Our Board 

Paul is a business advisor and company director. He has had a successful professional career as a senior Financial Services and Tax Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and was a member of the Government’s Savings Working Group. He has also worked in the OECD in Paris, and served for a number of years in a senior policy role in the public sector. Paul has a degree in economics from Victoria University.

Rachel Taulelei is the founder of Yellow Brick Road, a company demonstrably invested in New Zealand’s food culture. A born and bred Wellingtonian, Rachel established Yellow Brick Road following eight years in the US with NZTE as Trade Commissioner and North American Regional Manager, Food and Beverages. She is co-founder of the City Market, chairs the Wellington on a Plate Advisory Board, and is an Associate Director of Wakatu Incorporation. In 2009, following in the footsteps of Chef Peter Gordon, Rachel was bestowed with the New Zealand Restaurant Association’s Innovator Award. In 2010 she was a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards, and the winner of Emerging Gold, Wellington Gold Awards.

Di is Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand, a national academy for science, technology and the humanities. Prior to that Di was a Professor, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equal Opportunities) and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Auckland. She has had a long career as an academic and has extensive experience in governance and management in the tertiary sector. Di has held several directorships including: AgResearch, Deafness Research Foundation, Brain Research Centre Advisory Board, and is currently part of the Steering Group for NZ Women in Leadership Programme. Di was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 for her services to Education.

Anders Crofoot lives and farms at Castlepoint Station, a large sheep and beef property on the Wairarapa coast with his wife Emily and two children, David and Sarah. He is currently on the National Board of Federated Farmers and was the Wairarapa Provincial President for the previous four years. Anders is also President of the New Zealand Grassland Association. Prior to emigrating to NZ from the US in 1998, he worked in the hospitality and construction industries, before setting up a computer consulting practice and later working as a quantitative analyst for a financial services company.

Anders has a double degree in Computer Science and Psychology from Dartmouth in the US.

Peter is General Manager of Scheme Performance and CFO at ACC.
Peter has had a diverse career; he was a partner with Ernst & Young for 10 years, held senior executive positions with Transpower for 12 years as CFO and later GM Network, and was Chief Executive at BRANZ Ltd between 2004 and 2007.

Peter has had considerable experience in; corporate governance, organisational dynamics and design, strategic and operational planning methodologies including the use of scenario planning techniques , the development and implementation of asset management strategies, financial planning and analysis, and the negotiation of complex commercial arrangements.

Peter has a degree in Economics, a Post Graduate Diploma of Accounting and is a member of the Institute of Directors

Karen has been the Chief Executive of the Wellington Zoo Trust since 2006 and was previously a director of Discovery and Learning at Zoos Victoria in Australia. Karen has been awarded: Wellingtonian of the Year 2010 Award in the Environment category; HER Business National Award winner 2010 in Business Leadership; and HER Business Wellington Award winner 2009 in the Business Leadership and Sustainability category.

Karen is currently the President of the Australasian Zoo and Aquarium Association.

Barry is a professional director and agribusiness consultant with extensive experience in agribusiness both in New Zealand and internationally. His experience includes leadership of New Zealand’s largest nationwide agribusiness, PGG Wrightson with turnover of $1.2 billion and 3000 staff.

He led the mergers of Wrightson with Williams and Kettle and Pyne Gould Guinness in the period 2004 to 2006.

He was responsible for the establishment of New Zealand’s largest primary sector business investments in South America, mainly in Uruguay but also in Argentina and Brazil. These included the launch of New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay and its listing on the NZX50; and acquisition of a number of businesses in the seed, livestock, real estate, rural supplies and irrigation sectors.

Barry is Chairman of Synlait Ltd, a Canterbury dairy farming company, and Trustee of Agmardt and the Mary Potter Forever Foundation. He is qualified in agricultural commerce and economics and has been a long-time resident of Wellington.

Richard graduated from Victoria University and has spent the last 27 years in Wellington in a range of leadership roles within the human resource consulting industry, currently as Executive Chairman of Jackson Stone and Partners and formerly a founder and Director of Powerhouse People Ltd and Momentum Consulting Group.

Richard is on the Board of Workbridge and the Employers Chamber of Commerce Central, a former President of the Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce and a former Chair of Unicef NZ. He loves this city, but recognises it faces some significant challenges and wants to see it continue to prosper. To this end Richard has played an advisory role to a number of organisations which share this goal and will continue to invest his time and energy in working towards this.