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Harvey Collins
Professional Board Member

For two sweltering weeks in February 2004, Harvey Collins was a hot-ticket-item in the Perth press. The reason? WA electricity provider, Western Power, was in the midst of a crisis of public confidence, and Harvey had been appointed as interim Managing Director. The appointment came days after Western Power had issued a power restriction order at the height of a heatwave.

Harvey says: “One of my KPIs was to rebuild public confidence in Western Power and get us off the front pages of newspapers. The further our story moved to the back of the papers, the more successful I’d been!”

Despite being in a heatwave of his own, Harvey was clear about what he needed to do: provide leadership for shaken-up staff; restore the confidence of stakeholders, including an angst-ridden public; and work with the Western Power team to ensure sufficient capacity to meet demand the following summer. The task needed a “cool head” and application of a range of leadership and management skills, including good teamwork. After five months in the chair and with great support from the staff, some significant progress was made in restoring confidence in Western Power.



	Harvey’s troubleshooting skills have helped other organisations in trying times – and not always businesses.

Harvey’s troubleshooting skills have helped other organisations in trying times – and not always businesses. One place Harvey is currently applying his energies is in a country with a history of crises – Cambodia. Harvey is involved with Hagar Cambodia, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) – “charity” in local parlance – that works with destitute women and children. Established in the early 1990’s, Hagar quickly grew to around 150 staff, and with the rapid expansion came growing pains. Harvey became involved five years ago, helping the Executive Director and Board with both strategic and operational matters. Today Harvey is also the chairman of Hagar Soya, a commercial arm of Hagar that employs some of the women and children.

Not the average executive

The Board of Hagar is one of many on which Harvey has served – HBF, IBT Education, Chieftain Securites and iiNet Limited are some examples. He was also CFO for Challenge Bank for five years in the 1990’s. However, Harvey’s profile is far from typical for anin-demand executive.

First, is his home life. For eighteen years, Harvey has lived in Bassendeen, near the childhood home of Rolf Harris. With seven kids, there was a premium on morning bathroom space in the Collins’ home! How did Harvey have anything left for his family when immersed in such a busy business life? He says: "I didn’t always get it right – that’s for sure, but family has always been very important for me. It is very much about doing life together. Certainly things like golf didn’t get much of a look-in!.”

Being a Christian also shapes Harvey’s life with his family, as well as what he does in business and the community. He claims: “I try to live out my beliefs Monday to Saturday – not just wear them on a Sunday. This always brings challenges. I strive for honesty and integrity and to look after the interests of others as well as my own. Of course, I am not perfect at that!”

After some carefree early years of not-too-demanding jobs and playing music (saxophone) in bands, Harvey completed his degree in accounting and finance. His professional career developed in technical financial roles where he enjoyed the opportunities that came with the deregulation of financial markets in Australia.

A strong theoretical background with a bent for practical application was a great help here and also provided the foundation for moving on to broader management roles later on.

Success at the top

Today Harvey is a professional non-executive chairman and director. His current board appointments include Chairman of HBF and a director of Western Power, IBT Education, Abra Mining, and Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB). “This breadth of roles makes for an interesting and stimulating professional life and gives great perspective on what works and what doesn’t in business”, he says.

Given this vantage point, what does he think makes for a successful executive? First, a broad skills base with a reasonable understanding of the main areas of business – strategy, operations, marketing, human resources, finance and risk management. “I’m always worried if the CEO says: ‘I leave the financial stuff to the CFO.’”

Second, is the ability to create a diverse team. “If you hire people who are all like you, you might magnify your strengths, but you will also create dangerous blind spots reflecting your own weaknesses. For me it is always important to have some really strong process and compliance people around me because I am not strong in that area.”



	“If you hire people who are all like you, you might magnify your strengths, but you will also create dangerous blind spots reflecting your own weaknesses.”

Third, discipline. Whether an individual or a business, this means “constantly working at the outcomes you are seeking to achieve and making sure that all the critical aspects of the business are properly taken care of.”

Fourth is integrity. Harvey suggests: “Success comes over time, but it doesn’t come unless other people trust you. For this to happen, you must have integrity.”

The final trait, according to Harvey, is the capacity to work readily with risk and uncertainty. Highly predictable environments leave little opportunity for upside. Risk and uncertainty actually give us the framework to create great outcomes and benefits for our shareholders and other stakeholders. No prizes for guessing that Harvey has done this throughout his career.



	Risk and uncertainty actually give us the framework to create great outcomes and benefits.

Seeing the opportunities in a changing market drew Harvey to the world of finance in the 1980s. Today, in areas such as superannuation, education and health insurance, he is again in industries with changing landscapes. A major part of these landscapes is increasing regulation. Harvey suggests that the twin tasks of thriving commercially and complying with increasing regulation pose a challenge for modern businesses. “The task is to build vibrant, enterprising business which also meet regulatory obligations as an integrated part of the process. This is a delicate balancing act which will take some time to develop and embed in the way we all do things. And all the key players, enterprises and regulators are on a learning curve.”

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