C-Suite Power List
On board with the balance of power
These are the movers, shakers, innovators and investors who will be instrumental in driving New Zealand's wealth and prosperity over the coming year.
Who are the biggest movers, shakers, innovators and investors in New Zealand business? Read on for The Post’s inaugural C-Suite Power List.
“Generally, I’m more interested in what’s in front of me than what’s behind,” says the man who has built up Rocket Lab since 2006, and who, in June 2022, launched a miniaturised satellite to the Moon – in support of a Nasa programme aimed at putting the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon. As chief executive, Beck gets involved in the detail of Rocket Lab, saying it would be impossible to be hands off. “I really enjoy the engineering side of it and ... the business side of it. I just love challenges and solving problems.”
Dan Boulton, chief executive, Silver Fern Farms
While Boulton took up his role as chief executive at Silver Fern Farms in February, he joined the business in 2017, and went on to be chief supply chain officer. His experience is in commercial, procurement, supply chain and leadership. He was previously at Sealord for seven years, at the Wilcox Group of companies and at Carter Holt Harvey Forests. Virtually on arrival in the top job, he encountered a $24.4 million loss in the 2023 fiscal year. “Our strategy is the right one ... and I think our current strategy will help us get out of this current, these current headwinds, faster than if we didn’t invest at the same time,” he told Dominic George of Rex Podcast last month.
Jason Boyes, chief executive, Infratil
The people who build New Zealand often get a bad rap and consequently keep a low profile. But nevertheless, the nation’s big property developers decide where huge amounts of capital are deployed to build new developments, towns and public amenities. It’s a business that is risky and very prone to the vicissitudes of the economy. With a market cap nudging $9 billion and the role of managing Infratil’s growth strategy, such as its European expansion, he has considerable influence.
Don Braid, managing director, Mainfreight
The business of transport is a serious one. And there is no player more serious about it than the Mainfreight managing director. The trucking company, which is listed on the NZX, has a market capitalisation of more than $7b and it now operates in more than 70 countries. Braid has expressed frustration in the past at moves away from transport solutions involving roads but the new Government is far more receptive.
Cheyne Chalmers, chief executive, Ryman Healthcare
Ryman Healthcare New Zealand is one of the largest retirement living and aged care providers, with Chalmers the ultimate protector of more than 12,000 residents. Her passion for healthcare was born out of her
paternal grandmother developing Alzheimer’s. She worked in mental health then in nursing, moving into Ryman management just before Covid struck in 2020. “We managed to keep our residents safe for over two years,” she says.
Barbara Chapman, professional board director
Chapman sits on some of New Zealand’s biggest and most powerful boards. She is chairperson of Genesis Energy and NZME and sits on the board of Fletcher Building. Before taking those roles she was chief executive at ASB Bank. She is also deputy chairperson of the CEO-membership thinktank the New Zealand Initiative, widely considered to be where Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Government got a lot of its ideas in opposition.
Evan Davies, chief executive, Todd Group
Davies joined Todd as managing director of property in 2008 and was appointed chief executive of Todd Capital in 2022. Then he became group chief executive in 2023. He chairs the executive steering group overseeing the Dunedin Hospital project, using his background in city planning (a degree from Auckland University) and property development. From 1996 until 2007, he was managing director of SkyCity Entertainment Group Ltd, winning Deloitte/ Management Magazine CEO of the Year in 2001.
Mary Devine, chief executive, Foodstuffs South Island
Devine took over as chief executive in 2021, after a long career in retail. She’s been chief of EziBuy, managing director of Ballantynes & Co department store and managing director of clothing chain Hallenstein Glassons. In 2013, the South Islander was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to business.
Coming to run the national airline from Walmart was never going to be easy. Throw in a little virus and having to lay off most staff and it’s tougher. But Foran – a man with a formidable work ethic – also took on a political job as the government is the main shareholder in Air New Zealand. But four years after Air NZ had to take a massive loan from the government – convertible to equity in the event of default – the debt is paid down and Air New Zealand is spoiling for a fight with Auckland Airport over its newly planned expansion. After years in Alabama with Walmart, Foran’s New Zealand accent has even returned.
