Terang Co-Op CEO Kevin Ford to retire later this year

The co-op last week celebrated a record $1 million profit for 2022-23 and it was the second time in three years the co-op's profit had topped $1 million.

Mr Ford, who plans to retire in mid-November, said he was proud of the co-op's achievements during his almost six-and-a-half year tenure.

The Terang co-op board announced the appointment of incoming CEO, experienced retail manager Gary Tempany, who currently heads the Mount Barker Co-operative in Western Australia. He will begin the role in November.

Mr Ford said he'd enjoyed working and living in Terang and was pleased with his achievements while in the top job.

"Part of me thinks 'why am I stopping now?'," he asked.

"When I came here I saw a picture and everything looked pretty good, but once you start you think 'there's a whole heap of potential and growth'. I won't say we've achieved that but we've made a substantial hole in getting our market share.

"I saw the opportunity, and based on doing a lot of retail things correctly, once we started to do it, we started to grow the businesses.

"My experience has taught me if you do retail well people will support you. Sometimes small communities get a bit laissez-faire and they think that they can't compete with people driving to Warrnambool or larger centres.

"But if you focus on getting things right and looking at industry benchmarks and things like that, things start to change."

Mr Ford said as soon as the Terang Mitre 10 and IGA stores were upgraded and improved their offering to meet customers' expectations, they saw an increase in trade.

They also upgraded and rebranded the co-op's Terang and Camperdown hardware stores from Home Timber and Hardware to Mitre 10 and upgraded the Terang Co-Op Rural Store.

Mr Ford said the board approved the IGA supermarket upgrade in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was only about six weeks later when things were locked down and the business changed completely," he said.

"From 2020 there was a whole lot of stuff going on and coincidentally it was a time where we got a good measurement of what the potential of the business was because our customers couldn't leave the district.

"The good thing about that is we obviously got most of it right because we've been able to maintain most of that business that came to us in 2020."

Mr Ford, who was born in New Zealand, moved to Australia 13 years ago. He was the CEO at the Mt Barker Co-op in Western Australia, managing it for five years before starting in Terang in March 2017.

Mr Ford said Terang residents had embraced him, wife Glenice, and their adult daughter Kelly and her children who relocated to the south-west from Queensland.

"It's one of those things you can't help to know everybody but they all know you," he said.

"I think you've got to be here 30 or 40 years to be a local."

The outgoing CEO said there was a "little bit of apprehension" as he stood down but he was also looking forward to doing something different.

Mr and Mrs Ford will head to Japan in the new year to spend a few months with their son Shannon who is living in Asia.

They are also looking forward to eventually returning to their home in New Zealand and spending more time with their son Hadleigh and their grandchildren.

Before returning to New Zealand the couple may take their caravan and tour north-west Australia.

"It's part of the excitement," Mr Ford said.

"We're not sure what we'll do.

"We may come back and do two or three months (in the caravan) next year but we've got a commitment to be in Japan next cherry blossom season around March, April next year and then we'll just worry about things from then. We're keeping our options open."

Co-op chair Geoff Barby said it was the end of an era for a great CEO who had achieved much in his time.

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