Introducing new Burwood GM James Hawley

Deakin Residential Services is delighted to announce the appointment of James Hawley as the new General Manager for our Melbourne Burwood campus accommodation!

Bringing a wealth of experience to the role from an extensive career in student accommodation in Australia and overseas, James is a wonderful addition to the DRS Leadership team. We caught up with James to hear what he's excited about in the new role and to get to know him better.

After an extensive career in Purpose-Built Student Accommodation, how does it feel moving into a University-based accommodation provider?

It’s fantastic move for me to come across to the DRS team and it feels like a perfect match for me to develop further in my career. In my first few weeks, I have already witnessed the huge emphasis on student experience/engagement but in particular, the Campus Life program.

My first couple of days at DRS was attending our annual Residential Leader (RL) camp, the level of engagement coming back from the group was unbelievable. The communities across DRS are in very safe hands with this current group of RLs and they should be excited about the year ahead.

I was previously working at Scape Australia which was a thoroughly enjoyable role. Scape saw massive growth through the last few years as well as navigating the huge challenge that we all felt with COVID.

I am grateful for those challenges as this enabled me to grow my mindset and skillset in all facets of the business. The outside of the box thinking is now the norm in our industry. I was lucky enough to work with some fantastic people at Scape and I look forward to catching up with them at the next Asia-Pacific Student Accommodation Association (APSAA) conference.

What drew you to this role and what are you most looking forward to about it?

The opportunity to work at DRS was an easy decision for me because their reputation is second to none throughout the industry. I was lucky enough to have met some of the staff previously and always enjoyed their knowledge and company.

I am looking forward to growing with the team and seeing us all develop together, I have a huge passion for staff development and looking forward to imparting my knowledge and experience to the team.

What has been your impression of Deakin and Deakin Res so far?

I have been fortunate to have such a diverse introduction to Deakin from meeting new colleagues to RL Camp to Leadership workshops.

There have been two things which have stuck with me as I’ve heard them multiple times:

• Assume the best of others

• Remembering the main reason we are all here: The Students.

Tell us a bit more about yourself outside of your career.

I was very fortunate to grow up in North Wales which is a beautiful part of the world. This was something I would have taken for granted growing up but now I’m excited to take my young family back to Wales for a holiday in 2023.

I didn’t always dream of working in student accommodation (even though now I don’t know what else I would do). My dream growing up was to be a professional cricketer and travel the world doing that, I am hugely grateful to my parents for the support in allowing me to play overseas in New Zealand and Australia for four summers before injury curtailed that dream.

My fondest cricketing memory would have to be representing my country (Wales) at Lords Cricket Ground in 2011.

My wife and I made the move to Melbourne in 2017 and haven’t looked back since – its one of the best decisions we have ever made.

Anyone who has spent enough time with me will know I have a real passion for sport, in particular Football and Golf. I am a lifelong Manchester City and to my own detriment I will often wake up to watch the Premier League games in the middle of the night.

I am fortunate to live right next to a golf course and love the opportunity to get out in the sunshine and play. I am slowly convincing my wife to start playing and hope it can be something that my two girls will eventually learn to love.

I believe you have a new arrival in your family, how has it been juggling a new role and growing family?

My wife Sam and I welcomed Ava Grace Hawley into the world on the 25th of September and we have settled in well to our life as a family of four. Sienna our eldest daughter (aged three) is absolutely besotted with her baby sister.

The new job added an additional layer to our situation, but I am incredibly fortunate to have support from my wife Sam to take on this new challenge, followed by Scape Australia and then DRS to assist with the change in our lives. There is a real understanding from the team that dealing with a newborn can have its challenges and that its okay to admit it.

Tell us how you feel in the lead-up to welcoming new and returning students for 2023

Just absolute excitement. Across the industry it appears that we are returning to business as usual. All prospective students should be ready for a fantastic year ahead and be prepared to learn something, meet new friends, and have wonderful, empowering experiences.

We warmly welcome James to the team and look forward to working with him in 2023 and in the years ahead.