The head of ARITA, the nation’s peak representative body for insolvency and restructuring professionals is moving on after 11 years, advising the association’s board over the weekend of his decision to quit.
John Winter was engaged 2014 and at that time he told the ARITA board he’d do five years because he believed that if you haven’t done everything in your first 5 years as a CEO then you won’t get any more done.
“I genuinely love liquidators out of this experience. I admire their smarts, their skills, the importance of what they do and how they do it – and how they solider on despite almost no one else understanding or appreciating just how good what they do is.” Outgoing AITA chief John Winter.
But getting things done can create new opportunities and challenges. So iNO asked Winter why he’d stayed so long and why he decided to leave now.
We’ve kept reinventing ARITA,” Winter said. “Some of our best stuff including our learning on demand, and on the cusp of Christmas eve just gone getting Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) approval for the creation of a Graduate Diploma in Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround,” he said when asked to list some go the achievements.
“So why now? Well that approval before Christmas was a big tick and it comes at as good a time as any. I don’t feel like I have anything more I need to prove given all we’ve achieved,” he said.
Winter wouldn’t be drawn on his plans for the future, saying only that he’d be staying in the association leadership space and given he’s also president of the Australasian Society of Association Executives it’s fair to say he’s got a decent network from which to seek out his next opportunity. But he also knows what he’ll miss.
“I genuinely love liquidators out of this experience,” Winter said.
“I admire their smarts, their skills, the importance of what they do and how they do it – and how they solider on despite almost no one else understanding or appreciating just how good what they do is.”
“I’ve also loved my team at the ARITA office,” he said.
“I have the best team in the world of associations – bar none!”
And despite all he’s achieved he said whoever replaces him won’t find the field of opportunity scorched bare.
“Rolling out our new Graduate Diploma in 2026 will take a lot of effort,” he said.
“Plus, as whole Board, we’ve made some big investment decision in not just the Graduate Diploma but also the on-demand learning which I’m very proud of.
“That’s meant some necessary red ink and ARITA has to see that paid back. I think that’s a certainty but it’s important for to keep us solid (as we are now).
“There’s still so much to do in the law reform space and pushing whoever is in government on the other side of the election to actually implement the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJC) recommendations.
But more than anything, I hope my successor keeps the momentum up and never slows down. Even though we are regarded as the leading national insolvency body in the world, I hope my successor actually blows the doors off it and takes it to a whole new level,” Winter said.
At present Winter will be around until May this year and iNO understands the ARITA board has already commenced an external recruitment process.
A real blow for the AIIP