A New Civic Pride

CEO Of the city of greater geelong council, martin cutter, is driving an agenda of renewal and innovation for the region. The results are piloting a new community spirit.

- Steve Crowe

N A M E :

Martin Cutter

COMPANY:

City of Greater Geelong

POSITION:

CEO

LOCATION:

Geelong, Australia

Holding the reins of a major regional city was never on his to-do list, but for Martin Cutter, CEO of the City of Greater Geelong council, a career change from chartered accounting at Touche Ross, which merged into KPMG, and roles at Australian National Line for 14 years, to local government in 2004 was a revelation. He abandoned ship for the City of Melbourne council, where he spent more than 13 years before heading to Geelong in 2018. His reasons for the change of career were quite straightforward, he recalls.

“It’s exciting,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “I saw an opportunity to be involved and I grabbed it to go into local government. I had a lot to learn, I can tell you. It’s an interesting beast, but also an incredibly exciting beast, because I think it’s really the primary level of government that is actually in touch with the people. It’s on the streets, and you are making a difference to what the community sees and feels. I think everyone underestimates how complex local government is and how in touch it is with the people. To this day, I find that I’m still learning and still find it an invigorating environment to be involved in.”