Hon Steven Joyce

Minister of Finance

Hon Simon Bridges

Minister of Transport

7 July 2017

City Rail Link Limited Board appointed

Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Transport Minister Simon Bridges, in conjunction with Auckland Council, today announced appointments to the Board of City Rail Link Limited, the new company jointly owned by the Crown and Auckland Council with responsibility for delivering Auckland’s City Rail Link project.

Sir Brian Roche was appointed as Chair at the establishment of the company. The Board members are Russell Black, Brian Harrison, Karen Jordan and Anne Urlwin.

“I welcome the valuable knowledge and experience that these people will bring into their new roles,” Mr Joyce says. “Under the leadership of Sir Brian Roche as Chair, CRLL will drive delivery of this complex project.”

“The appointees bring considerable experience in major project management, procurement in rail projects and other large infrastructure projects, and expertise in finance, accounting and audit and risk,” Mr Bridges says. “I’m confident they are the right group to oversee this hugely important transport project.”

Biographies:

Russell Black is a consultant who is a Civil Engineer by training, and has significant experience in senior management of large transport infrastructure companies and project managing large infrastructure projects, such as the London Underground’s Jubilee Line extension. He was Project Director for the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTR) in Hong Kong and consulted to Metro Trains, Melbourne and Sydney Metro. He was previously a member of EQC, and he has been a director of Northpower Ltd since 2011.

Brian Harrison is a lawyer who specialises in infrastructure funding, procurement, PPPs and contracts. Some of the projects that he has been involved in include: acting for project finance lenders to the Arlanda express rail link, Stockholm; negotiation and delivery of the private finance portion of the funding for the construction of the Jubilee Line, London; adviser to the Strategic Rail Authority (UK) on the capitalisation and debt structuring of rail infrastructure assets.

Karen Jordan immigrated to New Zealand in late 2015 from the UK where her last role was with the Ministry of Defence as Director Contract Management, where she was responsible for improving capability across a multi-billion pound procurement and investment programme. Prior to that, she spent the majority of her career in British Gas or National Grid Plc.

Anne Urlwin is a Wanaka-based professional director, chartered accountant and business consultant with a wide range of directorship experience. Ms Urlwin is currently the Chair of Naylor Love Enterprises (to step down in October), a director of Chorus, Southern Response Earthquake Services, OnePath Life, Steel & Tube Holdings and Summerset Group Holdings. She has experience of both central and local government and has served on numerous Crown boards and two local government CCOs.

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