Steve Jeffries, long term Executive Director of the Housing Industry Association (HIA) in the Hunter region, has announced his retirement.

Steve will officially left his role on Friday and handed over the reins of the Hunter region’s largest industry body to current deputy, Craig Jennion.

HIA’s Managing Director, Shane Goodwin said that Steve was to be congratulated on a long and outstanding career.

“He has been an exceptional and committed leader for HIA and has ably served the Hunter’s residential building industry over the last 15 years,” Shane said.

“There have been many achievements in his career with HIA, including the establishment of the industry’s new headquarters and the state of the art Home Inspiration’s Centre at Mayfield West.”

“He also shepherded our members through the many ups and downs this cyclical industry has faced, including the introduction of the GST, the collapse of HIH Insurance and most recently the Global Financial Crisis”.

Steve himself said “It has been a privilege to be involved with HIA for the last 15 years, however, it is now time for me to retire from corporate life and to hand over to a new team”.

“I look forward to watching HIA continue to grow and prosper in the future, building on the professionalism of our staff and, in particular, the associations very strong ‘can do’ culture. The HIA is a wonderful association and I’m sure that it, along with the residential construction industry it serves, has a bright future ahead of it”.