Webcast
1
CPD
Join us for a director-focused briefing with Charles Finny on global trade shifts, tariffs and what they mean for New Zealand boards.
Global disruption is no longer a background risk for boards. Trade rules are fragmenting, strategic competition is reshaping supply chains, and climate-linked standards are increasingly influencing market access, disclosure expectations and organisational resilience.
The IoD’s Geopolitical climate: Boardroom briefings is a four-part webinar series designed to help directors govern with confidence in this changing environment. Each quarterly session in 2026 brings a different expert perspective on the geopolitical forces shaping New Zealand organisations, translating global developments into the strategic questions boards should be asking.
In this first briefing, Charles Finny CFInstD, Chair of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and a former senior trade negotiator and diplomat, will provide a clear, director-focused overview of global trade and policy shifts. Drawing on deep experience across government relations, trade strategy and geopolitical risk, Charles will explore developments in key markets including the United States, China, Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
Directors will gain practical insights into how tariff volatility, regulatory divergence and emerging trade standards translate into real strategic, risk and reputation implications — and what this means for board-level decision-making now.
CFInstD
Charles is a Partner at the Wellington based Government Relations consultancy Saunders Unsworth where he has been for 14 years. Prior to that he was CEO of the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce. The first 23 years of his career were spent working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Trade and Industry and Prime Minister’s Department. Charles has spent many years working on the GATT/WTO and in negotiating bilateral and regional FTAs. He helped negotiate two generations of the CER agreement with Australia; the Singapore New Zealand, China New Zealand and Taiwan New Zealand FTAs.
Charles advises private sector clients on matters relating to domestic and international regulation. He has advised the UK, Japanese and Taiwanese Government on trade policy.
Charles has been Chair of NZTE since March 2025. He had previously served on the Board for 12 Years until mid-2021. He has also Chaired education New Zealand and served on the Film Commission Board, the Investment New Zealand Establishment Board and Victoria University of Wellington Council. He is currently on the Board of Woolyarns Holdings. He will be completing his role as Independent Chair of the New Zealand Port Company CEO Group at the end of March.
Charles lectures regularly on trade policy in New Zealand and offshore. He is also a regular media commentator on international politics and trade.
CMInstD
Kirsten Patterson MNZM (known as KP) is the Chief Executive of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Member of the IoD. In 2025 she was awarded the New Zealand Royal Honour, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to governance and women. She is a qualified lawyer and a Distinguished Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, Chair of the Global Network of Directors Institutes (GNDI), and a member of the New Zealand External Reporting Advisory Panel (XRAP). She serves on the Boards of the mental health charity, Voices of Hope, is Chair of the Brian Picot Ethical Leadership Advisory Board at Victoria University in Wellington and an Ambassador for the Wellington Women’s Homeless Trust.
A strong advocate of diversity, KP is a member of Global Women New Zealand and was one of the founding members of Global Women’s ‘Champions for Change’, a group of senior executives and directors who commit to diversity in the workplace. KP was the founder and is Executive Sponsor for Chapter Zero New Zealand – the New Zealand Chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative - hosted by the IoD NZ to mobilise, connect, educate and equip directors and boards to make climate-smart governance decisions, thereby creating long term value for both shareholders and stakeholders.
Amy McNicol
National Sponsorship and Events Manager
+64 27 207 2592
Amy.McNicol@iod.org.nz
