Locals for Top Jobs

Fiji Gas Ltd has appointed local executives to the top posts in the company. Harvie Probert has been appointed as the new Chairman of the company and Hans Reiher has been confirmed as the Chief Executive Officer.

Harvie Probert was appointed Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in September. The previous chairman was Andrew Bills, the General Manager LPG & HSE of Origin Energy, who held the post for last 3 years.

Harvie Probert first worked for Fiji Gas in 1969. He became the CEO in 1983 and held the position for 31 years. He stepped down last year but remained on the board as a director. His father Roger Probert was also the chairman from 1983 to 2001. Since then the Fiji Gas chairman has come from the B class shareholding held by Origin Energy.

“It is a great honor to become chairman of Fiji Gas. I have been involved with the company for over 45 years and the shareholders and fellow directors have confidence in me and my experience will be a major asset in moving the company forward.” said Harvie Probert.

He continued “I would like to thank Andrew Bills for his excellent leadership in strengthening and growing the company.”

“At the board meeting on 9th December 2015 the company confirmed Hans Reiher to the position of Chief Executive Officer. He had held the acting role since June this year. The board believed there was no one better qualified for the role. His local knowledge combined with his overseas experience made him the obvious candidate to lead the company into the future. Hans had worked for Fiji Gas for 10 years before moving to Australia where he worked with Origin Energy for 6 years in various roles the last being Operations Manager Asia Pacific for Origin Energy LPG.”

“Fiji Gas puts great emphasis on local leadership. We are the only gas company in the Pacific with the in-house expertise to design and build major installations. These two appointments demonstrate we have the management, training and experience to promote from within the company.”

Hans Reiher first joined Fiji Gas in June 2000. He worked with the company for 10 years and then joined Origin Energy. His first role overseas was as Regional Operations Manager for Tasmania. This was followed by a period in Brisbane as the Pacific Health and Safety Manager.

“Safety is the number one priority at Fiji Gas. It is central to everything we do as a company. My experience both in Fiji and in Australia makes me uniquely qualified to maintain the excellent safety record of Fiji Gas” said Hans Reiher. “One of the key measures for safety in our industry is Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR). Origin Energy has a good record in this field but the Pacific companies in the group had a TRIFR of 0.9 which is excellent but Fiji Gas has recorded zero recordable injuries for the three consecutive years which is outstanding.”

“I want to thank Harvie Probert and the board for having faith in me. It is an exciting time to be given the helm of the company. The effects of global warming is a challenge we are all facing in island countries and it will be one of my roles to promote the use of Fiji Gas as a clean source of energy because it has much lower emissions than comparable fuels available in Fiji.”