One of the key factors in the success of the Trust has been the staff. An advantage of the Trust is that its staff has numbered about 15 permanents in the last 20 years and this is an ideal size. Everyone knows everyone else and multiskilling and backup arrangements apply. In the case of the Trust staff leadership was also important and the first member of staff, Sally Bakker, established a family situation which has kept a very high morale. I think on my retirement at the end of 2012 there was about as perfect a staff profile as one could expect, and this is after retirements of about four or five key very-long-serving staff in recent years.
Long-serving staff
Two members of staff served more than 25 years and as such were presented with long service awards. Sally Bakker, referred to above, was the first member of staff appointed, back in 1978 and was manager until about 2004. As mentioned above, she established an atmosphere in which colleagues were members of a second family. Regular activities were birthdays, which were always observed with a special morning tea the secret santa ritual before Christmas, Christmas lunches and formal farewells to retiring or resigning staff. Sally had an eye for detail and was basically responsible for establishing protocol at ceremonies. Other organisations had ceremonies which started late and had various problems. From what I recall there was never a problem with any ceremony which Sally ran. In fact she had the protocol so well-documented that her successors, Anne Barnett, Suzanne Fraser and Jan Collins in my time were all outstanding managers and also ran fault-free events, increasingly many in the case of the last two.
While on the subject of managers, the last three managers of my time, named above, also brought in further skills which enhanced the position.
The other long serving staff member was Clarice McLean, my PA during most of my term and PA in the latter years of Peter O'Halloran. Clarice understood her position well and always knew how to cover matters when needed with the right delicacy and diplomacy. And for shorter terms near the end I was fortunate to have Elizabeth Courtney-Frost and Fiona Hale as PAs afterwards.
There were also several other staff who went close to 25 years in Ruth Ford and Jessica O'Ferrall, and others with rather long terms would be Jan Lynch, Richard Bollard (the only staff member on my retirement who had been on the staff under Peter O'Halloran), and Heather Sommariva.
Other Office Staff
The three members of staff not in cow corner, as the Executive area was known, who worked with me most were in fact Heather, as publication officer and IT Manager Glenn Andrews, and very often Bernadette Webster also worked very closely with me not only in proofing for AMT materials, but also the ICMI Study which I co-chaired.
The other members of staff who were there on my retirement were all outstanding, and starting from one end of the building, these were Donna Priol, Sue Spink, Sharon Blyton, Lilani Kiridani, Irene Lumley and Toni Paine, and I should also note special contributions from earlier staff such as Sue Paice (who worked with me on research programs, programming) and Mary Blink.
There is a photo of most of these people in the Anecdotes chapter (15), under the notes on my staff retirement function.
Non-office Staff
There are a number of non-office staff who play a vital role in the Trust's activities. Janine Bavin is a key one who is contracted as media consultant. The extent of her work is described in Chapter 17 FAQs under The Role of the Media. And there are a number of academic contractors whose work for the trust requires day to day administration.These include Chairs of Problems Committees and Olympiad Directors of Training. And there are many others who give lectures at training camps and mark exam papers.