Darel Hall was appointed general manager of OUSA in September last year and has worked alongside the elected student executive members to negotiate the changeover as the contentious Voluntary Student Membership legislation passed into law.
The OUSA faced an uncertain future in the wake of the VSM legislation, given students studying at the University of Otago could no longer be charged mandatory membership fees.
A deal has been struck under which all students will be charged a fee by the university, with the OUSA contracted under a service agreement to provide services and facilities alongside its traditional events, such as Orientation.
However, exactly how the funding relationship will develop remains unclear, with uncertainty being expressed at a recent university council meeting over whether the student association would be able to retain its independence given OUSA finances were now largely dependent on the university's service fee charge.
Mr Hall said the OUSA's current relationship with the university was "really good and strong", although there was always a potential for disagreements between the two parties.
"It will have bumpy parts, just like any kind of these relationships do. But under the new legislation which has been brought in, we should now have a greater efficiency and accountability of service.
"I'd argue OUSA should have that anyway - regardless of whether VSM existed or not."
While the abolition of mandatory student association membership and the associated protests and other opposition to the move garnered the bulk of attention, it was a different piece of legislation, the Education Amendment Bill (No 4), brought in two months before VSM, which had led to tighter restrictions on fiscal accountability.
Under that legislation, it is the university which is now accountable to the Government for how student service fees are being spent.
"However student dollars get to OUSA, they are still student dollars and we need to be mindful of that absolute fact.
"We will have to justify more closely what we spend now and be enormously transparent - more so than what students have ever seen," he said.
It was important for students to retain control over how student services were operated, he said.
"Students have the most control over student association services out of all things at the university."
The student executive had instructed the OUSA to be as transparent as possible, he said.
This meant students would be better informed about the different services, facilities and events being run by the OUSA, and would also mean they could push for change if they disagreed with what was happening, Mr Hall said.
Born, raised and educated in Christchurch, Mr Hall said it was the quality of student life at the University of Otago which brought him to Dunedin.
"It is second to none, even my old university, Canterbury," he said.
A former two-term (1998-99) student association president at the University of Canterbury, Mr Hall was previously employed at the Christchurch Elam campus as the general manager of the UC Accommodation Student Village, before his move to Otago.
The accommodation village is home to about 1500 students during the academic year and is run as a business in a public-private partnership with the University of Canterbury.
The OUSA had a "justified reputation for the depth and breadth of services", which were influenced by the desires of students.
The introduction of VSM was "always" going to provide a challenge for the OUSA and it was this which had induced him to apply for the general manager role, Mr Hall said.
The OUSA had a "wealth of experience" among its permanent staff, and several honorary life members of the student association retained an active involvement in the organisation, he said.