Independent Directors 

Rt Hon James B Bolger, ONZ, Chair

The Right Hon. James Bolger led the National Party for almost 12 years, was a Minister for 16 years, and was Prime Minister of New Zealand from October 1990 to December 1997. In 1997, he was appointed a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), New Zealand’s highest honour. Mr Bolger was New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States (1998-2002) and, since 2002, he has been Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the World Agricultural Forum, St Louis, USA.

Today Mr Bolger is the Chancellor of the University of Waikato, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ian Axford Fellowships in Public Policy, Chairman of Trustees Executors Limited, and Chairman of Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Ltd. He is also a Trustee of the Rutherford Trust and President of the NZ/US Council. In May 2007, he became the Founder Patron of NZ United World College Trust and, in August 2009, became Patron of the New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Robin G Hill, Deputy Chair 

Robin has an extensive background in financial and business management. He was Chair and Chief Executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand from 1992 to 2003. He was also a member of the firm's Global Board from 1992 to 1995 and the Executive Advisory Group from 1999 to 2000.

Robin has provided a wide range of advisory services to a number of large corporations, including several energy companies. 
 

Andrew Brown

Andrew is recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading corporate lawyers. He has particular expertise and experience in advising energy sector companies.

He worked at Bell Gully since graduating in 1985 —- in both its Auckland and Wellington Offices. In 1987 and 1988 Andrew worked in Canada with Toronto law firm, Goodman Phillips & Vineburg. He became a senior Corporate/Commercial Partner of Bell Gully in 1992. He retired from the partnership in December 2009. Andrew continues as a consultant at Bell Gully and has recently worked in the commercial team at Crown Fibre Holdings Limited on the deployment and operation of the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) initiative.

Keith Davis

Keith has extensive experience in the information technology, telecommunications and venture funding industries, including 12 years as Chief Executive/Managing Director of large corporations, such as BellSouth New Zealand Limited and Compaq Computers New Zealand Limited.

Keith was previously Chair of the Electricity Industry Retailers Forum and a Director of Prime Television Limited.

Industry- associated Directors 

 Dennis Barnes

Dennis Barnes is Chief Executive Officer of Contact Energy.  His role followed 13 years in Australia with Origin Energy, including in a range of gas-related roles and serving on the boards of two Australian gas regulators.  Prior to that, Mr Barnes worked in various international energy markets, including managerial roles with Scottish and English electricity companies.

Albert Brantley

Albert is the Chief Executive of Genesis Power Limited. He is also the Chair of the Genesis Oncology Trust as well as Chair of Energy Online.

His background has largely been in heavy industry, including oil and gas infrastructure development as well as the mining and power sectors. He has had more than 35 years’ experience both in New Zealand and internationally in technical, operational and senior management positions, concentrated particularly in the power industry over the past decade. He has had considerable experience leading businesses requiring political, regulatory and environmental management, both in New Zealand and overseas.

Ron M. Kelly

 Ron is the Upstream International Commercial Lead for Shell Exploration NZ Limited. As well as a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Oxford University, he has gained a broad range of experience over more than 15 years throughout the natural gas value chain, from the upstream commercial environment including LNG, via multifaceted regulatory regimes, to midstream/downstream gas sales, marketing and trading. He has been involved in developing and executing Shell’s commercial strategy for its share in several upstream gas-condensate assets (Maui, Pohokura, and Kapuni).