Cedar Mill Group names Kyle McKendry as CEO & makes five new senior hires

Winarch Capital and its new live entertainment and tourism events operation Cedar Mill Group are prepped to enter a new era as live music and tourism events return on a large scale.

Kyle McKendry has been announced as the new CEO, while five new senior hires have been unveiled for the group’s growing portfolio spanning events, tourism and entertainment.

McKendry, who was COO, continues to lead tour logistics company Humm Events which was acquired last year, along with the planned multi-million-dollar Cedar Mill Hunter Valley and Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie tourism precincts.

He joined Cedar Mill Group in 2019, after almost two decades at Roche Group, to lead the company’s foray into the live events, tourism and entertainment industries.

He will oversee Winarch Capital after the property group last month secured more than $120 million in industrial land sales in 21 days on Sydney’s Central Coast.

Winarch Capital’s chairman Paul Lambess called McKendry a crucial figure in the company’s expansion.

“Kyle’s input strategically has been invaluable in shaping our path into the tourism and events sector,” he said.

“Coupled with his experience in property development, it was an obvious choice to offer him the CEO role of both Winarch Capital and Cedar Mill Group.”

The five new additions to the leadership team come from long experience in the sector.

Ewen Craig​ joins as director of commercial operations after more than 12 years with Live Nation Australasia where he was head of tour accounting.

During his three decades in the business, he has worked for V Festival, The Coca-Cola Company, Modular Music and the Paul Dainty Corporation.

“I am thrilled to be joining such a great team of industry specialists and getting in on the ground floor of two truly amazing projects, Lake Macquarie 30,000 seat amphitheatre and the Hunter Valleys 22,000 seat amphitheatre,” Craig​ said.

“Paul and Kyle have given me an amazing opportunity to be at the forefront of these two projects and what will become a network of quality outdoor venues.”

Paul Corcoran, OAM, joins Cedar Mill Group as director of risk management for the newly formed Cedar Mill Risk Management.

Corcoran is founder of Global Compliance Consultancy, a WHS consultancy for major events.

Most recently he was risk advisor for the Live Entertainment Industry Forum where he helped create the COVID-Safe guidelines in an industry-wide collaborative effort.

Andrew McKinnon is the new national operations manager across Cedar Mill Group and Humm Events.

He has worked for leading Australian event-based companies for over 30 years.

Based in Melbourne, he sits on the board of not-for-profit CrewCare.

Mark ‘Trogg’ Svendsen, who’s worked in theatre, stage and live music productions since the early ‘70s, also sits on the CrewCare board, and joins Humm Events as event director.

Melbourne-based event and venue industry professional David Fortescue joins Humm Events as a project manager.

He previously worked for TEG Live, TEG Dainty and Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

 Cedar Mill Hunter Valley site

McKendry said Cedar Mill Group is accumulating some of Australia’s most seasoned, skilled and professional industry operators onto its team.

“Cedar Mill Group is gearing up for exponential growth over the next five years, and we are incredibly lucky to have secured some seasoned and experienced players in the events industry to help us facilitate that growth, to ensure we deliver world-class facilities and experiences for the public as our venues open and events kick-off in 2022 and beyond,” he explained.

Cedar Mill Group recently acquired a site in the Hunter Valley wine region for its second purpose-built outdoor amphitheatre and tourism project Cedar Mill Hunter Valley, due to open in 2023 at a cost of $107 million.

The $235 million redevelopment of Morisset Golf Course, to be known as Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie, comes with plans for a 30,000 person concert venue, cafes and restaurants, accommodation and Australia’s largest aquatic play park.

McKendry is also searching for future Cedar Mill sites in both Australia and New Zealand.