Michael Ahearne has long had aspirations to go back to Ireland with family. Photo / Michael Craig
Michael Ahearne has long had aspirations to go back to Ireland with family. Photo / Michael Craig
SkyCity chief executive Michael Ahearne will step down at the end of March, giving six month’s notice before he plans to return to Ireland with his family.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, he tells why he’s planning that and what he plans to do next.
He joined thecompany in December 2017 as group chief operating officer and was appointed chief executive in November 2020.
Asked about giving six month’s notice when former CEO Graeme Stephens left suddenly, Ahearne said: “You know what? I’ve always tried to do the right thing by the organisation. Leaving the company has been a difficult decision. I’ve loved my time at SkyCity and in NZ but the time has come to go back to my family.”
He added: “There’s no immediate crisis but I’ve been in New Zealand six years through Covid and all that. It’s time to head home. I’ll go back to Ireland, take some time off, and figure out where I go from there. I’ll be returning to County Waterford. That’s where I grew up.”
Asked about high and low points while he was CEO, he said: “From a high point of view, SkyCity is a wonderful organisation with 4500 people. We’re a place of fun, entertainment and excitement whether it’s celebrating New Year’s or opening new restaurants.
“That’s really been absolutely awesome, so much we’ve done over the last few years. Covid was really challenging and I’m really proud of how we navigated that. There’s been a big regulatory focus on the sector and we’ve had a focus on the uplift and there’s more to do obviously on that front so it’s continuing.”
The board would be looking internally and externally for a new CEO, he added.
Perhaps the strongest internal candidate to be the new CEO is current chief operating officer Callum Mallett, appointed to that role in 2021. He was previously executive general manager of hospitality and general manager of the NZICC operations from 2016, closely involved in that project.
If the board picks a Kiwi, it would buck a run of picking foreigners lately. Previous CEOs included Australian Nigel Morrison, Stephens born in Zimbabwe and Ahearne of Ireland.
Another prominent SkyCity boss is Simon Jamieson, group general manager of the NZ International Convention Centre and with SkyCity for more than 16 years.
Ahearne, married to secondary school teacher Kay, was a champion athlete. He is an accountant, cyclist, jetski rider, father and keen sports fan, expressing some disappointment today about Ireland losing in the Rugby World Cup match.
His parents, Tom and Maura Ahearne raised five children on a dairy farm outside Dungarvan. Ahearne was the eldest, and in 2020 said his father, in his early 80s, and the farm are still operating.
Michael Ahearne, SkyCity Entertainment Group's chief executive, is leaving next March. Photo / Peter Meecham
Ahearne went to St Augustine’s College, Dungarvan, where he boarded from 13 until 18, excelling at sports.
“In those school years, I was the national shot put champion and I captained the Irish athletic schoolboys’ team which competed in Ireland, the UK and around Europe. I won the national discus competition, representing Ireland.”
He went to Cork Institute of Technology for accounting. Farmers run businesses, he says. He had helped out at home, so it wasn’t such a big leap from dairy farming to becoming an accountant.
His first accounting job was at Irish dairy giant Glanbia, then he went on an OE with then-girlfriend Kay. The couple loved Australia where her brother was living so they toured that country in 1997.
Ahearne then worked at Ispat Industries (formerly Irish Steel) but it was only a few years later that the couple returned to live in Sydney. “We’d got the travel bug,” he says. “We moved back in 2000 when the Olympic Games were on and I went every single day.”
There, Ahearne then did his longest career stint, at Star Entertainment Group, where he held around eight roles over a decade. All three children were born in Sydney, where the family lived in Warrawee, on the North Shore.
He began visiting New Zealand when he next worked at software and systems developer, manufacturer and distributor Aristocrat Leisure in Sydney, supplier of SkyCity’s machines.
“We always had aspirations to go back to Ireland as a family and live and work there, so in 2014 I worked between London and Dublin,” he says of his following role with Paddy Power Betfair, now Flutter Entertainment.
Fletcher CEO Ross Taylor and SkyCity ex-CEO Graeme Stephens. Photo / Michael Craig
“And it was always the intention to return back here,” he says of Australasia. That opportunity came with a phone call out of the blue in June 2017 from SkyCity’s Stephens. Ahearne flew down for an interview and became chief operating officer in December that year.
Now, Ahearne says some of his children are studying in Europe. He feels he and the family have done their time Down Under and it’s time to go home.
In an NZX announcement, SkyCity chairman Julian Cook said Ahearne led the business through a complex and demanding period. Ahearne has been praised lately for putting the business in a turnaround phase.
“This has included dealing with the significant fire at the New Zealand International Convention Centre and rebuild, navigating the business through Covid-19 and the recovery, and responding to regulatory matters relating to the SkyCity Adelaide business.”
Cook said Ahearne also led significant investment and improvements in SkyCity’s compliance functions.
SkyCity said it has started a recruitment process, including internal and external candidates, and will update the market when that process is complete.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, won many awards and written books about property.