Mike Fuge, cief executive, Contact Energy
Fuge has been Contact Energy chief executive for more than four years, after stints at the head of Refining NZ and Pacific Hydro. An old boy of King’s College in Auckland, he joined Contact about a month before the Covid-19 pandemic hit New Zealand. He has had to deal with Tiwai announcing its intention to leave New Zealand. One of his goals is a more inclusive and diverse work culture. He has headed a zero-emissions plan at Contact, which already scores highly in sustainability.
Graeme Hart, owner, Rank Group Ltd
No business power list would be complete without Hart, New Zealand’s richest man and a self-made billionaire. Owner of Rank Group Ltd, which listed Pactiv Evergreen (formerly Reynolds Group) on Nasdaq in September 2020. Hart has primarily made his fortune from leveraged buyouts of packaging and paper companies. A big donor to the conservative side of politics, he donated to both the National and ACT parties before the 2023 election and was a donor to Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s campaign.
Jolie Hodson, chief executive, Spark
The Spark chief executive is known as a highly competent and a serious player if you want someone to make a contribution. In the CEO job since 2019, Hodson has had a significant career within the company. She is also a global leader and champion for change at Global Women, who named her Aotearoa’s chief executive. She is also theconvener of the climate leaders’ coalition, a group for businesses keen on climate action that accounts for a third of the New Zealand’s gross domestic product.
Kirk Hope, chief executive, Business New Zealand
Hope has been boss of New Zealand’s business peak body since 2016. In that time he has sat on the Tax Working Group and the Fair Pay Agreements’ Working Group. Although now Auckland-based. he is an assiduous Wellington networker, connecting people and advocating promarket, business-friendly policies for New Zealand. Hope was reluctantly part of Fair Pay Agreements bargaining before Business NZ pulled the pin on having a formal role in industrial bargaining. He has the most political business job in the country.
Dan Huggins, chief executive, BNZ
Huggins has been BNZ chief executive since 2021, being promoted from the executive in 2020. He returned to New Zealand in 2020 after 13 years overseas, spending much of that time with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Well regarded in the industry and with staff alike, Huggins previously worked for both McKinsey & Co and Fonterra.
Carrie Hurihanganui, chief executive, Auckland Airport
Leading a crucial piece of New Zealand infrastructure is a position of undoubted industry power. Everyone who has worked with her has good things to say about Hurihanganui, who has the dubious pleasure of leading a business that has basically all of its major parameters regulated by the government. Previously, she was chief operating officer at Air New Zealand under Foran. Originally from Rockford, Illinois, she began as a flight attendant with Air New Zealand. She now leads a company that delivered $440m in revenue over the past six months.
Miles Hurrell, chief executive, Fonterra
More than perhaps any other, one company is synonymous with New Zealand Inc, and that is Fonterra. It is the co-op – now with an updated capital structure – that, via special legislation, turned New Zealand into the Saudi Arabia of milk. It has been led by Hurrell since 2018. He has returned it to profitability, sold or got out of its overseas ventures, sorted out its capital structure and brought it back to basics. Running a co-op means, as Hurrell has himself said, that boardroom decisions directly determine farmer incomes.
Sir Peter Jackson, owner, Wingnut Films
There are few figures who have built up an industry more than the former photo engraver for The Evening Post. Jackson is a director of worldwide note who has built a global film empire out of Wellington. His mark on the capital is indelible, both through the growth of the film industry and more recently his interest in the land at Shelly Bay.
Chris Joblin, chief executive, Tainui Group Holdings
Joblin heads Tainui Group Holdings, the investment arm of the Waikato-Tainui iwi. The Maori economy continues to be an engine for economic growth, particularly in the regions. Joblin prides himself on running a whānau-friendly environment. Meanwhile the Ruakura Superhub, a key investment for the tribe, includes an inland port, logistics hub and industrial zone. The iwi is also very close with the University of Waikato. Joblin previously worked in London and for meat processor Affco.
Catherine McGrath, chief executuve, Westpac
Having spent a career in banking, McGrath has helmed New Zealand’s second-largest bank since 2021, a job which she returned to New Zealand to take up. She has spent a career in banking. leading transformation in some of the world’s biggest banks, including Barclays Group and Lloyds TSB in the United Kingdom.
Todd Moyle, chief executuve, Ngāi Tahu Holdings
The major iwi in the South Island and with assets valued at $1.78b in the last annual report, Ngāi Tahu is a big player. Its corporate arm, Ngāi Tahu Holdings, has a varied portfolio across transport, farming, insurance, aquaculture, tourism as well as investments in listed companies and private equity funds. After a period as interim chief executuve, he was appointed Manahautu Te Whano/chief executive officer, in March.
