The chief executive of Canberra-based rescue helicopter service Snowy Hydro SouthCare has announced his resignation.
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Former Brumbies player-turned-CEO Owen Finegan will be leaving Canberra to take up a position with the charity Kids Cancer Project in Sydney.
Mr Finegan said his successor, who has not yet been appointed, will have plenty of perks to look forward to but riding in the helicopter wasn't one of them. After four years with the service, Mr Finegan has been in the helicopter just twice.
"Joy flights for the CEO doesn't come as part of the job description," Mr Finegan said.
"It's funny, if I say I have to go to the coast on the weekend, people will say, 'why don't you just get the helicopter to drop you down', but it's not quite at your beck and call."
Since Mr Finegan began as CEO in June 2011, the service, he said, has gone from strength to strength.
"When I started here there was 358 missions and now it's over 5000 that the helicopter does, so the demand for the organisation is growing year on year."
Mr Finegan said he was proud of the increase in missions, made possible by the revenue brought in through fundraising.
He said he enjoys the feeling of being able to make an impact.
"When people write you emails and knock on your door, or write letters, ring you up, just to give you an insight into what it was like in their shoes. After a motorbike accident or something like that, lying in the middle of a country lane thinking they're going to die, and then hearing the sound of the helicopter... It's providing a real second chance at life for people."
Mr Finegan said he made the "bittersweet" decision to move back to his hometown of Sydney a year ago, shortly after the death of his father.
"Mum and dad followed me around my whole rugby career, they flew all around the world watching me, and flew to South Africa when it was my 50th test for Australia."
"For the 10 years I played down here with the Brumbies, they didn't miss a game."
"My mum is in Sydney, by herself now, and I just wanted to be closer to home."
Mr Finegan and his wife Michelle both grew up in Sydney. Their three children, Ashley, 12, Benjamin, 10, and James, 7, started school in Sydney at the beginning of the term.
One of the moments that cemented in his mind that he had made the right decision to move back, was watching his son put on the same school uniform as he wore.
Having spent the past 20 years in the nation's capital, Mr Finegan said he will be sad to say goodbye.
"The past three and a half years with Snowy Hydro SouthCare have been incredibly rewarding and I have enjoyed every minute representing the great work of the rescue helicopter," Mr Finegan said.
"I will forever have a strong connection to Canberra and Snowy Hydro SouthCare and the wonderful work that it does, not only in Canberra but throughout the region."
