"It's kind of more of the same but it's doing it in a measured way so I think the organisation will go from strength to strength."
His official farewell is this evening.
He was "headhunted" to emulate his Bay feat at a national level.
When Stone was appointed Sport HB CEO in 1998, he had 11 staff members. Today that has mushroomed to more than 70.
He arrived from England after quitting as Wimbledon Football Club promotions executive to become Napier City Rovers' commercial manager for five years before becoming general manager.
In 1982, he set up the Rovers club as a commercial entity when it first qualified for the now defunct National League.
"I stayed on for three more months when the Rovers won the National League that year [1998]."
Since arriving from England, Stone has lived 33 years in the Bay.
"Hawke's Bay is my home for me and I'm a New Zealand citizen and this is a fantastic place to live and sport is at the very heart of the community in every facet.
"I think we're an incredibly talented sporting nation and a province of givers in terms of volunteerism with a huge focus on active recreation."
In 17 years with Sport HB and another 13 in the sport sector in New Zealand, he is excited about becoming influential at a national level.
"I guess that's the natural progression for me."
Research, he says, shows Kiwi sport is in good heart.
"As a nation we are up there with the most active sporting nations in the world so the challenge is around volunteerism and resourcing as well as providing opportunities in particular for kids to develop pathways into sport for life."
While that challenge had been around "forever", the nation was getting better at aligning itself with Sport NZ's mantra of evolving into a world-leading system for community sport as well as high performance.
Seventy years ago about 20 sport bodies were vying for the same customers but today there's the understanding about co-existing as a family reliant on a vibrant army of volunteers.
"It's also about coaching and participants, especially around kids, so it's great for us to play the role of the glue that brings the sporting sector together.
"That's one of the things I see with a lot of pride that Hawke's Bay is a very united region around its sport and don't see each other as mortal combatants but act as collegial supporters of each other, which is great."
The Pettigrew-Green Arena, where Sport HB is based, is partly a byproduct of bringing people together.
More than a decade ago, Sport HB was aware Napier City Council was looking at developing the Rodney Green Centennial Event Centre but was also mindful the Eastern Institute of Technology was contemplating building a sport and recreational facility.
After many years of "regional head scratching", PG Arena was born, with the Hastings District Council and the HB Regional Council buying into the concept.
Stone, traditionally a football man whose myriad former voluntary roles include Central Football chairman and All Whites team manager, is immensely proud to have been the founding chairman of Basketball HB, which has a turnover of $1 million and employs six staff.
"It is probably the best-run basketball regional organisation in the country."
As HB Rugby League deputy chairman for about three years, he says Sport HB was pivotal in resurrecting a fledgling code that eventually re-established a board.
"It's nationally a sport that has its own challenges and probably lacks a bit of capacity and sometimes capability so we're no different in this region."
The blue-collar sport has enormous potential but lacks a little wherewithal to take it to the next level.
A member of the HB Regional Sports Park board, Stone said the project was fraught with politics in the gestation period.
"It's going to have something like 200,000 visits a year and will continue to grow and service the region so it's another thing we, as region, can be really proud of."
