Wakatipu High School's new principal will arrive from Auckland three weeks into next term, the school announced yesterday.
The school's board of trustees announced it had appointed current Halberg Trust chief executive Steve Hall (47).
Mr Hall previously worked at the high school in the 1990s as the year 11 dean and head of department and had since wanted to return, board member Greg Turner said.
Mr Hall was not able to be contacted yesterday because of Halberg commitments in Wellington, but was likely to visit Queenstown next week.
"He has a diverse range of experience and it's not just educational, and with our unusual situation of being a diverse multicultural school he stood out for the position," Mr Turner said.
"This was always seen as a position he wanted to have."
Mr Hall will arrive with wife Sally Mingaye, and sons Trent (15), Christopher (10), and Stefan (6).
The decision was made by a selection committee made up of board representatives and employment lawyer Peter MacDonald, who was appointed statutory manager of the school prior to former principal Lyn Cooper's eventual resignation at the end of last year.
Mr Hall's resume includes a University of Canterbury MBA and a course in non-profit management at Harvard University.
From 2003-06 he was director of the Outward Bound School.
Mr Hall's leadership and management skills were key factors in his application after the school had been without a permanent principal since term three last year, Mr Turner said.
As a result of a damning report by the Educational Review Office, Mr MacDonald was last May appointed statutory manager by the Ministry of Education.
Ms Cooper resigned in September, but feeling unfairly dismissed, she lodged a claim with the Employment Relations Authority and consequently was reappointed on November as co-principal with stand-in principal Paul O'Connor.
He took over that role when Ms Cooper resigned.
"We had clearly identified the need to bolster things in leadership and his resume in that respect was outstanding," Mr Turner said.
