EXPERIENCED agribusiness professional Avril Hogan will take the reins as the new general manager of Victorian agricultural tertiary education specialist Longerenong College.
Ms Hogan, who will replace John Goldsmith in the role, has over 20 years in agriculture, including stints in the machinery, education and market research sectors.
Prior to joining Longerenong she was working at machinery dealers Emmetts in an executive position.
Canadian-born Ms Hogan has been in the Wimmera for 15 years and is excited about the prospects both for the college and agriculture more generally.
"We are seeing opportunities emerging in new areas right throughout agriculture as new technology comes through," Ms Hogan said.
"At Longerenong we want to ensure we can take students and give them the skills they need to get a job in the area of agriculture they are interested in.
"The beauty of ag at present is that it is not just those traditional roles there are jobs being created in new fields all the time."
Ms Hogan, the first female to take on the top job at Longerenong, said there would be a number of key priorities for the college once she started in the role.
"We've seen with the COVID-19 shutdowns the importance of being able to be nimble and to be able to offer subjects remotely, I think even once we've got on top of COVID that is something students are going to want to be able to do."
"I also want to continue the great work in recent years and keep refurbishing our facilities here at Longerenong to provide students with state of the art amenities."
"Longerenong is a really special place and I'm hoping to continue on the good momentum we've seen here in recent years."
The college has rebounded strongly in recent years after previous managers Melbourne University began plans to close it, only for it to be rescued by strong community support.
It is now ran by local training specialists Skillinvest.