Wendie Harvey steps up as the new chair.
Hawke’s Bay Airport shareholders – Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and the Crown – have appointed a new chair and two board members.
Wendie Harvey, a board member for four years, steps up as the new chair, replacing retiring long-standing chair Tony Porter. The councils have jointly appointed Jon Nichols as their representative and the Crown has appointed Sarah Reo.
Harvey has extensive governance and corporate experience, including Napier Port, Centralines, Aurora Energy, Electrical Training Company Ltd, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Harvey also serves as a Commissioner on the New Zealand Gambling Commission.
The trio join Sarah Park as a board member, whose position has been extended for a further year to ensure board continuity. Reo, a local business owner and Fulbright scholar replaces Taine Randell and Nichols, a chartered accountant and experienced board director, replaces Porter on the board.
Harvey said despite the recent turbulent times at the airport, such as the receivership of the airport’s terminal expansion construction contractor Arrow International; the withdrawal of air services by Jet Star, and the drop in passenger numbers due to Covid 19, she was confident in the future long-term prospects of the airport.
She said the airport company had a high-calibre chief executive in Stuart Ainslie, with strong aviation and commercial experience, and had identified non-aviation commercial opportunities.
“I’m confident ... we are heading in the right direction. There have been some set backs [and] ... we have had to reset our targets, especially in passenger numbers but we are progressing well with other commercial opportunities such as a solar energy park as well as commercial property development prospects.”
Harvey said management, board, and its shareholders were looking forward to the opening of the expanded airport terminal, set to open in February 2021.
She paid tribute to the outstanding service and huge contributions by Porter and Randell. Porter was been instrumental in ensuring the expansion project had progressed, including quickly establishing a subsidiary company of the airport to continue with the construction project in 2018.
Nichols has extensive governance experience, with previous board appointments including Napier Port. He is a director of Eastland Group Ltd and its subsidiaries, a board member of Palmerston North Airport Ltd, chair of electricity lines company Centralines, and is the independent chair of the Hastings District Council’s audit and assurance subcommittee. Nichols is also the independent chair of the audit and risk committee of Maungaharuru Tangitu Trust.
Reo (Ngāti Kahungungu and Ngāi Tahu) of Hastings, founded award-winning Māori language and culture business CultureFlow and CultureFlow China, which concentrates on teaching English.
Reo, alumni of VUW ( LLB/BA) also holds an MBA from University of Hawaii, having graduated as a Fulbright Scholar in 2017. She has been involved in a number of community projects and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. Her skills in Māori business, law, and administration will add value to the board.
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