Fund management sector specialist Rebecca Thomas is to replace Sir Henry van der Heyden as an independent director on the board of Tainui Group Holdings, Waikato-Tainui's commercial investment arm.
Sir Henry, a former chairman of Fonterra, retires next month after nine years on the TGH board, where he was chairman.
Like Thomas, he was appointed to the TGH board by Waikato-Tainui.
Thomas, who has a law degree, has 35 years experience in the funds management sector in New Zealand and overseas, including 15 years as founder and chief executive of Mint Asset Management and previous senior roles for ING (NZ) and Johnson Fry, a London-based funds management firm.
She has governance experience on the boards of the Financial Markets Authority and KiwiRail.