Rob Fyfe
He first boarded Air New Zealand as chief information officer; this month Fyfe flew into the top role at this country’s national airline ahead of high quality overseas candidates.
Could be good sign for company that faces increasing competition on the home patch from big offshore airlines and Fyfe certainly believes Air NZ has the resilience, vision and people power to earn success in challenging environment.
He also feels privileged to be stepping into the shoes of Ralph Norris to pilot such an “iconic company” through its next phase of development.
Fyfe’s background includes senior positions at Telecom, National Australia Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Postbank, and he spent time in the UK as managing director and chief operating officer with ITV Digital. The 44-year-old joined Air New Zealand as CIO in 2003 and led the “business transformation team”. He then moved on to become group general manager, airlines and was widely tipped as replacement for Norris.
Chairman John Palmer described his appointment as great testament to the company’s leadership development and succession planning.
Graham Hodges
Hodges succeeds Sir John Anderson as chief executive of ANZ National Bank. Hodges’ appointment takes effect from 1 January 2006, upon Sir John’s retirement. He is currently ANZ Group managing director corporate and member with Sir John of the ANZ Management board.
Luigi Sorbello
Sorbello, telecommunications veteran of 25 years, has been appointed as chief operating officer of TelstraClear. In his previous role with the company as chief of service operations he led the overview, monitoring and improvement of service quality throughout TelstraClear.
Maggie Robertson
Robertson has been appointed to the new position of chief of corporate services for TelstraClear based in Wellington. Her past experience includes time in the UK with Xerox, and consultancy work with KPMG, PriceWaterhouse, Carter Holt Harvey and Wrightson. Over the past year she has consulted to three organisations including TelstraClear.
Mike Askew
Askew has been appointed chief executive of Sytec, the company purchased by TelstraClear late last year. Previously head of TelstraClear’s ICT business group, which is being merged into Sytec, his experience also includes time as GM of global outsourcing at Unisys New Zealand. Askew takes over from Sytec’s acting chief executive Janine Doherty, who is leaving to pursue personal interests.
Marc Lieberman
Lieberman, currently head of strategic distribution with ING Life in Minneapolis, takes over as managing director of ING early next year. He succeeds Paul Fyfe who is retiring after 10 years as managing director of ING and career spanning four decades in the financial services sector.
Philip O’Neil
O’Neil is the new general manager for New Zealand for Whybin TBWA. He has spent the past six years with M&C Saatchi, most recently as managing director.
Philip Eustace, Howard Spencer
Hyundai Automotive New Zealand has announced changes to its senior management team. Eustace, formerly general manager, is now managing director and Spencer, formerly sales and marketing manager, is the new general manager operations.
Paul Rogers
Rogers, managing director of Spire Consulting, is the new chairman of The Property Institute of New Zealand’s special interest group following previous chair John Church’s move to Sydney.
Robert Nash
Motorcorp Holdings has appointed Nash as general manager Renault New Zealand. He first joined the Giltrap/Fairhall Group in 1995 as general manager of Motorcorp Holdings and has spent the past three years at Volvo Cars NZ.
David Shanks
Shanks has been appointed as the chief legal adviser at the State Services Commission (SSC). Previously the corporate legal adviser for the Department of Inland Revenue, he has extensive experience in both the New Zealand and UK public sector legal environments.
Kerry Finnigan
Strategic Finance has appointed Finnigan as its next chief executive. He takes over from Jock Hobbs who has led the company since 2001 and will remain as an executive director. Finnigan joins from Hanover Group where he was CEO.
Paul Loof
Loof has been appointed as director, human resources and business services for Beca with responsibility for 70 staff within the Beca group. He has been managing director for Watson Wyatt NZ for the past five years and is founder director and shareholder of Green Hanson Loof and Beattie.
Trevor Smith
The ICE Angels, an angel investor network founded in 2003 by the Icehouse, has appointed Smith as chairman of its board. Since returning to New Zealand after career of more than 30 years in the tobacco industry, Smith has been involved in strategic planning for number of Auckland businesses. He is also chair of Future Products Group.
Holly Kramer
Kramer, Telstra’s managing director of products – wireless and mobility, has been appointed to TelstraClear’s board. She replaces Ted Pretty. Kramer joined Telstra in 2000 as chief of marketing for Telstra Retail. Prior to that she was with eCorp as GM marketing and communications and Ford Australia as GM marketing.
