South Taranaki District Council’s new chief executive feels ‘at home’ in role

Fiona Aiken has been in the role for six months and has enjoyed every minute. Photo / Alyssa Smith

A trip to South America followed by a stint in Auckland confirmed what South Taranaki District Council’s chief executive already knew: Hāwera is her home.

Fiona Aitken says while she grew up in South Taranaki, it was a case of distance making the heart grow fonder as once she left the district, it didn’t take long for it to call her home.

While Fiona is relatively new to the role of CEO of South Taranaki Distict Council (STDC), having been appointed to it in December last year, she isn’t new to the council itself, having first started work there in 1992.

“I started here as the enquiries officer at the i-SITE on a fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave. The staff member decided not to return, so I was moved to a fulltime role. In the 30 years I’ve been here I’ve worked in the promotions, events, tourism and economic development sectors.”

Moving to Hāwera back then was a case of returning home for Fiona, who had first left the town when she was 16.

“I spent Year 12 in Peru through the AFS Exchange Programme.”

When it was time to fly home from Peru, home had moved however.

“While I was away my family moved twice, first to Wellington and then settled in Auckland. I completed my final year of secondary school at Massey High School in Auckland.”

After high school, Fiona worked in Auckland for a year before she headed south again, not South America this time however, but South Taranaki.

“I wanted to come back home to my mountain so I did. I spent the best parts of my youth in Hāwera and I’m spending the best parts of my adult life here as well.”

It’s not just the district Fiona loves, but the workplace too - where she has spent over three decades working across departments.

“In 2010 I became the group manager of community services. In 2018 the role grew, and I became group manager of both community and infrastructure services.”

Fiona says having spent 30 years at council, with two decades’ worth of experience in management, as well as time as acting chief executive, gave her the confidence to apply for the position.

“At the end of 2017, start of 2018 I was the acting chief executive for three months and then when Waid [Crockett, the former CEO] left in 2022, I was the acting chief executive again. This time I applied for the position. It was a reasonably rigorous process with multiple stages of interviews.”

Fiona says having a dedicated team behind her makes a huge difference.

“I have the help of an experienced and dedicated team of staff and a great relationship with our elected representatives. We’re really fortunate that everyone – staff, councillors and community boards and our iwi partners - all work so well together for the betterment of our community.”

It’s an exciting time to be leading the council, she says, with several transformational projects currently under way or in the pipeline focused on building a sustainable, prosperous and vibrant district.

“We have Te Ramanui o Ruapūtahanga, South Taranaki’s new library, arts and cultural centre which is taking shape, our district business park development on State Highway 3, town centre revitalisation projects for Waverley, Pātea, Manaia, Ōpunake and Eltham, project Tukau in Manaia, a sustainability strategy which includes improved organic waste recovery measures and reforestation work, just to name a few. I feel privileged to be part of the team making things happen in South Taranaki.”