Alan Johnston is the Chairman of The Committee for Wagga Wagga and was born in Scotland, on the border, in a town that actually had a beach, He grew up in Albury before undertaking an Accountancy Degree at the then Riverina College of Advanced Education ( a wonderful Alma Mater that now is Charles Sturt University.)  Following that he took up a position with Coopers and Lybrand here in Wagga, along with our former club member, John Ashton.
 
Subsequently he managed Buchmann labourites, an international company based in the US, but decentralised to Wagga Wagga. As he said, his whole life has been centred around managing change.
He joined the board of Committee for Wagga Wagga after an unsuccessful attempt to retire.
 
The City Council and the Committee are often at cross purposes he thinks, but feels sure that the healthy disagreements  are leading us all in the right direction.
Some of the highlights he mentioned include bicycle track provisions, the lights around the Lake, The New Years Eve functions, and the successful completion of the major works on the Levee banks. Naturally there are still things to come, but time and tide will bring these to fruition.
 
He mentioned specifically the Bomen Special Activation Precinct which both he and Mayor Greg agree has high importance to the city.  Again he stressed the value and necessity of keeping Wagga Wagga and its development at the forefront of people's mind. We will grow to 100.000 by 2040. But how we do it is up to us to decide. Digital connectivity is at the cutting edge right now. It will be even more vital in convincing corporations to move our way.
Keep telling good stories!
 
After fielding questions on high rise development, and location of the spur line at Bomen, Alan was thanked by President James with the traditional bottle of wine. He then drew his own number from the pan, but graciously dipped again to reward John Ferguson!