Focus on the road ahead - Article

Having lived in several different places throughout his childhood and young adult life, Peter Tinholt CMInstD has now settled in Tauranga with his wife and two children. A two-time New Zealand age-group long distance triathlon team member, Peter is passionate about contributing to the local community through governance and is a member on three community boards — the Acorn Foundation, Priority One and Tauranga Arts Festival Trust. He sits on three corporate boards and is the chief operating officer of private equity fund Oriens Capital. We spoke with Peter about his views on governance, his passions and what he enjoys most about being a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.

Tell us a little bit more about yourself

I live in Tauranga where I have settled with my wife and two children. My son is in his second year at Victoria University and my daughter will also head to Victoria next year. I very much now regard Tauranga as home after having moved around a lot as a child and young adult. Having been born in Tanzania to Dutch parents, also having lived in the Netherlands and Indonesia as a child before moving to New Zealand as a 13 year old, I have had a real desire to anchor and become part of the community. My career has taken many twists and turns, all providing a huge breadth of experience which is super-useful as an executive in my current day job as COO of Oriens Capital. I have worked in the pharmaceutical, fast-moving consumer goods, and food industries in a variety of roles from sales and marketing to CEO/Managing Director roles. I have worked for multinational corporates, privately-owned and private equity-owned businesses, which has been a wonderful experience. I am highly competitive and have enjoyed playing several sports at representative level as well as having competed at Ironman races and having been selected for the New Zealand age group long distance triathlon team twice.

Tell us about the boards where you are involved in and what you like most about their work

I sit on three corporate boards: Bluelab Holdings, About Health Supplements and Rhino Manufacturing as well as three community entities: the Acorn Foundation, Priority One and Tauranga Arts Festival Trust. The commercial roles are all as investor-director via the Oriens Capital Investment Fund which we established in 2016. Having been part of establishing boards in these companies has been an interesting journey so far as it takes a lot of work to establish governance systems and processes. Bluelab’s board is the most established and I feel we have come a long way. Most of the board meetings are now spent on strategy and the future. Community boards for me tend to be very much about things I am passionate about. For me economic development, the community in which we live, the arts and philanthropy are all super important in the development of strong societies. I love playing a small part in these areas. Having seen the Acorn Foundation grow from an idea to the largest community foundation in New Zealand, distributing over $1m to worthy causes this year has been wonderful.

What skills do you think are important for directors to have given the changing context of governance?

The key is a willingness and focus to keep learning and to stay on top of all change and disruption. This requires ongoing learning, through reading, attending conferences — you name it. You have to stay on top of what the future may look like and be able to think about how this may impact the organisation. Getting outside experts to come and present on relevant matters to the board is also a great way to stay on top of change. Someone once said to me that the role of a director is to act as the spotlights on a car driving an unknown road. You should not be in the car holding the steering wheel, you should be helping to illuminate and navigate the path ahead. Equally you should not spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror. Focus on the road ahead. A great lesson!

What do you think is the biggest challenge for directors?

I feel one of the biggest challenges is the required focus on compliance versus the need to spend significant time on strategy and the future. I have seen a number of boards not spend enough time on strategy and the future. The setting of the board meeting agenda needs to be done effectively with focussed time allocation for each item, so the focus remains on the strategic matters facing the business or organisation. Equally directors need to keep asking themselves the question: Am I adding value here? Too many people want to become directors at the end of their careers, so to have something to do and transition into “retirement”. I think that is dangerous and we need to have people who can genuinely contribute and are fully engaged. Governance experience helps, but passion and focus is also critical. Having a good mix of thought and experience is essential.

What are you passionate about outside your governance work?

I am passionate about Tauranga and how it needs to develop to become a genuinely world-class city. Arts, culture, a sense of community, appropriate future-focussed investment in infrastructure ahead of the curve are all issues I care about. Outside of work, I play tennis and golf. I love skiing and on most weekends I walk up the Mount with my wife. I lead a fairly busy life with a considerable amount of travel, so quieter weekends at home and some exercise are great.

What do you enjoy most about being a Chartered Member of IoD?

In Tauranga the Chartered Members meet up regularly which is great. Sharing of stories and experiences is a great way to learn. It is great to see the wider membership grow which is a positive sign that people are increasingly taking governance more seriously and they are focussed on continuing education on governance matters. All three of us execs at Oriens Capital are members of the IoD and we are all committed to the Chartered pathway and completing ongoing IoD courses.

What do you do to keep on top of your game?

Reading, attending courses and presentations and maintaining a work-life balance is key. Having a mentor or people to talk to and learn from has also proved to be very beneficial.

Why do you think governance training is important?

We have to stay on top of things. Courses and presentations focus you for a few hours or days on learning and development. This is not only about governance, it is about other matters of interest as well. You need to stay current to be able to add value.

What particular IoD courses did you find really helpful? Why?

I have completed both the Company Directors Course and Chairing the Board courses. The Company Director Course was great, particularly around the team exercises. Great learning. Equally I recommend people to go on out-of-town residential courses as it is in part about the people you meet and the additional conversations you have which prove very useful.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a director?

A mentor friend advised me to always read the board pack from cover to cover first, so to get a feel for the issues and comments made as well as the numbers. Then go back and spend more time on each section, making notes and writing down