Company Directors' Course

Zoe is a Professional Director who has been working in governance since 2000, successfully serving on the Boards of private and listed companies, government entities, research institutes and not-for-profit organisations. She has held governance positions in both New Zealand and Australia.  She has also been an active Member and Chair of several subcommittees including finance audit and risk, governance and science.  Zoe facilitates governance training for both the Institute of Directors (IoD) NZ and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). Zoe has had an international senior executive career across many industries, specializing in science and technology, innovation and commercialisation.  She has held global, leading roles with Owens Illinois, Dairy Australia Ltd, Bonlac Foods Ltd / Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd and Fletcher Challenge Forests. She has worked extensively across food and beverage industries around the world, including 34 years in agriculture/horticulture, 21 of those years in dairy. Zoe is currently a Director of SealStone NZ Ltd and a Committee Member of the IoD Bay of Plenty branch.

Philip is a consultant with Polson Higgs, Dunedin and specialises in the development of strategic plans, business plans and conducts a Maori business mentoring programme. He also has extensive experience in training including course development and presentation. His governance positions include chair of Well Dunedin Health Trust, deputy chair of Advertising Standards Complaints Board, board member of Education New Zealand, board member of Ngai Tahu Tourism Ltd, trustee of the Todd Foundation and he is the past president of Business New Zealand. After 33 years as a Chartered Accountant, Philip is supposed to be semi-retired. He can be found still at his desk in Dunedin or at the Balmacewen Course or relaxing in Bannockburn.

Paul is an independent director with extensive experience as a consultant, executive and director in a variety of industries. Since 2000 he has been a director of a number of listed companies, private companies and public entities. He is presently Chair of the Accreditation Council, Director and of Unison Networks Ltd, Unison Fibre Ltd, ETEL Ltd, Hall’s Logistics Group Ltd and Telarc Ltd. He is founding Independent Chairman of the Hamilton City Council Audit and Risk Committee, Chair of Unison Networks Audit and Risk and Chair of Bobux International Limited.

Nick has a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Economics) from Canterbury University and is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants as well as being a qualified cost and management accountant. Nick has had over 25 years’ experience in senior finance management positions and has also held the role of General Manager Operations. Nick also does Training for Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand in the areas of Finance for Non-Financial Managers and Professional Ethics. Nick has held a number of directorships and chairmanships in both the SME market and not-for-profit sector. He is currently Treasurer of PARS and a member of the Tauranga Te Papa Rotary Club.

Alastair is a partner with Buddle Findlay in Wellington and has practised corporate and public law for over 20 years, advising a variety of public and private sector clients on corporate governance and directors' duties. He has specific expertise in the health and primary sectors and is an expert on cooperative and mutual company structures. Alastair is currently deputy chair of Medical Assurance Society Ltd, a director of Medical Securities Limited and a member of the Advisory Board of Cancer Trials New Zealand. He also serves on the board of Buddle Findlay, and has chaired the Latin America New Zealand Business Council, and spent nine years as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Jackie is an independent director.  She is currently Deputy Chair of New Zealand Post Group, a director of Naylor Love and Ag Research and a Trustee of the Lion Foundation, Chair of Exerience Wellington (Wellington Museum Trust).  A life-long interest in the relationship between human behaviour and business performance led Jackie through an executive career as global human resources director for the New Zealand Dairy Board and NZMP Fonterra, to consulting and on to governance. She is a graduate of Otago University and the University of Virginia Executive Development Programme, and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.  Jackie serves on the National Council and Wellington Branch Committee of the IoD.

Juliet is a Chartered Fellow of the IoD and has held over 20 board directorships in a wide range of sectors, with state-owned enterprises, private and publicly-listed companies and not-for-profit organisations. In 1991, she established her New Zealand-based consultancy firm, Broad Horizons Limited, which delivers corporate governance training, policy advice and strategic planning workshops to a wide variety of clients in New Zealand, the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. Juliet was awarded the Queen’s Service Order and the Commonwealth Medal. She is an honorary fellow of the School of Government at Victoria University.

Mark is a partner at Buddle Findlay.  He joined Buddle Findlay in 2002 and has been practising law since 1995.  Prior to working with Buddle Findlay, Mark worked as in-house counsel at T-Mobile UK.  He regularly advises boards and management on governance issues – including boards of listed companies, council controlled organisations, trusts and public issuers.  Mark is currently a director of Isight Properties Limited which operates the Christchurch Eye Surgery facility and Buddle Findlay's in-house IT services company, Lawtech Services Limited.

