Shock inquiry appearance after embattled CEO suddenly quits
A beleagured board has made a surprise announcement just hours before its CEO speaks at a parliamentary inquiry today.
Nicolette Di Lernia has resigned as CEO of the National Trust of South Australia, the heritage watchdog announced this morning, with a national recruitment campaign to begin shortly.
Following the surprise statement this morning, Di Lernia is now being quizzed at a state government inquiry into the National Trust after being absent from three previous hearings and taking indefinite leave over a reported illness.
In a statement sent to the media on Monday morning, the Trust said its council, led by President Millie Nicholls and Vice President Jo Lokan, will oversee all operational and administrative matters until a new CEO is appointed.
Nicholls and Lokan would also take over a review of the organisation that would scrutinise its operations and asset portfolio of 80 historic sites across SA leading to potential sell offs.
Inquiry chair and Labor MP Jayne Stinson was caught on the hop, telling InDaily she had only heard news of the resignation this morning and that Di Lernia was still expected to appear at 9.30am. She has now arrived and is currently facing questions at the inquiry.
Questioning over the CEO’s performance was part of the ongoing parliamentary inquiry that was sparked after a volunteer rebellion at its Moonta branch and the temporary closure of Moonta’s local heritage sites.
Stinson was not contacted by the board about Di Lernia’s resignation and learned of the situation at 7:30am when she received the same emailed statement sent to the media. No board members had been in contact about whether she would appear at the inquiry.
Stinson said last month that no further public hearings had been scheduled for the inquiry, but Di Lernia was legally obliged to appear to give evidence and a special hearing was established after the CEO was unable to attend past hearings due to illness.
InDaily also reported last month that Di Lernia was facing a performance review at the end of September, after the National Trust said her first year in the role was approaching and this was “standard governance practice”.
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Di Lernia was awarded the Sir James Irwin President’s Medal by the state’s Australian Institute of Architects last month for being “an exceptional member of our architectural community”.
The bitter stoush between the Moonta branch and the head office has been ongoing since February this year and has seen reported threats, a temporary shutdown of the Moonta Mines Museum and sweet shop along with reports of staff “on stress leave”.
Di Lernia has previously told InDaily “it’s really unpleasant” in relation to the breakdown in the National Trust head office’s relationship with volunteers who had been raising their own concerns about their site being “trashed” by a “silly” decision by the trust.
The parliamentary committee is expected to hand down a report in the coming months.
More to come.
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