The company I work for, Stella Resorts Group, have been going through some massive change, most of which is a good thing™.
Over the last five years, BreakFree has experienced explosive growth. BreakFree was initially a small business with a handful of employees, which five years later has transformed into a publicly listed company with over 500 employees. At the start, the business had access to only a very small number of properties to sell through, while it currently has access to 115 properties spread from North Queensland down to Tasmania and into New Zealand. In the last 18 months, BreakFree has been purchased by the Gold Coast based funds management company MFS Limited (ASX Stock: MFS) to complement their extensive leisure assets. After the acquisition, Stella Resorts Group was created to act as an umbrella over all of the MFS leisure assets, including BreakFree, Peppers, Mantra, Bale, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and others.
During the same time frame, BreakFree has seen two CEO’s take the hot seat and a third take the reigns since Stella Resorts Group was formed. We have a new CFO and Financial Controller, along with a new COO. A CIO was introduced into the company and a new General Manager for sales appointed. Coming down the chain a little bit, there has also been a IT infrastructure manager and a software development manager slotted in. The infrastructure side of the fence has increased from one up to six with more on the way, while the development has increased from two to nine. Along the way, the rest of the company has also grown proportionately with approximately 120 staff in the head office at the Gold Coast.
A little closer to home and in the last two months, a contractor who was essentially permanent didn’t have his contract renewed. One of our longest standing developers, who has seen the company grow from its infancy has also moved on after four years. After being with the company for a year, we’ve had our two other developers leave for a change along with our development manager also.
Without any doubt, all the changes collectively have created a lot of flux. I personally see it as a good thing™, as it allows the company to put the right people in the right seats to take the company forward. Once some of the dust settles and bodies are replaced, there is going to be a lot of round table discussion on who, what, where, when and how the next business directives are going to be executed. There is a huge amount of change for the business on the horizon which I can’t wait for it to unfold.
Exciting times ahead.
I think if you were going to make a sweeping statement and have a good chance of it being right, you could safely say that everyone loves chocolate. Chocolate is sweet, it makes your body generate endorphins (the happy drug) and it melts in your mouth – what else could you want? As it turns out, my wife Claire could want one more thing, for it to not make her sick! She loves chocolate so much that she’ll eat it even when she knows that it’ll make her sick. Thankfully, after eating it and feeling ill – she doesn’t want to go near it for a while.