'We are there to have fun, and I am just part of that,' says Patrick Strange. Photo / Steven McNicholl
Patrick Strange's positive and inclusive style, together with his proactive leadership role in the business community, saw him crowned as Chairperson of the Year at the Deloitte Top 200 awards.
During 2021, Strange led a group of senior business leaders that called on the Government to be more transparent about its plans to get New Zealand to a "Covid normal". He says he was motivated to speak up because he was concerned the Government was failing to build a long-term strategy.
"We were complimentary about the Government on things they had done, but we did criticise them," he says. "That is the role of business, that is the role of all New Zealanders — open debate."
The Deloitte Top 200 judges say Strange is very effective in building relationships with Government for the organisations he chairs — Chorus and Auckland International Airport — which is vital given their importance in New Zealand's infrastructure landscape.
Chorus has played a critical role over the past year with its fibre network, which has been under significant load with so many New Zealanders working from home during the lockdown.
"We were still connecting 800-900 customers a day, with Covid and all its restrictions," Strange says.
"We don't hear about it, but they have done a great job not missing a beat under those constraints and added layers of difficulty."
Strange pushed back on the Commerce Commission over its proposed price control settings for the provider's ultrafast broadband network, and the returns it should be allowed to make on its regulated asset base. In a letter to the commission, he warned of "regulatory failure" if Chorus was prevented from earning a fair return on its investment.
"We are there to represent New Zealanders — and particularly our shareholders — and I call that out," says Strange. "I have a constructive relationship with the Commerce Commission and get on well with them — but they know if I disagree with them, I will say it publicly."
Judge Cathy Quinn, an independent director herself, says this has no doubt been agonising to deal with and required Strange to be heavily involved. But it is clear he did a good job that will allow Chorus to continue to invest in innovation and deliver a fair return to shareholders.
For Auckland International Airport, Strange says the biggest challenge in 2020 was its huge loss of income and the need to rapidly raise capital to redress the balance sheet. But the past year has been much more about people — particularly those that have had to continue operating remotely, which has put a lot of strain on them.
"We are spending a lot of time worrying about how to support people," he says. "The uncertainty — the way they are having to work — they are working long hours in difficult circumstances."
His biggest challenge for both companies he chairs has been the loss of exchange that comes from meeting face-to-face. This was also noted as a big challenge by other finalists in this category.
"We can operate well on Zoom, but nothing beats getting together and the things you learn by walking around and talking to staff," he says.
The judges highlight this emphasis on people as another of Strange's core strengths. "Patrick is highly regarded by his peers, the management teams he works with and broader stakeholders as an inclusive chair who brings out the best in his fellow directors and management teams," says Quinn.
"He encourages others to contribute and offers his perspective in a constructive way."
Strange says this isn't hard to achieve, because he enjoys working with talented and motivated people — from fellow directors to the impressive young people involved in the companies he chairs.
"We are there to have fun, and I am just part of that," he says. "I am just lucky enough to oversee a couple of great companies where we have that culture."
Finalist: Barbara Chapman
Barbara Chapman's governance career has been shaped by her interest in transformation and improving the experience of customers.
She is chair of Genesis Energy and NZME and is a director of Fletcher Building and BNZ. Chapman is also deputy chair of public-policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative and was chair of the Apec 2021 CEO Summit. In 2019 she was awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to business.
When Chapman joined the NZME board in 2018, it had an enormous amount of debt. "That was really shackling the company from being able to do what it needed to do to grow," she says.
NZME is now debt-free, succeeding in a three-year plan to eradicate $100m in debt. Its share price reached a high of $1.46 on December 15 (and again at the market close yesterday), up dramatically from its depths of $0.18 at the start of the pandemic.
"Along the way, we were balancing dropping debt with investing in things like Premium, and the technology you need to drive that," says Chapman — recognising that having cash now gives NZME far more scope to invest, such as its recent acquisition of BusinessDesk.
Quinn says Chapman has shown remarkable skill while working with the board and management team of NZME throughout its transformation.
"Since joining the NZME board in 2018, Barbara has played a key role in the company's turnaround after financial challenges and helped set foundations for future success."
The judges also acknowledge Chapman's leadership in astutely navigating Genesis Energy through the August power outages, as power distributors responded to Transpower's demand to reduce the burden on the national grid. A ministerial inquiry has since shown that Genesis was wrongly blamed at the time. "As it came out, we didn't cause any of the problems and we couldn't have done anything differently," says Chapman. "But given we are 51 per cent owned by the government, quite rightly they were asking us some pretty strong questions."
As for her highlight over the past year, Chapman points to the success of the Apec CEO Summit, held at the end of 2021.
Soon after Chapman took on the role at the request of the Prime Minister, a fire broke out at the International Convention Centre — the intended venue for the summit. Then Covid-19 struck, thwarting plans to host thousands of delegates in person.
"To deliver an online event that had the reach it did, as well as the response it had, has been amazing," she says. "I am really proud that we focused hard on gender balance and diversity with our speakers, and people tell us we ended up with what was the best CEO Summit ever. Over 3000 people watched it — amazing for something online!"
Finalist: Mark Tume
Mark Tume says boards are decision-making engines, and that there is a 'secret sauce' in the boards he chairs that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
"To get the most out of a board, it is not about me being a leader, it is about arranging a meeting so you can get the most out of everyone and a contribution from everyone."
Tume is chair of the infrastructure investor Infratil and the commercial arm of Taranaki's largest iwi, Te Atiawa Holdings. He is also a director of Retire Australia, Precinct Properties and was chair of Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation until December 2021.
The Top 200 judges say Tume's performance at Infratil has been excellent, as has been his significant contribution to the Māori economy.
"Tume was pivotal in establishing Te Atiawa Holdings, a new entity being built from the ground up," says Quinn. "He has been on the Ngāi Tahu Holdings board in three separate instances, stepping down as chair at the end of last year."
Tume says Māori organisations have a clear view that assets, investments and returns should be seen as multigenerational. He says there's a real alignment between that thinking and Infratil, due to the nature of the assets needing to last a hundred years or more.
In December 2020, AustralianSuper, Australia's largest pension fund, put in a takeover bid for Infratil worth nearly $5.4 billion — representing a 22 per cent premium on its closing share price at the time.
The takeover bid resulted in a 20 per cent jump in Infratil's share price and was ultimately rejected.
Tume says the offer materially undervalued Infratil's high-quality and unique portfolio of assets.
"It wasn't a hard decision, AustralianSuper's offer wasn't a huge premium," he says, noting Infratil has returned an average annualised shareholder return after tax and fees in excess of 18 per cent since its inception.
"Tume's ability to navigate challenging issues such as a hostile takeover bid from Australia and remain steadfast in his belief that the offer materially undervalued Infratil's portfolio, is a clear demonstration of his focus to do what is best for shareholders," says Quinn.
Infratil also dealt with another significant transaction in the past year — the sale of wind farm operator Tilt Renewables. "We had a tremendous number of board meetings because we were dealing with a $5b takeover offer at the same time as a $3b sale process of Tilt Renewables," Tume says. Ongoing restrictions of Covid and the border closure added to the pressure since both deals were run out of Australia.
While this period was a huge challenge due to the need to deal with so many things at the same time, including a change in CEO, completing the Tilt deal was also one of Tume's highlights of the past year.
"You don't get many years like this one where so much pressure and stress and bad things are happening — and yet everything lines up so nicely."
• The Chairperson of the Year award is sponsored by Forsyth Barr.
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