Medicine, sport, business - it's all on the CV

David Kirk, chief executive officer and managing director of Fairfax Media. Photo / Bloomberg

David Kirk joined Fairfax after an impressive career which began with a medical degree at Otago University.

After 18 months working in an Auckland hospital, he decided he wanted a change and spent a year as a business analyst with Fletcher Challenge.

In 1987 he captained the All Blacks in their first - and so far only - win in the Rugby World Cup.

He quit rugby to take up a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, studying philosophy, politics and economics. But it was a former top international rugby referee, Norman Sanson, who gave him his next break. Sanson was a senior partner at management consultancy McKinsey & Co in London, and offered Kirk a job there, which he accepted. He returned to New Zealand in 1992 to work for then Prime Minister Jim Bolger, first as an executive assistant and later as chief policy adviser.

Three years later he returned to Fletcher Challenge as a general manager in its energy division. From there he moved to director of marketing and supply for its paper division and ended up heading its Australasian paper business. When Norske Skog took over the company in 2000, Kirk became regional president.

In 2003 he moved on to ailing printing and media services company PMP, and in 2005 he was named both CEO of the Year and Leader of the Year at the inaugural Australian Human Capital Awards, beating senior executives from Nine Network, Macquarie and AMP.

He was headhunted by Fairfax Media shortly afterwards. The company had already begun to diversify under its previous head, Fred Hilmer. But seeing the writing on the screen for newspapers, Kirk went on a major spending spree in the hope of building a stronger and bigger company.

When he joined Fairfax in October 2005, its share price was around A$4. He initially managed to lift it, but as the company began to suffer from declining advertising revenue and mounting debt, its stock - like many others hard hit by the global financial crisis - went into freefall. On December 5, 2008, with its share price getting close to A$1, the company announced his immediate resignation. It has since bounced back to about A$1.65.

While Kirk's CV is extraordinary, he has not had a wholly charmed existence. In 1991 he missed selection as National's candidate to replace Sir Robert Muldoon in the Tamaki electorate. In 1995 he was involved in a failed Wellington bakery venture, and a stint as Wellington rugby coach lasted only two years.