WATERHOUSE

FPA Australia

John Kilgour knows it’s important to leave a positive and lasting legacy.

The new CEO of FPA Australia believes everyone, when they take on a role, should ensure the business is in a better condition when they finish than when they arrived.

This requires the “courage to be different”—the courage to ask questions, to make changes and to challenge yourself, others and your organisation to make a difference through ‘outside-thebox’ thinking.

It’s an approach that has served him well in both public and private companies and not-for-profit entities, in locations such as South-East Asia, New Zealand and Ballarat in regional Victoria.

Mr Kilgour spent a large part of his career in several leadership roles with BP in the downstream retail area, where he led an initiative to create the successful BP Highway Travel Centres in Queensland. He also served as the CEO of its subsidiaries BP Petco and Castrol Vietnam, which he transformed into a locally led and profitable manufacturing and retail lubricants operation.

He then moved into asset management and property consulting, before being selected as CEO of the Committee for Ballarat, which gave him insights into longer-term strategic planning that goes beyond election cycles, delivering social and economic growth ahead of major population expansion predicted for the region.

Most recently, he was the CEO of Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) in Victoria, and President of the Victorian Civil Construction Industry Alliance (VCCIA), which represents 20 member-based associations across civil construction in the state.

These roles saw him advocating for the civil infrastructure sector while negotiating and collaborating with the three tiers of government, unions and other stakeholders for mutual benefit.

Two of his key achievements were the introduction of a Civil Skills Cadetship program, providing sustainable employment and career opportunities for vulnerable and disadvantaged sectors of the community, and the development and introduction of a mental health initiative, Positive Plans—Positive Futures, designed to create mentally healthy workplaces in the construction industry.

Mr Kilgour believes change is achieved by having a clear goal and vision and by recognising that an organisation can only be successful when things are done with, not to, people.

He comes to FPA Australia at the end of a difficult couple of years, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he is keenly focused on the challenge ahead.

He sees a lot of potential in the Association and plans to spend his first 100 days as CEO engaging with industry, transitioning the business and reaffirming its priorities.

This means asking the basics—what do we stand for, what is our base, what do members want, what is our value proposition, and how do we deliver this value. This will be followed by a process fitness review and mapping to work out what we do well and where we can improve.

He wants to “change the game” with a strong member focus, a clear relevance to all stakeholders, increased capability and improved business processes.

It’s a journey that will see the Association emphasise its most important relationship—with its members—and build upon its strengths to deliver better, more responsive customer service and satisfaction.

A former district cricketer in Victoria and New Zealand with a passion for horse racing, Mr Kilgour knows the importance of working collaboratively towards success, and he’s keen to use his knowledge and experience to help with the transition.

But it’s not only the Association he wants to give a health check. One key initiative he wants to pursue is a mental health strategy for the fire protection sector.

This will focus on prevention by helping people early, so that workers in our industry don’t reach a point where they are at risk. It would be influenced by the model he helped to develop at the CCF.

It’s this combination of vision, support and encouragement that will help to transform FPA Australia, help it to deliver for the fire protection sector and create that positive and lasting legacy.

The new CEO of FPA Australia believes everyone, when they take on a role, should ensure the business is in a better condition when they finish than when they arrived.