Porter Group CEO, Darren Ralph congratulates Stevenson Group’s Steve Ellis.
The award was presented at the luncheon hosted by the Porter Group at Whangarei’s Toll Stadium. CEO Darren Ralph noted that there were several great names put forward, and was delighted that Steve Ellis was the inaugural recipient.
A thumb-nail on Steve:
The quarryman:
Steve Ellis has been an integral part of what was the W Stevenson & Sons family business since 1979 – nearly 35 years. Prior to being given his new title as Minerals Executive, Stevenson Group he has been involved in all aspects of quarry management at East Tamaki Quarry, Greenmount Landfill, Kaiaua Sand and Gravel, Huntly Quarry, and more recently in the mining sector at Rotowaro and Coaldale.
Steve is admired by those who have worked with him for his people skills, his good nature and his quick wit, and genuine caring manner. He is honest and upright, two great traits learned through association with Sir William and Jack Stevenson in the ‘family business’.
In the daily routine of quarry and mining life, he understands the importance of arriving at decisions via group discussions, so he is a great listener, and keen to probe for answers to any questions that might be posed.
While he has a thorough knowledge of all aspects of his chosen profession – quarrying – he enlists assistance and approval from his colleagues especially where construction of new plant is required. Steve is quite happy to listen to sound reasons why a certain item should or should not be acquired. In short he loves being a team player and endorses the growth of his staff members through robust constructive discussions whenever possible.
Steve has accepted advancements in technology as a natural progression, so whenever there has been the opportunity to include this in acquisition of plant, in order to streamline the production of the aggregate manufacturing business, he figured a way to achieve just that. The Drury Quarry aggregate processing / blending plant is a great example of utilising what has been available in the asphalt and concrete batching business for many years into an absolute success story. One of the staff members reported that “producing batches of aggregate on a recipe basis has been a fantastic asset to Drury
Quarry’s business.”
The purchasing of new mobile plant is assessed with similar process of robust discussions.
The Institute of Quarrying:
Steve is a Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying NZ, joining in 1989. He served both as a committee member on the local Auckland Branch and later as Chairman. He rarely missed a meeting. Steve was elected President of the IOQNZ in 2005, a position he held for two years. He has continued to be a valued He has also been involved with education of the quarrying sector staff, being a
representative on the ExITO board for several years.
When Steve values something, he shares that with those he thinks will benefit – some of his staff have advised that they joined the IOQNZ because Steve told them “it will be worthwhile and you’ll enjoy the camaraderie”. They have not been disappointed.
Family:
Behind the scenes, Steve is a proud husband, father and grandfather. He has high expectations there too, and it’s one of the reasons that his son Jayden Ellis has been recognised as a leader in the laboratory / testing business. Like father, like son.
Steve continues with encouragement. It’s a wonderful trait and one that marks Steve Ellis as a leader.