Hamish is an Auckland based independent director and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors. He is an experienced board chair and holds several board committee chair positions.  Hamish is currently chairman of DTS Food Assurance Ltd, East Health Services Ltd, The Kennedy’s Ltd, and a director of Restaurant Brands Ltd, AsureQuality Ltd, Pharmaco Ltd, Counties Power Ltd, and Smart Environmental Ltd.  He is also the Independent Chairman of the Waikato Regional Council Audit and Risk committee. Prior to his governance career, Hamish held senior executive positions within some of New Zealand’s largest companies, including Tip Top Ice Cream, Heinz Wattie’s, and DB Breweries. Hamish has an M.Com (Hons.) and MBA from the University of Auckland and is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand.

David is an Internal Audit Partner at KPMG Auckland. He was most recently chief audit executive (CAE) for Telecom NZ, a SEC registered company with approximately $NZ4b in revenues, leading the risk, internal audit, and compliance teams. David has been working as a CAE of listed entities for the past seven years. He has international Sarbanes-Oxley experience with Shell Corporation and Microsoft and 11 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New Zealand providing risk management, internal and external audit services to a wide range of clients. David is currently president of the Institute of Internal Auditors of New Zealand and was New Zealand Internal Auditor of the Year in 2011.

Mike Wood is a highly experienced consultant with Broadleaf Capital International, providing risk management advice, training, and cost and benefits risk assessments for a wide range of public and private sector organisations. He is a past chairman of the New Zealand Society for Risk Management. His work has taken him to Australia, the Middle East and Canada, where projects have included risk assessments for substantial civil and electrical infrastructure, mining, and oil and gas projects. Mike also has extensive governance experience in the not-for-profit sector and is currently the deputy Chairman of the Wellington City Mission, and a trustee of the Youth Cultures & Community Trust and the Ignite Sport Trust.

Jo is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Chair of Northpower Fibre (ultra-fast broadband), on the Auckland Museum Trust Board and Maritime NZ, Chair of Rotorua Lakes Audit and Risk Comm and Principal of Leaders for the Future.   She is Chair of the Taitokerau Education Trust, supporting digital learning in low decile schools in Northland, a member of the Centre for Brain Research Advisory Board, and of other trusts. She is the Founder and Advisory Trustee of Leadership NZ, was Chair for more than a decade and has had an extensive governance career.  She was previously CEO of the Northland Regional Council and of the Auckland Regional Council. 
As a Harkness Fellow and Aspen Scholar, Jo spent a year researching leadership in the USA.  In addition to her governance roles, she develops and facilitates leadership and governance programmes.

Lynda has over 17 year’s governance experience including as a chair and deputy chair. She has led remuneration and performance subcommittees and been a member of finance and audit, fundraising and sponsorship and future operating environment sub-committees. Lynda’s governance experience has been gained in the arts and culture, and wider public and not-for-profit sectors, including the Wellington Regional Orchestra and the New Zealand Institute of Management.  She is currently on the New Zealand Army Leadership Board, a board member for an incorporated society, and a lay member on the Social Workers Registration Board Complaints Assessment Committee. Lynda is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors and an Associate Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Management (NZIM). Lynda has led her own consulting company for the past 20 years, working across New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and the UK. Prior to this Lynda was the managing consultant of the New Zealand office of Development Dimensions International.

Peter is an experienced director and chairman, principally of privately-held companies and social enterprises, and an advisor, speaker and author with internationally acknowledged expertise in corporate purpose, strategy, corporate governance and effective board practice. His current board appointments include chairmanship of Riverlock Group Holdings, a large farming enterprise. Previous appointments include Tracmap, EnergySmart, Hutt International Boys’ School and the Baptist Union of New Zealand, amongst others. His ground-breaking doctoral research explored board influence on firm performance.

Henri Eliot’s career began in Financial Services where he held a number of senior executive positions at JP Morgan Chase in New York City and the Bank of Montreal in Toronto.  Henri spent over ten years in London & New York working in management consulting at Deloitte and PwC. More recently, Henri worked in Telecommunications & ICT Services In New Zealand before forming Board Dynamics in 2009. Henri is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors (IoD), Fellow of the Australasia Financial Services Institute (Finsia) and Fellow of the Institute of Management New Zealand. Along with his work as an executive, Henri is a regular contributor to the NZ Herald, National Business Review and Idealog. He is currently Chairman Balle Bros Group, Chairman Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel (Inland Revenue), Trustee Plunket Foundation, President of the Canada Business Council and member of Propellerhead Limited Advisory Board. He received his LLB (Hons) from the University of London, his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from McGill University in Canada and his MBA in the United Kingdom.

