Thoughts on Phillip Matthews' resignation

Friday, September 2nd 2005, 5:56PM 2 Comments

by Philip Macalister

At the start of this year I predicted at least one of the leading associations would see a change in its leader - and I am right!

Yesterday the Financial Planners and Insurance Advisers Association announced the departure of its chief executive Phillip Matthews.

This is a major event for the association and indeed comes at a critical time in its development.

Matthews was the inaugural ceo of the association, and when he took on the role five years ago I must admit to say I was a little surprised that a planner would leave his business to run the newly merged association.

I know that there are people out there who did not like Phillip and the way he operated, and there were others who actively wanted him to go.

People should put aside their differences and look back on his achievements. Besides the day-to-day running of the association, Matthews has spent a lot of time putting the building blocks for the FPIA in place.

Possibly his biggest influence has been in the area of the future regulation of the advisory industry. Matthews had been promoting the idea of co-regulation, long before the Task Force came up with that model in its paper last month.

A question I have pondered about his departure is this…Is it a bad time for the association to lose its ceo?

Sure the regulatory issues appear to be on hold for a while, but the association itself is going through change with a major strategic planning process underway

It is a little unfortunate that the CEO has left and no replacement is in sight. One of the worst outcomes would be for the board to leave the position in limbo and try and run the show itself. I have seen this with two similar organisations recently and the results are less than optimal (that's really a euphemism for near disastrous).

So the answer to my question is: Quite possibly, and definitely if the transition isn't handled well.



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Comments from our readers

On 3 September 2005 at 3:35 am Giles Thorman said:

I have to say that I am dissapointed that a CEO of an organisation can leave with no notice and without any replacement in sight.The norm for a CEO is for three or more months notice before moving on, ESPECIALLY when no other job seems to be in the offing. It seems to indicate that there is more to this than we are being told.


On 7 September 2005 at 6:38 pm eric said:

Giles - interesting comments, especially after reading the news about who the acting ceo is. He says he will be in the job till early 2006.

If you haven't read it it is here

http://www.goodreturns.co.nz/section.php?CategoryID=4


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