Obituary: Ross Sayers

Ross Sayers

By Arnold Pickmere

* Ross Edward Sayers, business leader. Died aged 64.

Ross Sayers rose to prominence in the 1980s, particularly as the executive chairman of the troubled, debt-ridden Railways Corporation.

Before that he held high positions in Holeproof Industries, Feltex, Lion Corporation and was managing director of Dominion Breweries.

But in 1986 he was offered the railways job by the Minister of Railways, Richard Prebble, for what was then a top Government department salary of $105,000 a year.

In those turbulent times the National Union of Railwaymen had little doubt as to the minister's intention - Ross Sayers was to be Mr Prebble's hatchet man.

There was immediate talk of disaffiliating from the Labour Party and suggestions of campaigning against Labour MPs in marginal seats.

But in the month before Mr Sayers' appointment Mr Prebble had noted a forecast of a further $65 million loss in that financial year and declared that the Railways would be bankrupt in five years unless immediate action was taken.

It was a familiar litany. American consultancy Booz, Allen and Hamilton had already identified defects in the Railways management structure.

For Mr Sayers, then 44, it was a place where he could get a "buzz".

He told the Herald he saw his role in life as being involved with troubled businesses, "conceptualising" what needed to be done and implementing the necessary changes.

After that he usually became bored and moved on.

Five months later, this personable "ball of energy", who was described as having an acute mind, was talking of the corporation's "impossible systems" that made it unmanageable.

He noted that one of the features of the departmental organisation had been inflexible practices in management and staffing procedures. Difficulties in getting adjustments made had come not from the top or the unions, but from middle management.

He wanted separate business groups for different market segments, more computers in administration, longer freight trains and fewer staff.

In 1981 the Railways, with 22,500 staff, resembled a state employment scheme more than a business.

By 1986, Mr Sayers was dealing with 17,000 employees.

In 1988, he moved to Australia to head the debt-ridden New South Wales State Rail at a salary of $240,000 a year.

The move had unfortunate consequences. In 1990 the state Labor opposition accused Mr Sayers and others of misusing expenses to the tune of A$105,000 ($110,000).

A state Auditor-General's report cleared Mr Sayers of the allegations and said that in fact he was owed $20,000 in expenses. But before receiving this news he collapsed with a heart attack that nearly killed him.

Ross Sayers, who was born in Christchurch but educated at Auckland Grammar, the University of Auckland and at an advanced management course at Harvard University, died suddenly in London. He had been working as a non-executive director of Network Rail in England.

He is survived by his wife, Glenda, and sons Craig and Stuart.