Toss the Boss 2017 - Simon Pickford

Simon is General Manager Community Services at Dunedin City Council. He has been proud to call Dunedin home for the last three years. Originally from Bournemouth in the UK, he and his wife Elaine emigrated in 1998 and initially settled in Auckland where their daughter, Aimee, was born. Subsequent job opportunities took him first to New Plymouth District Council and then to the world’s greatest small city: Dunedin.

Simon is passionate about Dunedin’s vitality and its stunning built and natural heritage. He believes council plays a vital role in making Dunedin such a special place to live, work and play. He leads the Customer and Regulatory, IT, and Cultural Services teams. The fantastic people that make up these teams are all dedicated to delivering the very best they can for the community – whether its providing information to customers, ensuring public spaces, buildings and food premises are safe to use, or celebrating Dunedin’s rich culture, arts and literature.

The Malcam Charitable Trust does amazing work with young people by giving them positive learning experiences. Simon also believes that positive experiences can make a huge difference in anyone’s life, young or old. Simon is not a great fan of heights but he recently decided to push himself well outside his comfort zone and try something new. While on holiday he undertook a three hour zip lining course. The biggest challenge was an 800m line over a 40m deep canyon travelling at 70km/h. He was terrified but learned that with good support from instructors and his team he could overcome his fear (mostly!). This abseiling challenge is an even bigger step and he needs your support to get him down that line!