Name: Chris Kelly
Job: CEO at Melbourne Star Management
My job in a nutshell: As CEO of the business I'm responsible for every aspect of our operations, marketing and finance. Because it's an attraction our product is a customer experience, so a major focus is about making sure we make that experience as safe and consistently enjoyable for every customer every day. You have to recruit staff with the right kind of mindset and attitude – we put a lot of attention into that.
How did you start out? I've had 40 odd years in business, and four or five completely different careers in that time. You have to be flexible, keep your eyes open and go where opportunity takes you: I started in a conventional consumer goods marketing area after university. Then I went to advertising [where I] ran my own agency, built it up and sold it. I've also worked in funds management, retail and management consulting.
A great day is: Plenty of happy smiling people, a safe problem-free operation of the business, and lots of money flowing through the till!
A challenging day is: Sometimes if we get inclement weather it can be tough … [because] when the park's not crowded it's a bit more challenging to keep everybody motivated.
I'll never forget: We had a severely disabled young boy who came off the ride almost crying, he'd had such a wonderful time. He couldn't wait to go back up again and take his mum and dad and all his friends. Bringing that kind of enjoyment to a child is just terrific.
Most people don't know: People think the job is about running a giant Ferris wheel, but it's more than that. It's about making sure the experience is fantastic from the first time people go online to find out about it, to when they're sitting at home talking about it after they've been.
