Statement from Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and Christchurch City Council Chief Executive Dr Karleen Edwards
We are sad to hear that Roger Sutton has today resigned as Chief Executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery
Authority (CERA).
Roger Sutton has been a stand-out leader for our city and region. He has been a strong advocate for Christchurch
following the 2010/11 earthquakes.
As CEO of Orion at this time, Roger took community engagement to a new level and never shied away from fronting the
community whose interests he always had totally at heart. Residents will remember him turning up on his bike with maps
in hand to community meetings held in local parks.
Given the leadership he showed in the aftermath of the quakes and his total commitment to Christchurch, he was the
logical choice for CEO for the new Government Department, CERA.
He gave up so much to take this role, including a large drop in salary and he worked incredibly hard and long hours on
behalf of Christchurch residents.
Roger had a huge challenge to establish and head a new Government department which employed a lot of staff not from
Christchurch and who had not experienced first-hand the devastation of the earthquakes.
Despite the challenges of this unprecedented recovery structure, he maintained his commitment to his community and never
shirked from speaking out on behalf of his city. In these difficult times, he was the voice of Christchurch.
When Karleen Edwards took up her new position this year as the incoming Chief Executive to the Council, Roger was
enormously supportive and helped her with her transition into the role. She says they had a strong working relationship
built on mutual trust and respect.
Roger Sutton has been a real asset to the city and our only hope is that his experience, passion, knowledge and desire
to get his city back on its feet will not be lost to the Christchurch community.
We will be making no further comment.
ends