Changes at the top table at Port of Tauranga

Changes at the top table of NZX-listed Port of Tauranga today. Photo / Supplied

The board of listed Port of Tauranga rings in the changes today, with long-serving chair David Pilkington stepping down and a new director appointed.

Departing Swire Shipping country manager Brodie Stevens is to join the top table at New Zealand's biggest port, while Pilkington retires today after 17 years as a director, nine as chair.

Pilkington will be succeeded as chair by Julia Hoare.

She joined the board of the country's main export port in 2015 and chairs the audit committee.

Pilkington said Brodie Stevens' extensive shipping and logistics sector experience would be a valuable asset for the NZX-listed port company.

Trained as a lawyer, Stevens joined Freightways Group as a management trainee in 1982 and spent 10 years with the company before joining the Owens Group. He was divisional general manager of Seatrans New Zealand and Owens Shipping Services during his 12 years at Owens.

He joined China Navigation Company (trading as Swire Shipping) in 2004. During his time there, the company expanded into freight forwarding, shipping agency and stevedoring.

"The maritime sector is in my blood, with a family business history in stevedoring and shipping. I have had a long association with Port of Tauranga through my previous roles and I'm looking forward to being on board for the next stage of the port's growth," he said.

Incoming chair Hoare has a range of commercial, financial, tax, regulatory and sustainability experience through governance roles and over two decades as a partner with PwC.

She is deputy chair of a2 Milk and a director of Auckland International Airport and Meridian Energy. She is president of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Chapter Zero New Zealand steering committee.

Port of Tauranga shares rose 6c in morning NZX trading to $6.96.