The Auckland Council has appointed Mark Darrow as acting chair of Auckland Transport from November 1, 2023.
He will be the acting chair until the council selects a permanent chair to lead the Auckland Transport Board.
Darrow will replace Wayne Donnelly who has been the acting chair since October 8, 2022, and Donnelly has been asked to remain on the board as deputy chair until March 2024, continuing to provide his transport expertise to the board.
“We are very grateful to Wayne for stepping up to the chair role over the past year,” says mayor Wayne Brown.
“It has been a year where Auckland Transport has started to show improvements as they work to implement the direction given to them by the mayor and councillors.
“At the best of times chairing the Auckland Transport board is a challenging job and Wayne has stepped up to this admirably for the last year,” Brown says.
“In Mark Darrow, we have a highly skilled director with real-world experience in the transport sector and I have great confidence in him to professionally deliver on what Aucklanders need.”
Expressions of interest for the Auckland Transport chair role may be submitted to Auckland Council via the council’s careers website.
Darrow was appointed to the AT board in 2021, supporting Donnelly as acting deputy chair and as finance and audit committee chair.
He lives in Auckland and is an experienced independent board chair and director with extensive knowledge across many sectors.
Darrow is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, and a fellow of Charted Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Currently chair of TSB Bank, Armstrong’s, Invivo & Co, MTF Finance, and Riverton Farm, Darrow also chairs Inland Revenue’s risk and assurance committee.
Previous board roles have included Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Counties Manukau District Health Board, The Lines Company, Leighs Construction, Primary ITO, Sime Darby NZ, Charlies Group, Trustees Executors, MTA and VTNZ and he was seconded to the Eke Panuku audit and risk committee during 2020-2021.
