Manawatū man's wealth of experience in the boardroom

Manawatū man Carl Bates has always been ahead of his time as a director.

Bates has been serving on boards of directors for 20 years, showing his ability to turn around troubled businesses and even at 39, he is young for the amount of experience he has on boards.

He was awarded a Chartered Fellowship of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand at the Manawatū Golf Club last week, one of the youngest New Zealanders to receive the recognition. About 20 people are given this appointment each year.

“I’m one of the youngest members. To have someone at my age, with my boardroom experience, is reasonably uncommon, particularly given my very first appointment was the month I turned 18".

“At 39 now, I was 38 when I was officially given the award, is 20 years’ of governance experience.”

To be eligible directors must have at least 10 years’ consecutive experience as a director in two or more organisations of substance and be a role model.

Bates, who is also a chartered accountant, took up his first directorship at 18 on the board of the Brightwater Centre in Palmerston North, now part of Enliven group.

He said at that point he had been involved in model UN, property and community organisations, and was lucky to be given a range of opportunities.

When he was 22 he was appointed as acting chief executive of a national health organisation for 12 months.

He has also served as a UCOL council member, a director of CET Arena, a director of Quality Health New Zealand and then internationally for businesses in animal health, meat processing, food packaging and retail.

Bates became sought after for his ability to guide boards, see potential and maximise value.

Director training and mentorship played a big part in his journey. He was sponsored to go on the Institute of Directors course by one of his first boards, and mentored by the chairpersons.

But he said being a young director was not without its challenges.

“I remember an occasion when another director walked out of the room after the chairman was giving me a 21st birthday present, because that director thought I had no place in the boardroom,” he said.

Those early opportunities helped transform him into a formidable and well-respected board director and chairman.

“Having the opportunity to serve as a director at such a young age set me on the directorship journey. For anyone wishing to contribute to organisational success via the boardroom, that is often the hardest step.

“This is why programmes and opportunities that support director development early in people’s careers are critical.”

Bates is the founding partner of Sirdar, an international business focused on guiding, appointing and educating high-performance boards.

He also helped create the personal profiling tool Contribution Compass used widely around the world.

Originally from Whanganui, he studied at Massey University and is now living back in Manawatū.

He lived in South Africa for 10 years, working across the African continent and the Middle East, but returned home after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

In 2020 he helped start “The Lockdown Collection”, which raised $400,000 in donations to the South African arts community and President’s Solidarity Fund in response to Covid-19. 

Republished with permission from Stuff: Manawatū man's wealth of experience in the boardroom