AFTER a combined 30 years of service to Elders, Esperance branch manager Kevin Wallington has decided it's time to hang up his pink shirt.
Mr Wallington was described as "customer focused and diligent," by Matthew Ericsson, Elders area manager WA - south, based at Albany, who has managed Mr Wallington for the past three years.
Mr Ericsson said Mr Wallington started in the role of Esperance branch manager when it was a challenging time for the Elders Esperance branch.
"He took on the role when Geoff Irvine, who was the manager at the time, passed away," Mr Ericsson said.
"He picked the ball up and ran with it, and did a great job to get the branch through a very difficult time.
"Since that time the branch has strengthened and has shown good growth over the past three years."
In 1969, the Wallington family moved from Kalgoorlie to Piawaning, where they managed a farm and it was from that area where Mr Wallington's banking career began.
April Fools' Day, 1974, was the commencement date of Mr Wallington's banking career with the ANZ bank in Wongan Hills, followed by a move to Karratha.
After working with ANZ in Karratha for 18 months, Mr Wallington accepted a position at Esperance in 1979, continuing his career with ANZ for a further eight years.
After admitting he needed a change from general banking, Mr Wallington made a move to Elders in the role of rural finance officer.
After agreeing to travel around the State with Elders, Mr Wallington used his expertise to look after finances for the company in the northern Wheatbelt, servicing Carnamah, Geraldton, Moora and Mingenew branches, while based in Perth.
With an offer for career development, Mr Wallington moved to Dubbo, New South Wales, in October 1999 as Elders State credit lending manager for three years, which he says was "one of the highlights of my career".
During his time in Dubbo, Elders was approved a banking license, creating a joint association with the Bendigo-Adelaide bank.
Returning home to WA in July 2002, Mr Wallington found himself back on the road for Elders looking after finance once again, this time servicing Dowerin, Merredin, Narembeen, Mukinbudin, Southern Cross and all branches in between for four years.
With Christmas looming, in December 2006 a decision was made to move back to Esperance, taking on a role with the Commonwealth Bank and a reluctant resignation from Elders.
After working for the Commonwealth Bank for four years, in March 2011, Mr Wallington took a well-deserved 12 month break.
With a long-term link to Elders, quoting "it's such a great company to work for", Mr Wallington returned in June 2012 as regional bank manager, for what he thought would be a couple of years.
Fast forward to October 2019, Mr Wallington was still with Elders describing the team in Esperance as a "family group" and moved into the role as Elders Esperance branch manager.
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After decades of banking type roles Mr Wallington found himself learning more about Elders products and the business and all of its divisions as a whole, which he said was a "massive learning curve" for him.
Mr Wallington is proud to have worked for Elders and says there were many fantastic times.
Over the course of his career, Mr Wallington described the last four to five as when Elders had made the greatest advancements and it is continuing to do so.
This was in terms of the business and structure, which has been positively reflected in the Elders share market price which has increased significantly in recent times.
A big change he witnessed during his time at Elders was farmers in the Esperance area moving away from livestock into cropping.
He stated trees (bluegums) were being harvested in the area by landowners and the land regenerated into arable farming land and replaced with sheep and cattle, where he believes livestock numbers will begin to grow in the area once again.
Mr Wallington believes the area is well suited to include more livestock back into the farming systems as Esperance, particularly along the coastal belt, traditionally receives significant rainfall in the winter and spring months.
Last Friday, June 24, was Mr Wallington's last day in his office for Elders, Esperance.
Post retirement he and wife Sally will continue to reside in Esperance where their children and grandchildren also live.
The couple plan to spend the next few months with their camper, traveling up north and catching up with family and friends.
Replacing Mr Wallington at Esperance is Neill Liddle, who has been with Elders for 16 years.
Mr Liddle started with Elders at Cunderdin in 2006, before transferring to Gnowangerup as sales merchandise manager.
After serving in Gnowangerup, he then moved to Albany as the on-road sales and sales merchandise manager for more than 10 years.
Mr Liddle has currently held the position as rural products manager in Esperance before now accepting the position as branch manager, a role he said "he can't wait to jump into".
