Allen excited by chance to lead WellingtonNZ through post-Covid recovery

Wednesday, 1 July 2020

WellingtonNZ chief executive John Allen says he needs five to six years in the key leadership role.

John Allen is planning to stick around.

WellingtonNZ may have had four chief executives in less than six years, and Allen numerous high-profile roles in the city, but he says his new job is a keeper.

The latest boss of the region's tourism and economic agency has a long-term plan.

'My view is that in these sorts of roles, you need to be [there] about five or six years, and so that’s what I would expect,' he says.

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Allen became WellingtonNZ's latest chief executive when he officially took up the role on June 1.

The Wellington region had many big events to look forward to in the next few months, including the annual Burger Wellington and Wellington on a Plate festivals. (File photo)

The organisation's history may have been a little checkered, but Allen is excited about its future in leading the region through the challenges of a post-Covid economy.

He won't be short of contacts to help achieve that, after leading roles at New Zealand Post, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and the Racing Industry Transition Authority (formerly the New Zealand Racing Board).

Allen says the region could achieve something 'truly amazing' with its mix of local talent and venues. (File photo)

With New Zealand's borders likely to be closed for some time, and one of the core roles of the agency being to attract international visitors, Allen says it now has to shift its focus to the domestic market.

'It is really challenging, but the good news for Wellington is we’ve got lots of local talent, so we’re not always going to have to be dependent on international talent.

'We’ve got the orchestras here, we’ve got a whole heap of very talented musicians here, we've got artists … and we've been working with them and with other organisations around town to put events back in the city.'

After a few years of finding its feet, WellingtonNZ had now narrowed its focus and was poised to do well, Allen said.

In his first few weeks in the role, he had seen a 'young and deeply passionate team' change direction to target the local market.

'I think a lot of economic development agencies struggle because they’re not clear about where they’re going to add value, because 'economic development' is a pretty broad concept.

'You can play in lots of different spaces, so you’ve got to be quite specific about where you want to play, and you’ve got to be quite deliberate about what the impacts are that you want to have.'

Allen saw the new role as a 'great opportunity'.

'I’ve lived in Wellington since I was 18.

'I came here for university and I’ve just been incredibly fortunate with the sorts of jobs that this city’s been able to provide me, the environment that the city’s provided to live in, the access to the wider outdoors that we all take for granted, the incredible creativity, the arts scene that we have in this place, and that’s something I’ve been a beneficiary of now for quite a lot of years.

'This role gives me a chance, with a great team of people, and with lots of partners, to actually ensure that future generations of people coming to this city are going to have a similar experience, and that we will continue to attract the sort of talent that we need to enable that future.'

Wellington had a great mix of local talent, and facilities to host them in, Allen said.

'If you start bringing all of those folk together, you can create something truly amazing, and we are going to see the benefits of that over the next period.'