Peter Payne
RASV CEO - In 1994, Peter Payne was approached by a recruiter searching for a new CEO for the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV).
In 1994, Peter Payne was approached by a recruiter searching for a new CEO for the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV). Peter had a strong business background, but knew nothing about agriculture.
I remember he asked me what I knew about agriculture. I think he said, "What do you know about White Suffolks, Peter?" and I said, "Not much!" Or Herefords, or even a Silky Bantam chook. But when he said the opportunity was the Royal Show, I said, "Well I understand a bit about that – it is a great brand and product" … A wonderful brand with great heritage needing some strong marketing and management.
Peter was CEO of RASV from 1994 until 2000, a pivotal period for the organisation. During that time he took on the challenge of trying to bring some better business acumen and modernisation to RASV. Peter saw the need for change, but also recognised the long history, collective knowledge and tradition that had an established place within RASV. His first impressions were how ‘overwhelmingly friendly they were … virtually everyone was friendly, welcoming and open to change’. Peter knew that successful change would need to happen slowly. He didn’t want to lose ‘all that collective wisdom and knowledge’.
During the six years that Peter was at the helm, he was able to increase revenue and productivity as well as attendance at the Royal Melbourne Show. He introduced ‘Back to Rural Roots’ to encourage more engagement between the city and country. Peter also helped to secure corporate sponsorship for the Show. ‘It was all about making the organisation more financially secure’, he remembers, ‘and with modern corporate governance’. It was hard work, and with little money for most of time he was there, Peter acknowledges the success of the Show and RASV during this time came down to the passion and commitment of people and councillors. ‘When you have an event that's 150 years old, it's in a rundown site … you have to be passionate about it.’ When he left in 2000, Peter had laid strong foundations for the future redevelopment of the site.