As Stephen Hains approached the end of his working career, he was not envisioning a retirement of leisurely days and minimal commitments. On the contrary, he was ramping up his involvement on the boards of a number of organisations, citing a ‘desire to be busy’ as a reason for his increasingly-packed schedule.
Since Stephen retired from local government in 2011, he has been on nine boards for various organisations, joining the Bedford Group Board in 2009. He remained a Board Member until 2020, notching up 11 years of dedicated service to Bedford.
Stephen has made tireless contributions to the SA Community over the course of his career, and in 2022 he was recognised in the Australia Day Honors List and awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to local government, to education and to the community.
Stephen first became involved with Bedford as a client, in the early 2000's. Working as the CEO of Salisbury Council, Bedford came to Stephen’s notice after the council secured a contract with Bedford to mow the city’s verges. Throughout the process, Stephen got to know many members of the Bedford staff and employees, and said he was ‘taken’ by the spirit of the workers.
Having remained in contact with a number of people from Bedford, Stephen was approached a few years later to join the board – something he gladly did after stepping back from his council role.
“Who knows why they invited me – I represented much more of a government perspective, that might have been the attraction of it – but I said yes, and I stayed there for a long time,” he says.
In the years that followed, Stephen was involved in a number of significant changes and milestones at Bedford. These included the merge of Bedford with fellow disability organisation Heritage Industries in 2010, the expansion of Bedford sites and capabilities in SA’s regional areas, and navigating the implementation of the NDIS in the mid-2010s – a shift he described as ‘huge.’
Stephen was also involved in securing some substantial contracts in furniture manufacturing, including deals with companies such as Bunnings and Officeworks.
“We were sending furniture made by Bedford here in Pasadena, to Far North Queensland, the Kimberley, and all corners of Australia. The big companies don’t hand Bedford these jobs out of the goodness of their hearts – we were genuinely a good commercial offering,” Stephen says.
Bedford’s strong business and commercial focus is something Stephen admired about Bedford since first becoming involved with the organisation. He believes this is the reason for Bedford remaining viable for more than 79 years.
“It’s not always easy in the disability sector. The people who run these things might be motivated, but not necessarily business-minded. You need both parts, and Bedford has both.”
Stephen said the best part about being on the Bedford Board was interacting with people from a variety of backgrounds.
“The joy of a board is that people come from many walks of life. They share a common purpose in being there, but they bring many different perspectives. It is a joy to listen to other perspectives, contribute some of your own, and collectively come up with a robust conclusion.”
Stephen said he has many fond memories of his involvement with Bedford.
“Bedford isn’t like any other organisation, it’s almost like a club. There is an abiding warm feeling about it, because of its purpose, and I hope that continues."
