Who we are: From boardrooms to barrels – Dylan Beach

‘I was intrigued by looking at the events from the back end. I guess that’s a part of my entrepreneurial self, I wanted to be that person, making it all happen’

WHO WE ARE: Dylan Beach

I’m halfway across Yorke Peninsula, creating a makeshift office on the bottom bunk of an old fisherman’s shack when I finally catch Dylan Beach, Regional Manager of Fleurieu Peninsula Tourism, on the phone. I’ve managed to reach him just before he makes a return trip to Indonesia and we talk of warm water and waves.

From boardrooms to barrels

Story by Hollie Connery. Photograph by Jason Porter.

But mostly we ramble about our shared love for discovering and supporting the small businesses that keep a region moving, and how it’s in these in-between encounters with locals that lasting memories are made.

When first encountering Dylan’s easy humility, honesty and self agency, it’s hard not to feel like he has the landmark features of a professional twice his age. At 32, Dylan is currently the youngest Regional Tourism Manager in South Australia – a position that holds substantial responsibility in leading the region’s tourism sector on both a state, national and international level.

Don’t be fooled by the smart shirt and title however. There’s most likely sand in his pockets and a damp wetsuit in the back of his car for when the south-west swell moves across the Southern Ocean and an offshore breeze from the north blows its gentle promise.

From boardrooms to barrels, Dylan can cruise with effortless professionalism, humility and grace between the two worlds, swapping one black suit for another.

Anyone who has spent time in Port Elliot will recognise the entrepreneurial presence of the Beach family. Dylan’s father started the organic farming business, Beach Organics. Then there’s the longstanding Dog Dragon furniture import business on North Terrace, run by his uncle John and the more recently added Beaches Cafe, owned by his cousin Rosie. They’re a family with deep ties to the region.

Growing up on the pounding shores of the south coast, Dylan’s connection to the ocean saw him compete at an early age in both local and national bodyboarding competitions. It was here, in these formative years, that Dylan learned a lot about what drives him. During a national pro-bodyboarding tour, Dylan remembers clearly wanting to be on the inside. ‘I was intrigued by looking at the events from the back end. I guess that’s a part of my entrepreneurial self, I wanted to be that person, making it all happen,’ he says. And did he ever. He has a bit of a laugh at himself, remembering when scouting for sponsorship, he created his first professional portfolio in a PowerPoint presentation, much to the organiser’s astonishment. ‘I guess they were a little bit like, who is this kid?’ recalls Dylan. His assertiveness paid off and Dylan eventually became an integral part of bodyboarding culture in South Australia, running clubs and events.

Next came the chance to step up nationally and run the Australian Bodyboarding Association and the Australian pro tour, a huge accomplishment for a guy in his early twenties who was still studying for a degree in tourism and event management. It wasn’t long before Dylan’s attention to detail, his warmth and ability to think outside the square led to greater and more complex roles, including Tourism Manager for Zoos South Australia.

Dylan ever-so-humbly attributes his philanthropic ethos to being raised with a strong sense of family and community. His mother Teresa is one of fourteen siblings, and the family tree now includes some forty-plus cousins for Dylan. ‘Mum’s originally from Melbourne and she didn’t really have a lot of family in South Australia, so she always instilled in us a very strong sense of community,’ says Dylan. It’s this sense of community that allows Dylan to understand that the greatest asset he brings to his current role is his capacity to be the connective tissue between the small businesses that occupy the Fleurieu Peninsula and the people who run them. ‘What actually leaves a really deep impression are the people. The best experiences and the best memories you cultivate are around the people you come across,’ says Dylan.

Representing the region and the tourism industry it relies so heavily upon, Dylan aims to be at the forefront of sustainable, nature-based tourism with a strong emphasis on respecting community, land and culture. A far cry from the sometimes rambling rhetoric of staunch localism in surfing culture, in Dylan we find the exact person who has tied his laces, left the car park, and is actually doing something about protecting our shores and our small business culture. As Dylan sets foot into an international arena, we can be confident that the representation of our region is in very capable hands.