DCHL Names New Directors

Dunedin (Thursday, 31 October 2013) – Dunedin City Holdings Limited (DCHL) has announced the appointment of two new directors to the parent company board and another two to its subsidiary company boards.

More than 50 applications were received for the DCHL Board. The two successful candidates are Linda Robertson, Group Manager Treasury and Procurement at Meridian Energy and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at Statistics New Zealand, and Brian Wood, the former Managing Director of MWH in the Asia Pacific region. Brian was involved in the restructuring of the Council’s trading companies that formed the DCHL group in 1993.

The successful candidates for the subsidiary company boards are Geoff Thomas, a current director of Dunedin International Airport Ltd, who has been appointed as Chair of the Taieri Gorge Railway; and Trevor Kempton, Dunedin businessman and Otago Regional Councillor, who has been appointed to both the Aurora and Delta Boards.

DCHL Chair Graham Crombie says the new directors bring strengths that will add valuable skill sets to the boards they have been appointed to.

“We needed people that could make informed business decisions, but at the same time complement the skill set of the directors already around the Board table. Following on from last year’s result we needed people comfortable working in a highly visible public arena to help us build on the excellent work done by the previous directors and maintain the forward momentum.”

Mr Crombie also paid tribute to the Board members who have stepped down. Several directors who have given significant service to the group have announced their resignations.

Ray Polson has stepped down from Aurora Energy Ltd after 19 years. Under his Chairmanship Aurora purchased the Central Otago electricity network which forms a major part of Aurora’s business. Mr Polson became the Chair of Dunedin Electricity Ltd (later Aurora) in 1994. During that time Aurora, and its sister company Delta, contributed $219m in dividends to the parent company. Mr Polson was also a member of the establishment boards that formed the Dunedin City companies and became chairman of the Waipori Power Generation Limited from 1994 through to 1998 when it was sold.

Ross Liddell has been the Chair of City Forests since 2000. Under his leadership the company bought Opio Forest Farms, which is getting favourable export prices now. He has been on the Board of Dunedin City Treasury since the company started in 1993 and has been its Chair since 2000. He has chaired the Waipori Fund over most of the period of its existence and contributed to the Fund growing from $56m to $76m. He was a member of the DCHL board from 1999 through to 2011 and was a member of the Aurora and Delta Boards from 1998 through to 2011. For more than 20 years he has been a strong contributor to the DCHL group.

John Farry has been the Chairman of Taieri Gorge Railway Ltd since its inception. He was instrumental in the initial public fundraising that allowed the railway to get off the ground. He has watched over the growth of the company from its beginning through to where it is
now. Taieri Gorge carries more than 80,000 people a year and is a key attraction for cruise ship visitors in Dunedin.

Mike Coburn has been a director of DCHL, Delta and Aurora from 2003 to 2011. He has been a director of City Forests from 2001 until now.

DCHL is currently in a process to appoint two further directors to City Forests.

ENDS

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