The career of former Ryman Healthcare chief executive Simon Challies has taken a new swerve into a health food supplements business.
The businessman who revealed last May he had Parkinson's disease was one of a group who last year invested $500,000 in a new Christchurch business.
He has also become a director of the supplements firm.
Challies said that after he left Ryman, he and wife Tracey went on holiday to Fiji for a fortnight where he found leaving the stress of corporate life beneficial.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2011 but continued on with Ryman for a further six years, with the full support of the board.
"I first noticed the symptoms about a decade ago, but it was still a huge shock to get my diagnosis in 2011," Challies told the Herald last year.
A chance meeting with fellow Christchurch businessman Michael Mayell sparked his involvement in the new venture.
Mayell founded Cookie Time biscuits and food products, then the new business Nutrient Rescue whose website cited his "drive for innovation and his growing awareness of the need for us to change our diet and our dominant agriculture systems."
Mayell said this morning: "I didn't pick Simon. The universe picked Simon and me. My late mother had lived at a Ryman village in Christchurch and at her funeral last year, I gave an address saying it was the kindest place I had ever been. Simon was at that funeral because his wife Tracey is friends with my sister.
"Then a few months later, his business partner brought him to meet me and I mentioned the need for more capital. Some of Simon's friends also put money into Nutrient Rescue. He brought his management expertise into the business. The timing of his arrival was perfect from the business perspective. It was perfect for him too because here was a health food enterprise which he fell in love with.
"Simon is the perfect balance to my big-picture vision and enthusiasm. Business is so much about the dynamics of the people," Mayell said.
Challies said he had reduced his medication while using Nutrient Rescue's supplements.
Simon is the perfect balance to my big-picture vision
At the time he stepped down last year, Challies said he had been suffering.
"I've been determined not to let it beat me. This is a demanding job and I've realised this year that my health was deteriorating and it was taking too great a toll on me personally, and on my family," he said last May.
How many people had paid deposits was not stated but pre-sales said to be 'strong'.