Jayco boss leads national body

The peak industry body for the Australian caravan industry has elected a new nine-member board that includes the boss of Australia’s largest RV manufacturer, Jayco’s Gerry Ryan.

Elected from a ballot of 30 nominees, the new board of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia comprises current directors Denis Austin, Chris Goddard and Mark Lindsay, who is also the outgoing chairman.

Austin runs a caravan and accessories business in Tasmania, while Goddard is the boss of off-road suspension specialist Vehicle Components and Lindsay a holiday park and accommodation operator.

Incoming directors include Discovery Parks Group CEO Grant Wilckens, Lifestyle Communities managing director James Kelly, and the Chairman of Partners for accounting firm BDO, Rudy Pieck.

Also elected was Faye Watson, who runs the Watson’s Caravans & RVs dealership in Coffs Harbour and is also on the Board of the Caravan and Camping Industry Association (NSW), and Donna Cocking, the owner/operator of a family tourism business, and a former State Director WA for Top Tourist Parks and immediate past President of Caravan Industry Association WA.

Gerry Ryan's election to the Board adds to an extensive portfolio of interests and governance positions across various sporting, tourism, leisure, and entertainment businesses in Australia, including his more recent appointment as president of Cycling Australia.

“We are excited by the breadth of industry and commercial knowledge that the new Board will bring to our Association, and to the industry in general,” said Caravan Industry Association of Australia CEO Stuart Lamont.

“We would like to acknowledge the outgoing Board members who have contributed significantly to the organisations growth over the past few years,
and who have overseen the merger of two national bodies into one peak national body for the industry,” he said.

Reducing from 14 in number to nine the new Board will take office on July 1, and its introduction will be overlaid with a newly formed Advisory Council made up of State Association CEOs, which is due to take effect from November 2015.

“The ability of the state associations and the Federal national body to work even closer together will see great benefit moving forward,” Lamont said.

“Consistency of message as well as leveraging individual activities together will mean better outcomes for the industry and greater returns for industry investment.”