The Chair of Christchurch City Holdings Limited (CCHL), Jeremy Smith, is pleased to announce that CCHL have completed a round of director appointments to its subsidiary companies. The Council have approved the CCHL recommendations to fill vacancies arising at upcoming Annual General Meetings. These appointments are to the boards of Orion, Red Bus, Enable, City Care and Christchurch Airport (CIAL).

Jason McDonald has been appointed to the board of Orion. Jason is a consultant, a Director of Mevo and an advisory board member of Lightning Lab Electric. He has over 25 years’ experience in the energy sector largely at Meridian Energy Ltd in a variety of senior roles covering strategy, technology innovation, new ventures, sales and marketing. He has held governance roles at Powershop, Arc Innovations and Whisper Tech, and was a member of the NZ Smart Grid Forum. He will replace Bob Simpson who is retiring from the board.

Ella Farrell has been appointed to the board of Red Bus. Ella is a consultant who has worked on several projects developing collaboration strategies. She consulted to the SCIRT programme, and has held senior management roles with McConnell Dowell and PWC. She has served in governance roles in non-profit entities. Ella will replace Mr Tim Keenan who is retiring from the board.

Kathy Meads has been appointed to the board of Enable and will replace Mr Tim Lusk who is retiring from the board. Kathy has extensive commercial and financial experience including senior finance roles with Telecom/ConnecTel, Ngai Tahu Holdings and Lyttelton Port Company. She has governance experience from several board appointments. Kathy is currently an independent consultant working with clients to bring a strong strategic risk focus.

Graham Darlow has been appointed to the board of City Care. Graham will replace Hugh Martyn who is retiring from the board after serving as a Director and Chairman for several years. Gary Leech, Chair Elect, will fill the role as Chair of City Care as from the AGM. Graham Darlow brings specialist industry skills and networks from extensive experience with Fletcher Building Ltd. He has recently retired from his role as Chief Executive - Construction. Graham has worked in Christchurch over the last seven years overseeing much of the rebuild. He was a founding board member of the Stronger Canterbury Infrastructure Repair Team (SCIRT) and is Chair of the Canterbury Safety Charter. He will fill what is considered to be a specialist industry sector appointment on the City Care board.

Kate Morrison has been appointed to the board of CIAL filling a vacancy on this board with the pending retirement of Mr David Mackenzie who has served for nine years filling the role as Chair as from 2009 after serving one year as Chair Elect. Catherine Drayton, Chair Elect, will succeed David Mackenzie as Chair and is very supportive of this appointment. Kate is currently an Intern Director on the CIAL board as part of the CCHL Intern programme and her experience and skills have proved that she can add value immediately to this board, especially in the audit and risk field. Kate brings banking and financial experience having worked in senior roles in Deutsche Bank in London for 20 years. She is currently an owner/director of a business consultancy advising small to medium enterprises on succession planning, strategy and governance.

Mr Smith said that he is confident these appointments will bring to the boards the management and governance experience needed adding to a good mix of skills. He complemented the directors retiring stating that all had given excellent service and made a valuable contribution to the group of companies under the CCHL parent company.

-Ends-

For further comment contact:

Paul Munro, CEO
CEO Christchurch City Holdings Limited (03) 941 8411

Christchurch City Holdings Limited is the 100% owned infrastructure investment arm of Christchurch City Council. It is the majority shareholder of Orion Group, Christchurch International Airport Limited, Lyttelton Port Company Limited, Enable Services Limited, Red Bus Limited, City Care Limited, Eco Central Limited and Development Christchurch Limited.