Road freight body National Road Carriers Association (NRC) has appointed Justin Tighe-Umbers as its new chief executive.
He takes up the role on August 15 and brings a range of regulatory and government policy experience including his most recent position as Board of Airline Representatives NZ executive director.
The NRC board partnered with executive search experts Hobson Leavy on the appointment. It undertook a robust process to identify a new chief executive who could bring the right mix of commercial leadership, regulatory capability, and stakeholder engagement expertise to the role, the board says.
“Following an extensive search with Hobson Leavy, Justin was selected to lead NRC. His ability to meet both the membership and commercial strategic imperatives really stood out,” board chair John Baillie says.
“Recently, we have made significant changes to both the strategy and the structure of the organisation and finding the right CEO to take NRC forward is critical to delivering on this strategy for our members. We believe Justin has a great mix of expertise to meet this challenge.”
Baillie says the new NRC strategy has sharpened the focus on working with members.
This includes understanding their real-life issues, concerns, and frustrations and continuing to expand NRC’s role in Wellington around policy and regulation, engaging actively in the legislation submission process.
“Justin’s recent experience in the airline industry and telecommunications means he has been working in highly regulated environments undergoing significant change, not unlike the challenges facing the transport industry,” Baillie adds.
“Justin’s recent role as executive director at the Board of Airlines Representatives NZ (BARNZ), combined with experience at Chorus NZ, means he brings a range of strong skills including regulatory and government policy, change management, and business transformation to the CEO position.”
Tighe-Umbers says much like the road freight sector, the airline industry connects New Zealand with the world.
Both industries are subject to intense government and public scrutiny and need a strong voice to navigate the steady stream of policy changes coming down the pipeline, he says.
At the same time, NRC needs to ensure the industry’s requirements for investment in infrastructure, people, and future innovation to tackle climate change are heard.
“I am excited to be taking on the role of CEO for NRC at a time when awareness of the criticality of freight and supply chains, especially land transport, has never been higher.
“My focus will be on leveraging this awareness to ensure that it translates into policies that successfully set road transport and logistics operators up to thrive.
“The NRC team is well positioned to do this – and is highly regarded by members and key industry stakeholders and because the organisation is member-driven NRC has a unique ability to share the real impact of infrastructure decisions with officials and ministers. Through strong collaboration we are well positioned to positively influence change for the future,” Tighe-Umbers says.
“In my role at the BARNZ, I worked to build consensus across the highly competitive commercial aviation industry. Our aim was to drive policy to successfully keep our air-freight links open while our borders were closed.
“Like aviation, the transport industry sometimes has competing collective and individual needs, stakeholders’ commercial drivers may vary, but I think collectively we can all agree on one thing – we want to have an efficient, cost-effective, low emissions, sustainable supply chain so that New Zealanders can access the products they need when they need them.
“NRC’s role is to work across the industry to affect positive change – I am really looking forward to joining this team of passionate individuals to make this happen,” he adds.
