Ecoya Adds International Skill Set To Board

Ecoya Adds International Skill Set To Board

Ecoya Limited is adding further international skills to its board of directors.

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe and Australia-based fashion designer Collette Dinnigan have accepted invitations to join the board of the body, bath and home fragrance provider.

Ecoya executive chairman Geoff Ross says both Mr Fyfe and Ms Dinnigan bring valuable new skill sets to Ecoya.

Collette Dinnigan trained in New Zealand and has spent her professional life building an international fashion label of the same name from Australia. Among a plethora of awards, Ms Dinnigan has been honoured with a Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World Award and the Australian National Retailers Association’s Award for Fashion Excellence.

“Collette brings aesthetic and design skills to the board, both of which are vital in the home fragrance and body and bath categories. She has very successfully built an international brand based on design over the last 20 years,” Mr Ross says.

“She also knows retail with her own branded stores world-wide and she is partnered with many of the great retail chains globally including Barney’s New York, Neiman Marcus and Harvey Nichols. Her proven skill set on the international stage is a perfect fit with our plans for Ecoya.

“Collette is an Australian Icon and is a much quoted success story in a new era of Australian business.”

Rob Fyfe has been CEO of Air New Zealand for nearly five years during a period especially challenging to the airline industry, Mr Ross says.

“Despite this, Air New Zealand has performed well above the category to recently be named the Air Transport World Airline of the Year 2010 and it has gained Enviro-Gold accreditation, the highest rating under the Qualmark Green responsible tourism criteria. Also Conde Nast magazine rated Air New Zealand ‘Green company of the year’.”

Mr Ross says Mr Fyfe is a New Zealand CEO he has a huge amount of respect for.

“To get such a leap in service and company culture, with such a large organization in such a short period of time is the mark of a very talented leader.

“I like his very approachable, roll up your sleeves style. He makes the calls and leads on the complex and sensitive issues, whilst creating a real sense of identity and fun within the Air New Zealand culture. He is also a great marketer and knows international marketing well. He recognizes the coming ‘green boom’ and how business can benefit from this,” Mr Ross says.
Prior to joining Air New Zealand, Mr Fyfe held a range of senior management positions both within New Zealand and overseas, including roles with the National Australia Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Telecom NZ and ITV Group in the UK.
Ms Dinnigan and Mr Fyfe joined the Ecoya board on March 1 this year. The company’s other independent director Rich Frank was appointed in December 2009.

Mr Frank resides in Los Angeles and was previously president of Walt Disney Television and Paramount Television Group. He has a life time Emmy and is on the board of California home ware chain, Napa Style.

The executive directors of Ecoya are chairman Geoff Ross, CEO Craig Schweighoffer, CFO Stephen Sinclair and Grant Baker. Ross, Sinclair and Baker were directors of 42 Below, whilst Schweighoffer was formerly head of 42 Below Australia.

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