RICHARD WESTLAKE CFInstD

Richard Westlake is a board chair and governance adviser with more than 30 years’ boardroom experience in New Zealand and internationally. He is the founding director of Westlake Governance Limited and has advised a wide range of boards, including work with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. 

He has led more than 150 board and chief executive evaluations and has trained thousands of directors and chairs in New Zealand and more than a dozen other countries, both through his own programmes and as a long-standing facilitator for the Institute of Directors. He has also provided expert witness evidence in several complex legal proceedings, including the Mainzeal High Court trial.  

He currently chairs The New Zealand Home Loan Company Ltd (a sister company to Kiwibank) and Hospice New Zealand, and has governance and directing experience across the public, private, co-operative and not-for-profit sectors. 

Richard began his career as a Royal Air Force fast-jet pilot, an experience that still shapes his approach: clear thinking, understanding and addressing risk, and a focus on what matters. He brings a practical, grounded perspective to governance, built on experience rather than theory.