Business governance was an abiding passion
DOUG Matheson committed a considerable amount of his long life to leadership — in both theory and practice.
A leading authority on the governance of companies and other organisations, and the author of two authoritative books on the subject, Mr Matheson was born on May 27, 1931 in Dunedin to a family with strong Scottish connections and grew up on a Taieri Plain farm. He died in Masterton on April 17.
Always interested in how things worked, he was an avid Popular Mechanics reader and built his first crystalset radio when he was 7. He was dux of his primary school, at Outram, in 1944.
After his secondary education at King Edward Technical College, he joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Service as an engineering cadet. Over the next few years, he recorded studio programmes, rugby matches, town hall dances and church services.
In 1954, Mr Matheson joined Westrex New Zealand, a local subsidiary of American company Western Electric. He was responsible for the electrical, mechanical and optical equipment in about 25 Dunedin city and suburban cinemas.
Three years later, he married Colleen Jewiss. After the birth of their first child Gaye, Mr Matheson began looking for opportunities in the burgeoning electronics industry.
A son, Robert, was born while the Matheson family lived in Tawa.
In 1960, he joined IBM, which had recently opened an office in
Wellington, as an engineering manager.
This was the beginning of a 31year career with IBM. In 1984, with his second wife Marion, Mr Matheson moved to Tokyo to work at IBM’s AsiaPacific headquarters. His job involved regular trips around Asia and to the United States.
When the Mathesons returned to Wellington in 1986, he was appointed IBM’s director of staff services and, three years later, to the IBM NZ board.
During this period, he developed a strong interest in quality management principles and was appointed to the National Council of the New Zealand Institute of Management.
He retired from IBM in December 1990 but continued on the board and took on other governance roles.
In 1991, the Mathesons moved to a small farm on West Bush Rd, Masterton, where Marion developed a boutique Texel sheep stud. During the same period, Mr Matheson was, for some months, acting chief executive of the Wellington City Council, implementing wideranging reforms, and was appointed chairman of the Wairarapa Electric Power Company.
In 1992, he was appointed chairman of the Wellington health advisory committee. The same year, he became chairman of the new Wairarapa Crown Health Enterprise and later chairman of the Wairarapa District Health Board while the new hospital was built.
In 2003, with his extensive international and local experience in ‘‘good governance’’, Mr Matheson began researching a pioneering book on the subject.
The Complete Guide to Good Governance in Organizations and Companies, a massive book, was published in 2004, and working with him, discussing, editing, and reshaping chapters, was a stimulating experience.
There was absolutely no ego involved when a confusingly stated premise was challenged, the tone of his mellifluous voice never faltering.
The book, and a successor, became compulsory reading for MBA courses, and Mr Matheson lectured widely on governance in New Zealand and internationally over the next few years.
After a period back in Otago, the Mathesons returned to Masterton in 2013 and settled in the Lansdowne Park retirement village.
Marion died in June 2017, and Doug Matheson MNZM died in April 2022, in his 91st year. — Ian F Grant, Wairarapa TimesAge