Welcome note

A word from our President

It is with a sense of accomplishment that I step down from my role as President and Board member of RACT.

It has been a privilege to represent our 210,000 members for 15 years, and to see the growth and maturity of our organisation during that period of time.

It was a shared sense of purpose and values that persuaded me to join the RACT Board in 2006, affording me the opportunity to contribute to shaping the direction of the organisation and overseeing its journey to become more sustainable, relevant and member-focused.

Over this time our membership has doubled; we have invested and/or divested in travel, properties, tourism and insurance; and deployed technology to deliver reliable services and better connect with members.

We have contemporised our Board and governance, evolving from two female directors to now an equal gender balance, limited director tenures and a skills-based approach to appointments and succession.

While change is inevitable, our purpose and commitment to our members and people remains the same. I am proud of the way our Board, our people and our members adapt to challenges, and for their resilience and commitment to change.

For me personally, it has been rewarding to represent our members in areas where we can truly make a difference, such as saving lives on our roads, rescuing a member in their time of need, or supporting them through hardships or losses from natural disasters or pandemics.

I am passionate about working to improve the safety of our roads. When I joined RACT in 2006, 52 Tasmanian lives were lost on our roads and while I’m heartened to see a reduction since then, there is still much to be done. We must never stop aiming to improve.

I thank our many members who have reached out to me over the years and supported my role on the Board. I’d particularly like to thank our Regional Advisory Committees for their unwavering support of the organisation, our people who assist our members 24/7 across the state and my fellow Board members, past and present, who work tirelessly to ensure our almost 100-year-old member organisation continues to prosper. Kathryn Westwood // PRESIDENT

ABOUT YOUR RACT

PRESIDENT Kathryn Westwood

VICE PRESIDENTS Alison Flakemore Jenny Richardson

BOARD Josephine Archer, Peter Dixon, Ralph Doedens, Jude Franks, Phil Jones, Risden Knightley, Pieter Kolkert, Sue Smith

RACT GROUP CEO Mark Mugnaioni

JOURNEYS MANAGING EDITOR Janine Toms

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