Victoria Araba is bringing a vast skillset to her new role as director of assets for the Stratford District Council.
"The good thing about Victoria's skills is that they are varied and she can see the implications of decisions because of her diverse background and experience, on top of that, she also has a very strategic approach," says SDC chief executive Sven Hanne, who held Victoria's new role for the past five plus years before being appointed to the top job.
Victoria was born in Nigeria and lives in Hawera with her three children Faith, 15, Emmanuel, 13, and Elizabeth, 6, and her husband Benjamin, who is a pharmacist.
She is the first woman to hold the council role which provides guidance and leadership to the assets team. The team looks after the district's core services, including roads, waste, parks and reserves, sewerage, council properties, stormwater, solid waste and property and has four managers who report directly to her.
The 43-year-old has a background in engineering as well as planning and was previously employed by the Taranaki Regional Council for five and a half years. Victoria is looking forward to seeing how she can use her skills to help improve service delivery to the community - especially in the area of strategic planning.
"We have to look at how we prioritise the management of the assets in a way that does not cost the community too much money. It's about strategic management to deliver the right level of service at the least cost."
She says her key focus is optimising council's resources - internally and externally - by keeping costs down and ensuring that council's contractors deliver good value for ratepayers' hard earned money.
Victoria, who has studied in New Zealand and overseas, is looking forward to getting stuck into the job.
"I have always wanted to do a job that allowed me to use all of my skills, but until this role came up, there has never been an opportunity that allowed me to do that."
As a child Victoria was a book worm and loved to read.
"I like knowledge - it opens up your mind. I like to see how things interact and the interdependence between the things we do."
She is passing her enthusiasm for knowledge onto her children. She runs a maths tutorial group for her children and their friends' children three times a week. Her husband pitches in by teaching chemistry and biology and another friend helps with physics.
"It helps with their confidence - it's just keeping kids out of trouble, helping to use their time wisely and giving them options for life because I consider that if you have options you will never be stranded."