John Kelly for Lord Mayor 

John Kelly (SVC 1969-77) has declared himself a candidate for Hobart Lord Mayor in the upcoming elections.

He was the 2016 Hobart Citizen of the Year and he feels he has gained the business acumen to ‘turn the council around’.

To quote the Mercury’s Sue Bailey (17 Aug.)

Mr Kelly saved the State Cinema from closure in 2002 turning it into an award winning 12 screen complex adding a bookstore and cafe bar and increasing patronage from 30,000 admissions a year to 250,000.

He is credited with turning North Hobart into Tasmania’s premier restaurant and entertainment precinct.

… as a president, chairman, board and committee member in many organisations over 40 years, experience counts,” he said.

John has been a loyal supporter of the College. John’s association with the College did not end when he finished Year 12 – far from it. He has been President and member of the Junior school and Austins Ferry P & F committees, a College Board Member from 2002 to 2006 and is a Life Member of St Virgil’s Old Scholars Football Club. He was a College rowing coach in the mid 1980s and again in the late 1990s followed by coaching junior soccer for three years.

John was inducted onto the St Virgil’s College Heritage Roll of Honour in 2014.