Let's start with that surname of his, it's Dutch; his parents were among those from war-torn Holland who made New Zealand their home in the early 1950s.
Francis was born a New Zealander, his upbringing that of any Kiwi kid of the era. His first job was driving trucks for Freightways-twice reaching the giddy heights of being placed among the top three in Driver Of The Year competitions. Truck driving was a handy skill to have on his OE.
In Britain, he answered an ad for "heavy haulage truck specialist work" but only had an AA
International Driver's Licence.
"I was told no one got the right one first go. I said 'you don't know Kiwis'. After a bit of backing through cones the tester got out of the cab and left me to it before calling me over to the smoko hut, he wanted to take my picture, saying I was an all-time champion
by passing at the first attempt."
At the time Francis was living in a haunted cottage in Suffolk, "all creaking stairs, moans and groans in the middle of the night", with Britain's smallest pub, the
Nutshell, his "local" . . . "11 people in it and it was over full".
We've jumped ahead here- before his British truck driving stint there was that biking tour
through Europe; his companion the woman who was to become his wife. They're no longer together but bonded as they rode their 10-speeds across the Continent, over the Pyrenees into Barcelona, having an adventure a day.
"We woke up in Brindisi to find we'd pitched our tent in the middle
of a foggy night on a roundabout, the guys in the bottling factory across the road were laughing their heads off."
Those were the days where it was "the thing" to get as many passport stamps as possible.
For Francis and his companion this didn't always happen.
"Quite often we'd get to a border post where guards with machine guns would be so busy drinking they'd wave us through; it had customs very bewildered when we left the country with unstamped passports."
The couple returned to marry in Christchurch.
"We rode our bikes from Auckland, it was the summer holidays, we'd camp in school
grounds, swim in their pools." Back in the "real world", Francis grew tomatoes in glasshouses, staying put 18 years.
"One day I was standing in the [Christchurch] Square and thought 'I should really start to use my brain'."
He enrolled at Lincoln University, graduating with an MBA and becoming business manager with Ag Research, before moving to the harness manufacturing firm that led to him cutting deals with royalty.
"The Duke of Edinburgh used our product in his competitive carriage driving, during a Royal Tour in the '90s he came out to the factory; we had Secret Service guys crawling all over us for a couple of weeks beforehand.
"It wasn't the biggest, flashest place in the world, there was a foundry opposite, a cemetery out the back, a bikie gang and sewage ponds down the road, it goes to show to be successful you don't need flash premises, just the world's best product."
Moving on from the harness factory Francis became general manager of the country's biggest souvenir retailing business. He came to know Rotorua well, ". . . always a great place to do business".
Jobs at the Blenheim District Council and Environment Canterbury followed but Rotorua remained in the frame as a place to settle, not merely pass through.
"When I saw the Grow Rotorua CEO's job on offer it was as though I'd written the ad myself, the job description was perfect for me, my love is developing business and I
could see that this would be a challenge."
Francis joined "the firm" in 2012.
One of the first challenges thrown up was confronting "coalitions of people who didn't want competition, that attitude's held Rotorua back in the past but now people realise the world's changed, the whole demographic of travel's changed; we're at a stage where people fly from the UK for a weekend wedding".
The prospect of Rotorua's future returning to the past as it again becomes an internationally recognised spa city, excites him. He's been a member of delegations representing the city at global spa summits; it was at one in Delhi where he received his Dalai Lama blessing.
"You believe it's going to be this spiritual thing but it wasn't like that, more like 'we are all human beings going about life's existence'."
He works closely with the wood processing and tourism sectors.
"The real magic of my job's linking with iwi . . . wait and see this place in 10 years' time."
It will take a lot to budge Francis from being one of our people.
"Rotorua's beautiful, compact, there's this edgy, knowing you're alive feeling about it. It's my happy place, I wouldn't go back to Christchurch for quids."
