Retiring SWDC chief looks to community projects

He may be retiring after 18 years as chief executive officer of the South West Development Commission, but Don Punch's career is far from over.

Mr Punch has wonderful memories of his time at the commission, but felt it was time to move on to new adventures outside the public service.

During his stint as chief executive officer, Mr Punch has met the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and has sat with some remarkable Noongar people.

His passion for the region allowed him to understand its strengths and weaknesses and meant he could work on projects that would bring communities together.

"You get to understand it from an industry point of view, a human services and government point of view and personally I have found it very rewarding," Mr Punch said.

"It's the decision between staying here for the rest of my career or the decision to try something different - I guess it's a personal issue about my development.

"I still think I can be a part of ideas generation and I am still working out what I will do for the next 20 years but I would like to do some more volunteer work."

Working in the region had been a unique experience and his role was to build teamwork across the region, which he had seen flourish in the past 18 years.

It is an exciting time at the moment with the potential growth of the region evident like the Transforming Bunbury's Waterfront project which he was confident would get underway soon.

He said the region offered a quality of life that other places in the State didn't but in order for people to stay in the region there needed to be access to jobs that had good career prospects, quality education and health services.

"While you can fix a lot of things with money, there are other things that require a change of attitude," he said.

There had been a lot of after-hour demands and many 12-hour days which he has embraced and enjoyed.

But he said "once you close the door and put the telly on, you can just chill out".