Daria Murray named CEO at NZ Growth Capital Partners amid new employment investigation

Daria Murray. Photo / NZGCP

Daria Murray has been named the new chief executive of NZ Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP), the Government-owned venture capital investment fund formerly known as NZVIF (NZ Venture Investment Fund).

Murray - currently adviser to the CFO and chief product and strategy officer at Kiwibank will start her new role on October 28, replacing Richard Dellabarca.

With this year's Budget, the Government flagged an overhaul of NZVIF - which had invested $173m in 239 early-stage companies since being established in 2002 in a bid to foster a stronger venture capital market.

The NZ Super Fund was brought into the picture to provide $260 million toward a new Elevate investment fund, with NZVIF - now rebranded NZGCP - to provide the balance.

The Government also directed the Super Fund to "oversee and monitor performance" of the new early-stage fund.

Earlier this year the board of the fund confirmed it had ordered an independent investigation after a complaint against one of its staff, conducted by employment lawyer Rob Towner.

The investigation did not uphold the complaint, chairman Murray Gribben later confirmed. He did not confirm who the staff member was.

Dellabarca, who had held the CEO role since 2016, announced his resignation in August to "return to private sector roles".

Assuming Dellabarca is the highest-paid staff member of NZ Growth Capital Partners, he was paid between $520,000 and $529,999 in 2019, according to the fund's annual report.

Although new to the Crown fund, Murray will be immediately embroiled in the agency's historic controversies.

This afternoon, NZGCP spokesman David Lewis confirmed to the Herald that a new independent review of NZGCP's workplace culture is underway by a former Employment Court Judge Graeme Colgan.

The investigation follows bullying accusations.

NZGCP won't be commenting further until it wraps up.

Murray's prior roles include GM capital markets and investor relations for Fonterra, a stint at JP Morgan in London as an equity research analyst, and a portfolio management position with the NZ Super Fund.