Dhalia Real Estate Services announced the appointment yesterday of Alan Camilleri as chairman and chief executive officer. Mr Camilleri will be joining Dhalia in the coming weeks, taking over from Franco Valletta who has steered the organisation for the past seven years.

Mr Camilleri is thus leaving the National Euro Changeover Committee of which he was CEO and which oversaw the changeover from the Maltese lira to the euro.

He will therefore not be involved in NECC when it changes its role to overseeing price movements and becomes part of the government bureaucracy. Rumours say Mr Camilleri will be followed by at least some of the other NECC heads, some of who have been speaking of posts in Brussels.

Mr Camilleri, who graduated in Psychology in 1996, spent five years as Dr Lawrence Gonzi’s spokesman when he was Minister for Social Policy and Deputy Prime Minister. Subsequently, when Dr Gonzi became Prime Minister, Mr Camilleri moved with him to Castile as Communications Coordinator.

Still holding this post, he also oversaw the preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held in Malta in November 2005. That period was followed by rumours that he was moving to the Commonwealth Secretariat, which rumours proved to be false when he left government service and became the NECC’s CEO. Even now, prior to this announcement, there were rumours, also fuelled by some indirect references in the media, which NECC was about to offer its expertise to Slovakia for its euro changeover.

Being in such a sensitive position, Mr Camilleri also found himself to be at the centre of a controversy. When still Communications Coordinator to the Prime Minister, he found himself in trouble when an e-mail to this newspaper suddenly became public knowledge and brought him into conflict with the journalists’ committee.

And former minister John Dalli, recently appointed as consultant to the Prime Minister, did not mince words when he wrote that Mr Camilleri was among those who conspired to bring him (Mr Dalli) down

Between 2002 and 2004, Mr Camilleri was also Information Management Officer, setting up government’s first Information Management Unit and the 159 SPIC Call Centre services within the Ministry for Social Policy.

Mr Camilleri holds a Masters degree in Training and Human Resources Management from Leicester University. He was also a visiting lecturer in Occupational Health & Safety at the University of Malta and in Organisational Theory at St Martin’s Institute of IT.

Following a thorough reorganisation process which saw Dhalia Real Estate Services consolidate its core operations, Mr Camilleri will now be focusing on the marketing, business development and strategic repositioning of the Dhalia Group both in Malta and overseas. In the meantime, emphasis will continue to be laid on the provision of a professional service by the company’s sales and consultant team through a high degree of ethical standards, personal and group development and corporate social responsibility, the company said in a statement.

Established in 1982, Dhalia is a leading real estate organisation in Malta and Gozo with a network of 10 strategically located offices around Malta and Gozo and over 80 experienced property consultants.