THE 91-year old Australian Property Institute has appointed its first female chief executive officer, Amelia Hodge.
Hodge will take the helm from Mike Zissler, who is retiring from the organisation after leading the institute through a three-year transformation.
Hodge brings 30 years experience and most recently was CEO of the Queensland Law Society, providing leadership in advocacy, regulatory oversight and membership services to around 13,000 members of the legal profession.
Prior to that, she held senior executive roles at Powerlink, Origin Energy, Coffey Commercial Advisory and the sustainable industries division of the Queensland EPA and property, legal and planning advisory roles across the public and private infrastructure and development sectors. A broad non-executive director career has seen her hold board positions in the water, technology, arts, not for profit, transport and sport (AFL) sectors.
API’s national chair Tyrone Hodge said she has the diverse experience and leadership attributes to lead the organisation through the next phase of API’s board strategy.
“Amelia’s wealth of experience across complex, highly regulated industries, the property, government, infrastructure and membership sectors, made her the ideal candidate to continue the great work by Mike Zissler over the past few years in restructuring the API as a national organisation, representative of the property industry.
“With the property industry experiencing significant technology and business model disruption and the associated risks and opportunities that evolve from that, Amelia offers the necessary skills to drive the API’s objectives.
“It is an historic time for the API Board and its membership for a number of reasons. A strategic alliance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) brings together API’s 90-year Australian experience with a global standards and assurance regime.” Tyrone Hodge said.
Recently the institute launched the API ValCover initiative, an exclusive insurance facility for its members backed by prominent international insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Ltd, provides value-added services that directly support our members’ business requirements.
Amelia Hodge said she is looking forward to the challenge of taking the API through the next phase of its strategic industry and member value proposition.
She told Australian Property Journal that her key priorities are engaging with members, key industry figures, the state board members, banks and the government to hear their thoughts and put together a strategy going forward.
“API members are a major participant in the Australian property sector, representing the broad range from one-person regional valuation firms to large national and multi-national cross sector advisors,” she added.
Hodge said the API members play a crucial role in Australia’s economy.
“I am very excited by the opportunity to advocate on behalf of our diverse cohort of property professionals,” she continued.
Zissler told APJ that the API has undergone significant transformation in the past three years and Hodge’s appointment is another step forward for the API.
He added that she is ideally placed to lead the institute for the next phase.
“I’m delighted to be handing over this important role to someone that offers a rare combination of strategy development and implementation, legal, property, corporate transformation, risk, and commercial experience across both the private and public sectors.” retiring CEO Mike Zissler said.
Australian Property Journal
