McInerney leaves NMG

New Mardi Gras CEO Anna McInerney has resigned from her post after nearly five years at the organisation’s helm.

She suggests her successor takes out a gym membership to help with the stress, and learns the virtue of patience. Despite the hours and dramas, McInerney called her time with NMG nothing short of “amazing”.

“I wasn’t really looking to leave,” McInerney told Sydney Star Observer. “When opportunities cross your path that interest you, you have to assess.”

McInerney has not revealed where she will head to at the end of the year, but she leaves sure in the knowledge that her team at Mardi Gras headquarters will charge on.

“We’ve got such a good team at Mardi Gras. That’s one of the reasons I have felt so comfortable walking away, that I am leaving the organisation in really good shape financially and in terms of the people — they’re an amazing team that I’m really proud of,” she said.

McInerney has worked with the same team for years — the people who helped create what she counted as one of her finest achievements, the 2008 parade and party season.

“It was a real pinnacle year for us,” she recalled fondly. “I joined in 2005 when things were really looking quite precarious for the organisation long-term. I was lucky enough to partner with Marcus Bourget, and we were working towards 2008, to deliver the best possible event we could, and I think we did.

“2008 was a corker, and getting Olivia Newton-John singing Xanadu was a bit of a career highlight for me.

“It’s going to feel quite strange to be there next year as a guest and not be worrying about whether things are OK. But we’ve done it so many times, and the team that’s in place have done it so many times, there isn’t that much stress.”