Stephen Town (born ) is a chief executive in

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. Formerly the chief executive of

Auckland Council Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...

, Town was the inaugural chief executive for

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

provider Te Pūkenga–New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology from 6 July 2020 to 16 August 2022.

Early life

Town received his secondary education at Wellington College and left there six weeks into seventh form. He graduated from Wanganui Regional Community Polytechnic and in his late 20s, he graduated from

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

with an

executive MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

after studying part-time. Town is married with six children; there are two grandchildren.

Professional career

Town's first leadership role was at Wanganui Regional Community Polytechnic from 1994 to 1998, making him the country's youngest chief executive at that time. He was chief executive for

Franklin District Council Franklin District was a New Zealand territorial authority that lay between the Auckland metropolitan area and the Waikato Plains. As a formal territory, it was abolished on 31 October 2010 and divided between Auckland Council in the Auckland R ...

from July 1998 to July 2002. He was the chief executive for

Tauranga City Council Tauranga City Council is the Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority for the List of cities in New Zealand, city of Tauranga, New Zealand. The council consists of nine councillors, each elected from one of nine wards, and ...

from July 2002 to October 2010. He was a regional director for the Auckland/Northland region of the

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from October 2010 to December 2013. Since 15 January 2014, Town has been the chief executive for

. He replaced the inaugural CEO, Doug McKay. Town had a starting salary of NZ$630,000. Later, his salary at Auckland Council was NZ$698,000. In early February 2020, it became known that Town has resigned prior to his employment term ending in December 2020. On 4 February 2020, it was announced that Town was going to be the inaugural chief executive of New Zealand's new mega-polytech, Te Pūkenga–New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology, commencing on 6 July 2020. In early July 2022, Town took "personal leave" from his position as CEO of Te Pūkenga for undisclosed reasons. Te Pūkenga council member Peter Winder assumed the position of chief executive in his absence. On 10 July, the ''

Waikato Times The ''Waikato Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Hamilton, New Zealand, and owned by media business Stuff Ltd. It has a circulation to the greater Waikato region and became a tabloid paper in 2018. The newspaper has won the title of N ...

'' reported that Town was earning an annual salary of between NZ$670,000 and NZ$679,000, which exceeded

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's annual salary of NZ$471,049. The newspaper also reported that a memo by Tertiary Education Commission deputy chief executive Gillian Dudgeon had identified several problems facing the mega polytechnic including a lack of leadership, a deficit of NZ$110 million (which exceeded the organisation's budget of NZ$57.5 million), and declining enrolments in the 2022 academic year. In addition,

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reported that Town was still earning up to NZ$13,000 while on "special leave." In response, the opposition

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's tertiary education spokesperson

Penny Simmonds Penelope Elsie Simmonds (born September 1959) is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of ...

suggested that Town's departure on "special leave" reflected problems with the Government's plans to merge the polytechnics into a mega entity. In mid-August 2022, Simmonds alleged that Town had been "shoulder-tapped" for the role of CEO of Te Pūkenga and lodged an Official Information Act request into the mega polytechnic's chief executive recruitment process. Town resigned his position of CEO on 16 August 2022. His responsibilities and duties were assumed by Acting-CEO Peter Winder.

References

External links

2013 interview of Town
at a conference held by

Cycling Advocates' Network Cycling Action Network (CAN) is a national cycling advocacy group founded in November 1996 in Wellington, New Zealand. They lobby government, local authorities, businesses and the community on behalf of cyclists, for a better cycling environment ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Town, Stephen Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Wellington College, Wellington Massey University alumni New Zealand chief executives Living people