A message from Jase

This morning, Gus Gilmour, Pourangi Ako | DCE Ako Delivery, announced that Jase Tibble will be leaving his role to take on a new position outside of Te Pūkenga on 24th May, and to confirm the appointment of Chris Williamson as our new Executive Director.

Jase also communicated this to kaimahi in an email this morning. However, if you missed the email, you can read Jase's message below:

Kia ora everyone,

I hope you are all doing well and had a good Easter break.

This note is to let you know that I have secured a new role outside of Te Pūkenga.  My last day will be 24 May.

I was not actively looking for a new role, but a new opportunity presented itself, offering me the chance to do more of the things that I enjoy and find rewarding – in particular, playing a key role in leadership, strategy and culture development for an organisation that strongly aligns to my values.

Why now?

As we know, the local leadership structure at Te Pūkenga is changing, and my fixed term contract as Executive Director comes to an end soon. This has been the context under which I’ve had to make a tough decision.

My intention was to wait and see if I might fit in a new role within Te Pūkenga as I’m sure there will be exciting opportunities within the new world for many of us. 

Unfortunately, you cannot control the timing of when different opportunities present themselves but at some point, you’ve got to take the ones that come your way.

I still believe that it’s possible for Te Pūkenga to deliver better educational outcomes for New Zealanders, and I still believe that we here in Otago play an important role in bringing that vision to life – as both a skilled solo musician, and now as a trusted bandmate of the wider Te Pūkenga network.

What does this mean for you?

Retaining stability of leadership is important as we head towards the consultation period and the development of the new structure.

I’m pleased to let you know that Chris Williamson has agreed to lead our organisation through the next phase.  Chris is the right fit for this next stage because he brings strong institutional knowledge, and can quickly see how various parts of the proposed structure may impact on delivery.  I have been able to offer some small degree of guidance through the unknown, but now that we are about to see the details, it’s Chris’s skillset that is required in order to lead us into the next stage of the transition.

In addition to strong local leadership, Gus Gilmore (Deputy Chief Executive, Ako Delivery) is also actively working through the process to appoint regional co-leads for our region.

I’m sure Chris and Gus will have more to say in due course, but it’s great to know that the local leadership here at OP remains intact.

A few final thoughts

I would like to thank the entire OP team for your hard work, passion and dedication to your craft and to our learners.  The fact we have achieved our targets this year in the face of such substantive change and considerable unknowns is a testament to all of you, and evidence of the strong reputation, the trust, the systems, the processes, the relationships, the community connections and mana that OP has earned over many years.

I would have loved to have ‘thrown an anchor down’ here at OP and a year and a half doesn’t really feel like a long enough time to have made an impact.  But life’s a bit like that sometimes and so you just do the best you can with what’s in front of you at the time, embrace the unknown and try to make a difference each day, or to use a sporting analogy:  steward the jersey for however long you have it....

It’s been a privilege to work with you.

I knew that accepting a role at OP during the ROVE reforms was destined to be a step into a bit of uncertainty, but I love an adventure and I’ve always trusted that you ought to just step towards interesting things and stuff will work out in the end.  I’m going to keep doing that, and I encourage you to do the same.  Te Pūkenga will provide many opportunities to step towards the challenge, and it’s definitely worth it!

Looking forward to chatting with you before my final day on May 24.

Jase