Adrian Orr, governor, Reserve Bank of New Zealand
Orr has been governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since March 2018. An ebullient and sometimes prickly boss, he is responsible, along with the bank’s monetary policy committee, for setting the country’s interest rates. In addition to setting monetary policy, Orr oversees a “full service” central bank, which is also the banking and prudential regulator. He has overseen growth at the bank, a modernisation of its structure and renewed focus on long-term issues such as climate change and boosting bank diversity.
Mark Peterson, chief executive, NZX
The NZX has drawn some criticism in recent years, including for a lack of new securities being listed on the small exchange and volumes of shares traded falling to a nine-year low, but it is still New Zealand’s bourse and a structurally crucial business in the New Zealand economy. It operates New Zealand’s equity, funds, derivatives, energy and carbon markets. Peterson has been chief executive of the exchange since 2017, two years after joining the company. He has a career in financial services and previously worked at ANZ Securities, NZ First Capital and the National Bank of New Zealand.
Scott Pritchard, chief executive, Precinct Properties
Pritchard is another deployer of development capital in New Zealand. Precinct recently completed a big new development, Bowen Campus, at the back of Parliament, which houses major consultancies and ministries. One Queen Street and Wynyard Quarter are other big projects. Pritchard has been in charge of Precinct for nearly a decade, having previously worked at Goodman Property and Auckland Airport. He began his professional life as a teacher.
Chris Quin, chief executive, Foodstuffs NI
If the merger of Foodstuffs NI and Foodstuffs SI gets the Commerce Commission’s go-ahead, Quin will become group chief executive. He argues that a centralised system would make it easier for new suppliers to get products into Foodstuffs supermarkets, ultimately bringing down the cost of groceries. Foodstuffs operates 525 supermarkets across its Pak’nSave, New World and Four Square businesses.
Julia Raue, professional board director
Raue is one of the ranks of New Zealand’s board director class. She holds directorships at The Warehouse Group, Z Energy Ltd, Jade Software Corporation and Southern Cross Healthcare. She was previously chief information officer at Air New Zealand and is a trustee of Southern Cross Health Trust and Global Women New Zealand.
Hinerangi Raumati-Tu’ua, professional board director
Raumati-Tu’ua is newly appointed to the board of The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation – which manages the NZ Super Fund. She also sits on the board of Genesis Energy and is chairperson of Tainui Group Holdings – the first woman to hold the position. She has also sat on the Reserve Bank board. Her executive career included executive roles at both Tainui Group Holdings and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. She is well regarded for her commercial experience and extensive iwi/Māori networks.
Mark Ryland, chief executive, Milford Asset Management
The boss of Milford Asset Management heads an investment company with A$16b of funds under management. Ryland joined the active funds manager in May 2014 as head of risk of compliance, after gigs at Brook Asset Management and as chief operating officer of Macquarie Private
Wealth. He became chief executive in 2019.
Scott Scoullar, chief executive, Summerset Group Holdings Ltd
Scoullar has since 2021 headed the country’s second-largest retirement village operator, after being chief financial officer for seven years. A lover of Ford Mustangs and a car collector, he is descended from Scottish migrant Arthur Scoullar, mayor of Dunedin in 1888, who was the founder of furniture maker Scoullar & Chisholm. Before Summerset, Scoullar held chief financial officer roles at Housing New Zealand and Inland Revenue.
Vittoria Shortt, chief executive, ASB
Shortt has been ASB Bank’s chief executive and managing director since February 2018. She began her career in New Zealand in mergers and acquisitions at Deloitte and worked for Carter Holt Harvey. Much of her banking career was at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ASB’s parent company and Australia’s largest bank, She is chairperson of the New Zealand Banking Association and a member of Chief Executive Women Australia and Global Women New Zealand.
Spencer Sonn, chief executive, Woolworths New Zealand
In charge of one of the major supermarket giants, Sonn keeps a relatively low profile. South African by birth, he began his career in supermarkets in South Africa, rising to become managing director of Woolworths South Africa. He joined Woolworths New Zealand in 2021. Thanks to the last couple of years’ inflation, both regulators and the public have been keeping a far closer eye on the big two supermarkets and they are out of favour with the current Government.
