Mark Greenhill OAM on Constructing You - Leadership learned from Crisis, Managing Relations with High Stakes

Mark first worked as a union official in the 90s and then went on to be a senior advisor to the
NSW’s longest serving Premier The Hon Bob Carr MP. He later went on to become Chief of Staff
to Minister Grant McBride. 

Following his time in NSW State Parliament, ran for a seat in the Blue Mountains City Council.
The City of Blue Mountains is one of only two cities in the world surrounded by a UNESCO
declared World Heritage National Park Area. With a spectacular environmental setting, the Blue
Mountains is home to a community of nearly 80,000 people living in 27 towns and villages
located over 100 km of mountainous terrain.

As a passionate environmentalist, Mark was inspired to run for Council to stop a development
he thought would have a detrimental impact on the native flora and fauna.

Mark was elected in 1999. He has served 20 years as a Councillor, and has been Mayor of the
Blue Mountains Council for the past 10 years. This is the longest time ever served by a Mayor in
this Council, and the second longest time after Councillor Clover Moore AO, Lord Mayor of
Sydney.

In 2016 Mark was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to local government
and to the community of the Blue Mountains. This was also in recognition of the extraordinary
efforts he went to support the people of the Blue Mountains after the devastating impact of the
2013 and Black Summer Fires. He established the Mayoral Relief Fund and raised millions of
dollars for those who lost their homes.

He was also awarded National Emergency Medal by the Governor General for his service as a
Fire Fighter during the Black Summer Fires, and the Western Sydney University Community
Leadership Award for his leadership during the 2013 fires

Mark was named Climate Ambassador in 2020 by the Climate Council for his work as Mayor of
the Blue Mountains in publicly drawing the link between the Black Summer Fires and climate
change.

For Mark, leading the recovery processes from those bushfire events, helping people put their
lives back together, and seeing them resettled in their homes are the two most rewarding things
from his time in local government. He maintains the inspiration you draw from communities in
extremis – their unity of purpose and their individual and collective bravery – has been a very
rewarding part of the job.

Industrial relations career:

Mark has had a 20-year career in industrial relations. He has experience working for the CMFEU,
as Head of Industrial Relations for RailCorp NSW, Endeavour Energy, Networks NSW, UGL,
Ventia and now at Bouygues Construction Australia.

He is a commercially focused and legally trained Executive Human Resources professional with expertise in industrial relations, employee relations, change management and leadership. He has managed complex and high-profile Enterprise Agreement negotiations, workplace
investigations and disciplinary matters, supported reform initiatives and reduced operating
expenditure through improved employee relations and management practices. He has
experience at the highest levels of business, government and media coupled with extensive
knowledge of contemporary employment/ industrial relations management.

Mark's book of choice: Tim Winton's 'Breath'

Show notes:

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