Whanganui District Council announces new board for holding company

Annette Main is the new chair of Whanganui District Council Holdings Ltd.

The new board of Whanganui District Council Holdings Ltd brings together some previous directors with a couple of new faces.

Annette Main, former Whanganui mayor and a previous director of Holdings, has been elected chairwoman of the board, and former chairman Matthew Doyle is now her deputy.

They are joined by Peter Hazledine, who has also previously served on the board, and new directors David Rae and Simon Karipa.

The board was restructured in 2017 after the Whanganui District Council adopted a new governance manual for council-controlled organisations.

Candidates were shortlisted in an independent recruitment process and interviewed by a panel of councillors. The five directors were appointed at a council meeting on February 27.

"I'm very confident that we have appointed an excellent board and that the diversity of skills, business nous and governance experience of its directors will be invaluable to this council and to our community," Mayor Hamish McDouall said.

Main has been on the Holdings Board for the past seven years and has been chairwoman of the Whanganui Ports Board and interim chair of Holdings since July 2017.

Her skills include communication and marketing, extensive community knowledge and leadership skills and experience.

Doyle is a former chair of Holdings, the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy and GasNet and has served on the Holdings Board since 2005.

He is a chartered accountant and owner/director of Doyle & Associates – The Accountants Limited in Whanganui and is a professional director on a number of companies.

Hazledine has served on the Holdings board since 2014 and on the GasNet board since 2008. He has extensive experience in the petroleum and gas sectors.

Rae, who lives in Auckland, is a company director and consultant who was head of investment analysis at the $35 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund from 2010 to 2016.

He has extensive governance and investment experience and has previously worked at the OECD, National Bank of New Zealand and Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Karipa, who was born in Whanganui, is a lawyer with significant investment and governance experience. He is general counsel to Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd, chairman of Whanganui Iwi Fisheries Ltd and a Minister-appointed member of the Charities Registration Board.

Holdings is a council-controlled organisation that has been operating since 2002. The board's role is to manage and oversee the council's commercial assets, including GasNet, the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy, the airport and marine port. It provides advice to the council on new investment opportunities and the strategic management of assets.