The honourable Nicholas ‘Santa’ Claus, has been Minister for Christmas Affairs since November 2018. He brings with him a breadth of international private sector and not-for-profit experience, and works towards delivering greater levels of support, governance and compliance throughout the Christmas Season and beyond.
The world’s most famous toymaker, Minister Claus has had a diverse career covering industries such as retail, marketing, human resources management, product development and production, compliance reporting and entrepreneurship.
Born and raised in Turkey, Minister Claus began a life of religious servitude, but soon heard the siren call of the private sector. Starting a career in marketing communications, Nicholas moved to the United States of America, taking a senior position with the world-famous Coca-Cola brand. It was here Nicholas met the Head of Strategic Operations Mary Kringle, who would soon become his wife. Nicholas and Mary’s famous partnership helped Coca-Cola to become the beverage of choice for millions of people throughout America and the world.
Looking for a new challenge, Nicholas and Mary left the USA to found a start-up in the North Pole that specialised in hand-made toys. Despite claims of unfair work practices and elf-union-busting, ‘Santa’s Toy Shop’ proved incredibly popular with children the world over. The toys were renowned for their quality of craftsmanship and the store quickly grew into what is now the highest producer of toys in the world.
Capitalising on the popularity of their toys, Mrs Claus opened the “Santa Claus Village” amusement park in Rovaniemi, in the Lapland region of Finland. It quickly became the #1 local attraction on TripAdvisor. Many “Santa’s Workshop” franchises have also been opened around the world.
Minister Nicholas prides himself on being an innovation leader. In addition to revolutionising toy production, Santa’s considerable focus on research and development led to several significant advances in the areas of theoretical physics, genetics and aeronautics.
Enhancements to sleigh design allowed Santa to travel faster to keep pace with growing global populations. Genome manipulation enabled Santa to lab-grow reindeer with glowing red noses, improving safety on long-haul night flights. And breakthroughs in quantum superposition allow Santa to be in multiple places at once.
Next, Santa moved to Australia to work with Krissy and Co as a Behavioural Rewardist, leveraging his experience in telling naughty from nice. It was during this time that Nicholas pioneered a hard-line coal-based compliance approach — which saw considerable success during Australia’s mining boom. However, as climate change threatens the poles, and as public sentiment has changed, Nicholas shifted his focus and led the exploration of renewable alternatives to coal for those on the naughty list.
Based on his work in this field, Nicholas was the obvious choice for the Minister for Christmas Affairs.
As the Member for North Pole, Nicholas has completed over 1,000 sleigh rides around his electorate – each to raise funds for Juvenile Elfitis and Grinch Spectrum Disorder.