What do exotic timber and administration have in common? Our operations manager, Ivan Kirk has the passion and skills to work with both. He brings a diverse education and work experience. We caught up with Ivan to find out more…
My working life has been varied, from working for the State Library of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, to 20 years of pastoral ministry and governance experience in the Uniting Church. One of my most recent roles was directing a Neighbourhood Centre that delivered a range of social and educational services to clients of all age groups, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens.
I am loving my job at BST. I recognise that my collective working history has prepared me for the tasks and challenges that the operations manager role is responsible for. An interesting aspect to the role of operations manager is the diversity of the day. A typical day can include signing off on an employee’s entitlement, planning maintenance on one of our buildings, applying to the ATO for tax concessions or planning library services for our staff and students. To many people these administrative tasks can be tedious and mundane, but I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to work with a dynamic team of workers who have skills in IT, finance, secretarial administration, communications, librarianship, construction and property management.
A daily challenge is prioritising work and ensuring that tasks are brought to completion when they are due. Using my skills at BST is a bonus because our college is engaged in a fabulous enterprise of preparing our students for mission. We want to ensure that the administrative team continues to deliver quality work and we are passionate about making the BST experience memorable for all of our stakeholders.
In addition to my passion to see BST flourish with the support of quality administration, I have a keen interest in crafting a nice piece of furniture. I love to work with exotic timbers such as New Guinea Rosewood or Tasmanian Ash. I also love to travel overseas with my wife Margaret. Earlier in 2014 we were in the UK. I really enjoyed the experience of watching a Manchester United and Bayern Munich football match at Old Trafford. My theological background means I also have a particular interest in the work and writings of influential theologians such as Robert Jenson, Colin Gunton and Karl Barth.
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