Sir Peter Talley (KNZM), managing director, Talley's Group
Nelson-based Sir Peter Ivan Talijancich, better known as Peter Talley, has long been a driving force in agribusiness. Made an ONZM for services to fishing, exports and the community, he was knighted in 2015 for services to business and philanthropy. Talley’s employs workers across its seafood and vegetable processing, deep sea fishing, meatworks, and icecream, at times falling foul of health and safety regulations. NBR put the Talleys at 7th on its 2021 Rich List.
Jo Townsend, chief executive, The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation
Townsend helps manage the government investment fund with more than $72b in assets under management. It is a significant job in New Zealand’s funds management ecosystem. She began work last month after leading the South Australia equivalent, Funds SA, which had A$40b under management. She also hailed from a career in Australia’s big super sector, having previously worked at Rest Super, Value Capital Management and Rothschild Australia.
Blair Turnbull, chief executive, Tower Insurance
In a country which is facing the risks of climate change in the form of floods, and which constantly faces the risks of earthquakes, and an international reinsurance markets which has reassessed New Zealand’s risk profile over the past decade or so, insurers are a central cog in the economy. Turnbull has had a career in New Zealand, Asia-Pacific and the United Kingdom. Before joining Tower, he worked at Aviva Group and before that at ASB Bank.
Cam Wallace, chief executive, Qantas International and Freight
Wallace, the former Air New Zealand and MediaWorks chief executive, is currently the head of international and freight at Qantas. Based in Sydney, Wallace remains one of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s closest confidants. Untainted by the Alan Joyce scandal that saw both the Qantas chief executive and chairperson resign, Wallace continues to be a significant executive across the other side of the Tasman.
Dame Therese Walsh, professional board director
With a blue-chip set of New Zealand board appointments, Walsh is still a doer. She chairs Air New Zealand, ASB Bank and The Chapter Zero NZ steering group and is a director of Antarctica New Zealand. Based in Wellington, if Walsh is involved, others want to be. Before becoming a professional board chairperson, she was chief operating officer of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and New Zealand boss of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Liked across the board politically, she’s worked with governments of both stripes.
Antonia Watson, chief executive, ANZ
Leading a bank that has about 30% market share for deposits and only a slightly smaller proportion of the nation’s loan book, Watson combines leadership with no-nonsense smarts and is not afraid to tell politicians home truths when required – such as when she told Jacinda Ardern and ministers in Sydney in 2022 that the borders needed opening. She was appointed by board chairperson John Key after predecessor David Hisco hastily left the company.
Grant Webster, managing director, Tourism Holdings Ltd
Webster was voted Deloitte Top 200 Chief Executive of the Year in 2023 after guiding Tourism Holdings Ltd through the torrid Covid era, to emerge with a stronger company. The judges described him as a “transformative leader … Grant Webster has demonstrated exceptional resilience and strategic prowess, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic”. Webster was appointed managing director in December 2022. He has served on industry and government bodies, and the board of Les Mills Holdings NZ.
Craig West, New Zealand country lead, Downer
The new Government is keen on infrastructure, not just getting roads built but a lot of new kit up and down the motu. It has been elected not just for its commitment, but for getting things built. Downer, one of New Zealand’s biggest civil engineering firms, will be right in the thick of it. West is New Zealand’s country lead for the firm. He began his career at Downer and has worked his way up. In addition to being country lead, he is also now executive general manager for transport and infrastructure for Downer in New Zealand. West (Ngāti Apakura) is also chairperson of the Downer NZ Māori Development Advisory Board, Te Korowai.
Matt Whineray, chairperson, FirstCape
The former boss of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Whineray retired as chief executive late last year. He has just landed a new role as chairperson of the mega wealth advice and asset management FirstCape Group. FirstCape is the amalgamation of Jarden Securities, National Australia Bank and Pacific Equity Partners. It will have $44b of funds under management or administration or advice.
Amanda Whiting, chief executive, IAG New Zealand
Whiting is chief executive of the largest general insurer in New Zealand, IAG New Zealand. IAG, which stands for the Insurance Australia Group, holds a stonking 45% market share in the general New Zealand insurance market, managing 3.8 billion policies of 1.5 million Kiwis through its various brands, which include AMI, State, NZI, NAC, Lumley and Lantern, as well as providing general insurance products sold by ASB, BNZ, Westpac and Co-operative Bank. Before holding a number of roles at IAG, she worked in Australia for telecommunications company iiNet.