Helen Morrissey has announced she is retiring as Brimbank City Council's Chief Executive Officer effective 15 July 2021.
Ms Morrissey has been in the role since 2017 and at Brimbank City Council since 2010 as General Manager and later as Director Corporate and Community Relations.
With close to 40 years' experience in local government, Helen was previously General Manager of Corporate Services at Maribyrnong City Council.
Prior to that Helen worked in a variety of management roles in community services and corporate areas at Darebin City Council and before that Preston City Council.
Please attribute to Mayor Ranka Rasic
"I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Ms Morrissey for her extensive knowledge, experience and passion she has demonstrated while at Brimbank.
"Helen has shown exceptional leadership and worked extremely well with the Council.
"Helen has embedded a community first culture at Brimbank and through her leadership there has been significant service improvements and capital works delivered despite external pressures such as rate capping.
"Helen's professionalism, empathy and collaborative style has been a huge asset to both the Council and community of Brimbank.
"Helen is an exceptional role model for women. Her own career story and significant career progression from Early Childhood Educator to CEO is itself a great example of what can be achieved through passion, courage and commitment.
"Helen brings a personal connection to professional relationships, her nurturing nature and caring approach has seen her gain the respect and commitment of all those who work with her.
"We wish Helen the very best as she retires to spend time with her family."
Please attribute to Brimbank CEO Helen Morrissey
"It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Councillors and the organisation to create stronger connections between Council and the community and strengthen community pride.
"I am particularly proud to see the positive change urban renewal and significant capital works investment brings and we have an evidence based program of delivery to continuing to enhance and green our city to make it look even better year on year.
"Keeping staff employed, and finding unique ways to deliver services to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences in my career in equal measure.
"The vision, plans and policies developed by this Council and the previous Council provide a solid basis and it a really exciting time and I'm sure Brimbank is just going to get better and better."
Background
Helen has worked in local government for 37 years; starting as an Early Childhood Educator, she retires as CEO of one of Victoria's largest Councils.
Within six years of starting in local government Helen was in a senior management role. As Manager Family and Children Services at Preston City Council she delivered service and infrastructure improvements. Highlights included building two multipurpose family service centres, adding additional kindergarten programs and improving pre-school dental services.
In 1995 Helen became Manager Corporate Relations. Here she transformed customer service and communications by upgrading customer service centres and developing new engagement and communication tools.
In 1997, as Executive Manager Customer and Multicultural Relations, Helen continued to build a culture of inclusive community relationships delivering language service enhancements for non-English speaking people.
In 2001 Helen moved to Maribyrnong City Council as Manager Council and Community Relations. Here she led service units including governance, communications, customer service and council support. She managed two elections and an electoral boundary review.
In 2006 Helen became part of the executive as General Manager Corporate Services. Additional functional responsibilities included community relations, environment, organisational development, local laws, information technology and emergency management.
In 2010 Helen moved to Brimbank City Council as General Manager Governance and Community Relations. Since her arrival Helen has continued to take on additional responsibilities because of her ability to create a culture of #communityfirst. In 2014 she took on additional responsibilities as Director Corporate and Community Services and in 2017 she acted, before being appointed, as CEO.
At Brimbank Helen has transformed the business. Major initiatives include a mobile responsive website with over 23 online transactions and an online service request application that integrates directly into Council's Customer Management System.
Other highlights have included digitisation to become less paper dependent and restructuring the organisation to better align with the Council Plan; both delivering significant cost savings.
Helen also facilitated the return of democratically elected Councillors after a period of administration, created strong governance practices and improved communications.
Since becoming CEO, Helen has demonstrated ongoing success and led the organisation to focus on significant advocacy which has delivered over $100 million in direct funding for community infrastructure projects across the municipality.
With Helen's leadership, Council has had a transforming Brimbank agenda based on leveraging major investment to improve employment and education outcomes as well as create safe and accessible places.
Working with the Council, the city has a Climate Emergency Plan and greening the City through increased tree canopy has also been a priority.
Helen has been able to consistently deliver large capital works budgets through prudent financial management and despite rate capping recognising the importance of community infrastructure to build resilience.
Under her leadership she was able to deliver services to the community and keep staff employed during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
