Gerrie Carr MacFie
Chief Executive Officer
In March 2007 Gerrie moved to the Sunshine Coast accepting the position of Economic Policy Manager Caloundra City Council. Gerrie previously worked in CEO roles in regional development agencies, policy roles in State and Commonwealth government, and as a private development consultant throughout Victoria. These positions provided opportunity to work with the three tiers of government, community and business leaders on projects ranging from built infrastructure, to transport industry feasibility studies and investment attraction strategies for regional firms.

In January 2008 Gerrie added responsibility for delivery of economic development outcomes to her local government portfolio when she assumed the role of CEO for the council owned company- Sunshine Coast Enterprises.

Gerrie brings a wider career-path to these multiple roles which has included teaching in the adult education and TAFE sector, and small business development including owning and operating tourism and hospitality related businesses.

With a keen interest in community and business leadership Gerrie has mentored state and national business and community award winners, and assisted in the growth of leading edge regional firms.
 

Kris Barnes
Business Support Officer
Kris has a strong background in chartered accounting (CA), project management and business consultancy.  After gaining CA qualifications with Price Waterhouse, Kris started his career of small business consultancy with AMP, providing one on one training and business advice services to large AMP agencies throughout Australia.  Within 2 years of joining AMP, Kris had successfully created a team of business professionals consulting to AMP’s top 80 agencies.  Services included recommendation and implementation of new accounting systems for each agency, a help desk for all business advice, business plan templates, quarterly reviews of financial performance for each agency and business health checks.

Kris also possesses great skills in project management, and this has enabled Kris to plan and manage important strategic projects within the funds management industry.  The combination of accounting and project management skills provides Kris with a unique blend of understanding the financial implications of strategic decisions and detailed tracking of each initiative.

Since moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2005, Kris has been involved in merger and acquisitions with extensive planning, progress tracking and board reporting responsibilities.  Kris has an eye for detail and works in a structured manner to ensure successful outcomes are reached.

As Business Support Officer Sunshine Coast Enterprises, Kris manages the dynamic small business skill development program “Growing Creative Businesses” which is funded by the Australian Government and administered through AusIndustry under the BESB program.  The program involves mentoring and training in business growth strategies and fundamentals to 93 regional ‘next-step’  businesses.

In addition to these valuable skills Kris provides pro-bone advise to a number of community events and projects. These include the following:
. Chairperson of the Nambour Festivals Inc – This event committee has grown from organising a small street event over 12 years into a full weekend event of celebrations, street performers, stage, music, arts and markets as a celebration of the past, present and future of Nambour. It is now partially funded through Government grants, business sponsors and community contributions.  It is now a major annual event on the Nambour calendar.

. Nambour Rotary International Member – As a member of the rotary club Kris contributes to the local community through rotary club events and projects.

. Australia Business Weekly- mentoring to schools initiative.  Kris acts as a business mentor to high school students at a regional high school. 


Janny Stacey
Regional Development Officer
Janny Stacey has a strong background in the higher education and hospitality sectors.  She has also worked in economic development positions within the public sector prior to joining Sunshine Coast Enterprises.

Within the hospitality sector, Janny has held management roles in development as well as operations.  European hotel qualifications and training paved her career with several large hotel/resort groups in Europe, USA and Caribbean before settling in Australia.  Having been part of the pre-opening teams of several hotel and resorts, she was heavily involved in the development and implementation of strategic plans, development of operational policies, as well as design and delivery of staff training.

A career change attracted Janny to the higher education sector.  This move encouraged her to pursue further education as well as enabling her to hone in on her development and training experience.  Her work in this sector included the development of external partnerships, national and international students markets.

This experience and her abilities in languages other than English has assisted her in co-ordinating the Sunshine Coast Enterprises “SunEd” project aimed at the expansion of international education programs in the region. She is very excited about her work marketing the Sunshine Coast as an international student destination.  This project is a successful recipient of a Queensland Education and Training International grant to develop and optimize the SUNED website as part of a suite of marketing initiatives. 

Her current work includes development industry clustering initiatives for the region.

 
SCE Team
Janny Stacey, Kris Barnes, Gerrie Carr-MacFie