The City of Newcastle is organised into four groups, each with a range of responsibilities.

Services Chart as at 9 December 2012 (71.8Kb)

General Manager's Office

The interim General Manager is Kenneth Gouldthorp. Areas of responsbility include overseeing the operations of the administration, internal audit and organisation performance and improvement.

City Engagement

'Well performing and customer focused organisation with a connected community'

The Director City Engagement is Martin Coates. Areas of responsibility include governance and council services, records, human resource services and customer service, communication and consultation services.

Biography

Martin came to local government in October 2009 after 16 years with Telstra.

At Telstra, Martin managed relationships with key stakeholders eg: National Farmers Federation and NSW Farmers Association and assisted rural communities to access grant funding for telecommunications infrastructure. In Telstra Country Wide he held the roles of NSW Business Development manager, NSW/Qld Sales Manager and National Contracts Manager for Telstra Urban Development. His final role in Telstra was National Product Lead for Fibre To The Premises (FTTP).

Martin attained an Advanced Certificate in Management from TAFE in 1991 and graduated from University of Newcastle in 2004 with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Future City 
'Positioning for a sustainable future'

The Director Future City is Judy Jaeger. Areas of responsbility include strategic planning services, development and building services, environment and climate change services, life services, Newcastle Art Gallery and Newcastle Museum

Biography

Judy was raised in north west New South Wales and entered the workforce in 1979.  While her career history has been in local government, working for six separate Councils, she has been exposed to private and public sector organisations including non-government, not-for-profit organisations, small and large businesses.

In 1999, Judy relocated to the Hunter Valley to take up a senior management role with Maitland City Council.  Since then, she has worked for Wyong Shire Council and the City of Newcastle.  Judy has managed portfolios that have a direct service delivery focus as well as strategic and future planning.

All of her senior management experience has involved the management of change, providing visionary leadership, striving for continuous improvement and best practice, focussing on outcomes and actively promoting a team based environment with an emphasis on consultation and participation.

Judy holds a Bachelor of Arts (Library & Information Science) and a Master of Business Administration.

Liveable City
'City presentation is critical to this group with a strong focus on place and infrastructure assets'

The Director Liveable City is Frank Cordingley. Areas of responsibility include city presentation services, infrastructure management services, road and asset maintenance services, parks and recreation services and compliance services.

Biography

Frank Cordingley was born and educated in Perth, WA and joined BHP in 1969, commencing work at the Kwinana Steelworks.

Frank spent 27 years with BHP Steel, working in WA, Melbourne, and joining the steelworks as assistant supt operations in the blast furnaces in 1980.  He then worked in operational management roles in the sinter plant, steelmaking, and foundries departments, concluding as the rod and bar division business planning manager from 1990 to 1995.

In 1996, Frank joined Port Waratah Coal Services as manager coal chain operations, responsible for the logistics of coal movements from the mines to ship in the Hunter Valley coal chain.

In 1999, Frank began a nine year career with NSW Health and took on the role of director corporate services for the Hunter Area Health Service.  This involved executive responsibility for a range of non-clinical functions including ICT, capital works and facilities maintenance, procurement, business planning and other support functions. In the final three years with NSW Health Frank was the general manager health technology, and was tasked with the establishment of a statewide shared services IT agency to provide the IT needs of NSW Health.

Before he joined the Council, Frank was Chief Operations Officer for a local chartered accountancy and financial services firm for 18 months. 

Frank has been with The City of Newcastle since August 2009 and, in his role as Director Liveable City, is responsible for infrastructure management, roads and asset maintenance, traffic, city presentation, parks and recreation, community safety and compliance.  Frank also had responsibility for building, and establishing the operations of the new Newcastle Museum which was completed in August 2011.

Frank obtained his honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of WA in 1972 and has completed numerous short courses in various management skills from many recognised business schools, including the Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney, Mt Eliza Business School, Victoria and the Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts.

Director City Assets
'Making our assets work for us'

The Director City Assets is Steve Edmonds. Areas of responsibilty include strategic property and fleet management services, financial services, information management services, commercial enterprise services and tourism and economic development services. 

Biography

Steve Edmonds was born and lived on the North Coast of NSW prior to attending the University of Newcastle.  Steve’s first job after graduation involved working for a large BHP owned subsidiary prior to working at the BHP steelworks.  Steve worked both in technical roles and commercial roles during that time.

Steve subsequently worked at Maitland City Council in management roles of Economic Development, Corporate Planning and Property.  Steve then worked for the Newcastle Port Corporation as General Manager Commercial and Company secretary. This role included corporate Strategy, finance management, management accounting, compliance and risk management, quality, property development and management, business development, IT, audit, corporate governance, employee relations management, organisation development, legal and contract administration.

Steve reported to the Chairman and Board as Company secretary. Steve then moved to Landcom as the senior manager in charge of the Hunter and Project Director. Steve acquired, developed and marketed 13 Residential Estates across the Hunter and Project Directed the urban renewal of the Royal Newcastle Hospital site.

Steve current role as Director City Assets and Chief Financial Officer involves managing: finance, revenue, procurement, rates,  accounting, strategic property, fleet, economic development, tourism and commercial enterprises (Civic Theatre, City Hall, Newcastle Airport, Beresfield Golf Course and Stockton Beach tourist park, parking station, printing business, Newcastle Airport and Summerhill Waste management Services)

Steve has held many voluntary roles including

• Chairman of the Hunter Export Centre and
• Director of Compass Housing.

In addition to Steve’s technical undergraduate qualifications, he holds masters degrees in the fields of economics and property. He also holds diplomas in capital asset management, company directorship and project management.