The Lines Company appoints new Chief Executive

News Release

Wednesday 10th April, 2013

The Lines Company appoints new Chief Executive

The Lines Company Chairman, Malcolm Don, today announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Mr Brent Norriss as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Norriss has been acting CEO for the past two months following the retirement of the company’s former Chief Executive, John Anderson, who had led the company for the last 27 years.

Mr Don said the board had followed a rigorous executive recruitment process to fill the top position.

“The appointment of a Chief Executive is one of the most important roles for a board of directors and we carried out that responsibility most assiduously,” he said. “In the final analysis Mr Norriss proved to be the preferred candidate.”

Mr Norriss has been Engineering Manager of The Lines Company since 2002 during which time he has been responsible for all asset and engineering management for the company.

Mr Don said the board was delighted with the appointment of Mr Norriss.

“He is well known to the board and his leadership skills are highly valued by us all,” Mr Don said. “We also recognise his formidable knowledge of the company’s operations and his impeccable integrity in the way he works with all our stakeholders.”

Mr Norriss takes up the position immediately.

Originally from Canterbury Mr Norriss holds a first class honours degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Canterbury University and is a Chartered Professional Engineer.

He began his career with the North Canterbury Electric Power Board as an apprentice electrician where he progressed to trade and senior technical roles.

In the mid 1980’s he took time off work to complete his engineering degree then returned to the Power Board where he held senior engineering roles.

Mr Norriss joined MainPower Contracting in 1992 as Contracting Manager. During his time with MainPower the company grew considerably and expanded its activities into transmission live line work, meter testing and installation and helicopter live line work.

In 2002 Mr Norris joined The Lines Company as Engineering Manager responsible for the management of the company’s assets – a position he has held until now. Since 2009 Mr Norriss has also deputised for the Chief Executive during his absence.

Mr Norriss is a firm advocate of demand-based charging as a method of managing network costs and for giving customers options to manage their charges.

He says he has a “long list of priorities” in his new role which will involve a lot of hard work by all those in the company.

“First of all I need to fill my former position and make sure the company is properly resourced and led so that our people are not working in stressful conditions,” he says.

From a customer’s point of view one of his principal priorities is to move ahead quickly with the installation of new time of use meters so the company’s customers can see how engineering requirements and their supply charges are intimately related.

“I think this is one of the areas where we can develop innovative solutions for customers together with the efficient management of our network assets.”

Mr Norris says that continuous innovation and problem-solving are the challenges that get him out of bed in the morning.

He tells of how, two years ago, he met the management of the Miraka milk powder processing facility near Taupo who told him they planned to be processing milk within six months.

“Can you get the power on by then?” they asked him.

“Now that was a serious challenge which I’m pleased to say we delivered on. That’s the approach I will take.”

Ends

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