Simon is a partner at Buddle Findlay. He has over 25 years’ corporate governance experience and has been on the Boards of Visa New Zealand, The Warehouse Financial Services Ltd (where he Chaired the Board) and AGC New Zealand. He regularly advises boards and management of listed companies, banks, Crown entities, trusts and public issuers on governance. Prior to working at Buddle Findlay, Simon spent 15 years as general counsel for Westpac Banking Corporation in New Zealand, followed by four years acting as a consultant on pan-industry projects in the banking and finance sector. 

Sam is a Christchurch barrister with over 40 years’ experience in court, mediation and arbitration work. He is an accredited Arbitrator and Mediator (AMINZ and NZDRC).Sam has extensive business experience including chair and director roles with New Zealand listed companies Pyne Gould Corporation, PGGWrightson, and NZ Farming Systems Ltd. Other governance roles include Financial Services (MARAC), Agribusiness and Trustee Services. He was executive chairman of Lane Neave Lawyers for some years, and held governance roles with the New Zealand Law Society both in Canterbury and nationally. He is a former chair of the Broadcasting Standards Authority. He currently serves on the council of Legal Education, and The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. He chairs a Queenstown Body Corporate with over 400 New Zealand and overseas owners. He is also a director for a number of private companies.

Catherine has experience in the public sector, corporate business and education, in both senior management and governance roles. She currently has her own consultancy business which focuses on professional and executive education, strategy development and business re-structuring. She has held governance roles in a variety of organisations and is currently a trustee with CORE Education Charitable Trust, Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust and Community Wellbeing North Canterbury Community Trust. In addition, she sits on the Christ’s College Board as the Christ College Old Boys Association representative.

Craig formed a business development consultancy practice Business Innovators in 2002, providing a range of advice to small to medium-sized businesses across New Zealand. Craig is a Chartered Accountant, director and chairman of the board for several companies. Craig has experience in a number of sectors including manufacturing, exporting, retail and the service sector. Craig has received accolades from several businesses who have won business awards, including one being named the fastest-growing company in the Deloitte Top 50.

Murray is an independent chairman and professional director. He currently holds governance and advisory roles in both the public and private sector including CERA, the Ministry of Education and the TSB Trust and is actively involved in the Christchurch rebuild as the independent chairman of three of the anchor projects. He has held a variety of Crown appointed roles, including Crown Commissioner and as a director on Crown entities. He has worked in governance and senior management roles across the education, aviation, professional services, tourism and sport sectors over the last 20 years. He's also actively involved in TEDx in both Queenstown and Christchurch as MC and speaker coach and speaks regularly on leadership in a range of executive programmes.

Richard began his international governance advisory business in 2001, with the purpose of building boards into leading teams. He has facilitated programmes for the IoD for more than 10 years and has more than 20 years’ experience as a director and board chairman. He is based in Wellington and is currently chairman of Careerforce Industry Training Organisation, as well as the first independent director of the Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ) Limited and a director of RCBC Bank, one of the largest banks in the Philippines. Richard was a founding independent director of Kiwibank Ltd for ten years and has chaired several other organisations, including Intergen Ltd, Standards New Zealand, two SOEs, the New Zealand Telecommunications Forum and Canterbury Opera. In 2013, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation published a book it had commissioned Richard to write, ‘Guidance for the Directors of Banks’, aimed principally at directors of banks in developing countries worldwide.

Rodney has had over 25 years as CEO/MD and chair for a number of mid-sized New Zealand private and public organisations, over a range of diverse industry sectors. Past roles have included chief executive/managing director at Pacific Brands Food Group/National Foods Ltd and chair Palmerston North Airport Ltd. While holding a government appointment as chair of NZ Crop & Food Research Institute, he led the merger to form NZ Plant & Food Research; and was its deputy chair. His current business interests are a balance of commercial start-ups and public good companies, usually in the capacity of independent director or chair; member of the Massey University Business School advisory board, executive chair Speirs Nutritional LLP, director of ScanPower Ltd, chair Manchester House Social Services Inc., and Trustee of Central Energy Trust.