Maitland City Council has appointed Northern Beaches Council director Jeff Smith as its new general manager for the next five years.
The council voted unanimously on Monday night to appoint the former Port Stephens and Randwick council employee to the top job, replacing long-time Maitland general manager David Evans.
Mr Evans has been with the council for more than two decades but opted early this year not to seek an extension of his two-year contract.
Mayor Philip Penfold said Mr Smith had an impressive 29-year career in the private and public sectors.
Mr Smith, now the director of corporate and legal at Northern Beaches, went to St Francis Xavier College in Hamilton and studied accounting at Newcastle University.
He worked for NIB in Newcastle for seven years before spending eight years at Port Stephens Council as group manager of commercial services and two years at Thornton electricity infrastructure construction company PowerServe.
He was director of corporate services at Randwick council from 2014 to 2019.
"We conducted an extensive and thorough recruitment process to find the right person to lead the management of our great council operation into the future," Mr Penfold said.
"Jeff ticks all the boxes. He has great breadth of experience, a real focus on customer service and is an exceptional financial manager."
Mr Smith will join the council on July 3.
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