Canterbury V5 Project Announces Top Judging LineUp

Media Release for immediate use: Tuesday 15 September 2009

Canterbury V5 Project Announces Top Judging Line-Up
The recently launched Canterbury V5 business initiative has just announced its judging panels.

The aim of Canterbury V5 is to identify up to five projects of regional and national significance that each have the potential to generate $100million of revenue for the Canterbury region within five years and $1billion or more within 20 years. The project is supported by the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (Employers’ Chamber), the University of Canterbury and the Canterbury Development Corporation.

Canterbury V5 Project Manager Leeann Watson says she’s thrilled to be able to announce such a strong line-up of judges for the project.

“The first stage of judging will select up to 20 projects that fit a set of published criteria. This panel will consist of Employers’ Chamber Chief Executive Peter Townsend, Canterbury University Vice Chancellor Dr Rod Carr, and Managing Director of the Carter Group of companies, Philip Carter.”

She says the second stage of judging will follow, when the top 20 or so applicants will be required to complete a storyboard and provide a business case to a panel of assessors. This panel of judges will then select the top five projects. Leeann Watson says this panel contains some of the best business heads in the country.

“We are very lucky to have secured the services of Ruth Richardson, John Judge and Dr Keith Turner for this very important task. They are highly regarded in the business world and we are confident they will select the best five Canterbury V5 projects,” she says.

Originally an initiative that came out of the Christchurch Employment Summit, the Canterbury V5 project is aimed at showing the extent of business opportunities in Canterbury and to attract potential investors and developers to achieve the greatest possible economic impact for the region.

Leeann Watson says the five winning projects will receive assistance they have indicated they need to facilitate and progress the project.

“They will have access to a network of free professional expertise and support to complement the project team. Canterbury V5 will help give these five projects the support and infrastructure to speed up their development and get them off the ground,” she says.

Details of the competition including timetable, assessment criteria, application form and other details can be found at www.canterburyv5.org.nz.

Background information on judges:

Peter Townsend has been the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce since 1996. He holds a number of corporate directorships and is involved with a range of community groups and initiatives in the Canterbury region. He is the Honorary Consul for Chile for the South Island, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Management.

Dr Rod Carr was appointed Vice Chancellor at the University of Canterbury in February this year. Previously he was the Managing Director of Jade Software Corporation Ltd. Prior to this Dr Carr had a distinguished career in the banking sector. He is involved in several private and public companies as a Director and is the Vice-President of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce.

Philip Carter is one of New Zealand’s more successful businessmen and has made significant contributions to local government and the arts. Philip currently holds directorships with Christchurch International Airport Limited and the Carter Group of Companies and has held directorships with a number of other well-known companies. He has been heavily involved in local government and has been a Christchurch City Councillor. Philip has a large community involvement, especially in the arts field. He is a Member of the Institute of Professional Engineers, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Management.

Ruth Richardson was the National Party’s Minister of Finance from 1990-1993 and Selwyn’s MP from 1981 – 1994. After her political career she established her own strategic and economic policy advice consultancy, helping many countries undertake reform initiatives. Ruth Richardson has considerable involvement in the local business community, currently as Chairman of Jade Software Corporation, Syft Technologies Limited and as a Director of Synlait Limited. She is a director of a NASDAQ listed company and Chairman of a development oriented private equity firm in the Pacific.

John Judge was the Chief Executive of Ernst & Young New Zealand until 2007. He is a company director for Fletcher Building Ltd, ANZ National Bank Ltd, chairman of Accident Compensation Corporation and holds directorships for a number of private companies. John Judge is chairman of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Board and chairman of the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.

Dr Keith Turner has 39 years of experience in the New Zealand electricity industry, the last 25 of which have been spent in senior executive positions. He has been heavily involved in reform of the industry, both in industry review teams and acting for the Government on a range of industry Boards to establish Transpower, Contact Energy and Meridian Energy. After nine years as at the helm of Meridian, he made the decision to step down to pursue broader challenges. Keith now holds a number of Chairmanships, specialising in growing small enterprises into large ones. He is also a Director for a number of companies.

Full bios of the judges are available at www.canterburyv5.org.nz.

ENDS

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