Mr McRae joined Hulton Patchell six years ago, after a career that has included chief executive roles and several years of strategic management consulting, mostly in the health sector.
He was born and brought up in the small Southland town of Winton, near Invercargill, on a family farm, and attended Central Southland College, where he preferred sport to studying.
After getting a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago University, he and his wife Tess - who he met at university - moved to her home town of Rotorua and he got his first "real" job as an accountant with Lockwood Homes.
But after 18 months the couple had itchy feet and set off for two years' OE, based in the UK. When they returned, he found work at Rotorua Hospital in the early 1990s, when it was being restructured into a crown health enterprise. He started off with a temp job as a materials manager sorting out IT systems, then moved into accounting, before taking on a role as a management strategist, eventually spending almost four years at the hospital.
"I felt I needed a change," he said. That came in the shape of a two-year MBA at the University of Waikato, which he completed while lecturing at Wairiki in its tourism degree programme.
"I was the youngest in my MBA class by a long shot, but it was really good to be an adult student," he said.
When he finished the postgraduate degree he was approached by Rotorua General Practice Group, which had just been set up to bring all the doctors in the area under one umbrella.
He then got head-hunted for the same role with Pinnacle, a much larger group, with some 300 doctors and an equivalent number of practice nurses.
"I really enjoyed the job," he said. "It was the third largest organisation of its type in New Zealand and had lots of challenges, because it was metamorphosing from an independent practitioner organisation into a Primary Health Organisation [PHO]."
However, the new job was based in Hamilton, which meant daily commutes and long days, sometimes starting at 5am and finishing at 11pm.
"After a couple of years, I felt I was beginning to lose contact with my family," he said. "There needs to be a balance in life."
He resigned and set up a consulting practice, building on his expertise in the health sector. His work focused on strategic planning projects for district health boards and PHOs around the country, including the amalgamation of the Hutt Valley's five PHOs into one.
Then, in 2009 Murray Patchell asked if he wanted to buy into the Hulton Patchell practice.
He agreed. There were a number of reasons but perhaps the primary one - because his consulting practice had also involved a lot of travel - was the desire to spend more time in Rotorua.
"I love the place," he said. "It has great people and great facilities." Mr McRae was also at a stage where he wanted to become more involved with the local community, so the Rotorua job allowed him to serve on his children Connor and Lara's school boards and become involved in school sports activities.
"It was also an opportunity to work with the Maori community, because the firm had a huge iwi client base," he said.
Mr McRae is also a director of the commercial arm of Mighty River Power's Tauhara North geothermal plant.
When founding partner Ian Hulton decided to retire from the firm in 2013, the two remaining partners decided it was time to make some changes. That was when they joined Deloitte's partnership.
'Mad' for sports
John McRae describes himself as a "mad sportsman".
He's an enthusiastic mountain biker and takes pride in the fact that a few years ago he won the "old guys" national championships the same year his son Connor won the under-14 group.
"Mountain biking is a significant tourist attraction here," he said, noting the massive international exposure generated from the staging of the Crankworx world event in Rotorua.
"We have one of the best mountain biking infrastructures in the world," he said. "You get the best riders in the world coming here."
Mr McRae also loves kite surfing, windsurfing, skiing and tennis, and has been a keen Hobie Cat sailor.
John McRae
Role - Principal, Deloitte Rotorua and president, Rotorua Chamber of Commerce
Born - Winton, New Zealand
Age - 48
First job - Accountant
