KiwiRail directors Rob Jager and Bruce Wattie will complete their service on October 31, with two new directors appointed from November 1, Rail Minister Winston Peters says.
Cabinet approved the appointment of chartered accountants Murray Harrington and Alastair Bell as new KiwiRail directors.
Harrington is a former PwC partner who chairs Corde and Methven Adventures, serves as an independent member of the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission’s Risk and Assurance Committee, and is a director of Airtech NZ, Genesis Capital and IHC New Zealand.
Bell is principal at Alastair Bell & Associates at The Ruskin Group, holds board roles at NZ Post and NZX-listed Vector, and is an elected Entrust trustee who chairs committees focused on regulators, policy and dividends.
Peters says they each bring “strong public sector financial acumen, experience in infrastructure and network management, optimising balance sheets, and competence in core audit functions”.
“KiwiRail must deliver the goods, so it is pleasing the former acting chair Jager and chair of the risk, audit and assurance committee Wattie finished by signing off on the year-end operating surplus which exceeded their $110 million target,” Peters says.
“Earlier this year, we appointed Sue Tindal as chair along with two new directors and strengthened our expectations of KiwiRail to reduce costs and lift earnings, volumes, reliability and safety.
“When the taxpayer builds an asset like railways, we expect it to be made use of and not left to waste on the side of the road and that is why we are driving strong focus on turning KiwiRail into the successful business New Zealanders expect it to be,” Peters says.
