BNZ reshuffles management to sharpen up

Bank of New Zealand has had a major reshuffle at the top, to try and sharpen up the company’s capacity.

The bank announced five leadership changes this morning, which are effective immediately.

Chief executive Anthony Healy said the changes were made to help BNZ focus on a few key initiatives, execute them well, and combine areas of activity where it makes sense to do so.

“The changes will ensure we are best positioned to thrive in an environment characterised by rapid and complex technological, competitive and regulatory change.”

Craig Herbison, currently chief marketing officer, has been appointed director of retail and marketing, which merges BNZ’s retail and marketing operations. Mr Herbison has been at BNZ for three years.

In turn, BNZ’s acting director of retail, David Bullock, has been appointed director of products and technology, leading BNZ’s digital products and enterprise security teams. Before joining BNZ in 2005, Mr Bullock worked for New Zealand Post, Thomson Reuters and Yahoo!.

Martin Gaskell, who joined the bank in 2007 and is currently chief operating officer of BNZ Partners, will become director of customer fulfilment services, focusing on retaining customers and making bank processes simple for them.

The current head of BNZ’s NextGen multi-million dollar transformation programme, Richard Griffiths, replaces Michelle van Gaalen as director of strategy and business performance.

Ms van Gaalen is leaving BNZ as she has been appointed chief executive of life insurer Pinnacle Life, as of November 5. 

Peter Whitelaw has been appointed chief risk officer, replacing Renee Roberts, who joined BNZ’s parent bank National Australia Bank (NAB) in August. Mr Whitlaw, who started his career in the 1980s as an associate in the bullion department at Credit Suisse in London, has come from NAB, where his most recent role was general manager of group market risk.

Just three of the BNZ executive team retained their roles – partners’ director Shelley Ruha, people and communications director Annie Brown, and chief financial officer Adrienne Duarte.