The power and the silence

You may not have heard of any of these people and, although their names are not familiar, you would notice if they were not doing their jobs. They are just some of the high-power, low-profile business people who work behind the scenes, creating, managing, directing and advocating.

Stewart Barnett

PPCS Richmond chief executive Stewart Barnett is the most powerful chief executive not to have figured prominently in the pages of the Business Herald.

The newly merged meat industry giant has grabbed plenty of headlines, but Barnett is obsessively media shy.

He has ignored all requests for interviews and delegated the company's public-speaking responsibilities to chief operating officer Keith Cooper.

It took the Dunedin co-operative PPCS more than seven years to achieve its goal of taking over listed Hawkes Bay rival Richmond.

The combined conglomerate now has revenue of $2.2 billion and accounts for almost 40 per cent of all meat exports.

Barnett was in charge of PPCS throughout the often bitter takeover battle that was eventually fought and won in court.

As well as being one of the key architects of the biggest consolidation the meat industry has seen, Barnett now has control of a business big enough to affect a significant chunk of the economy.

Although PPCS Richmond is - like Fonterra - an unlisted farmer co-operative, it is required to publicly report its finances because it has capital notes which trade on the stock exchange.

Last September, Barnett was nabbed for a rare interview by New Zealand Farmers Weekly after a meeting with Richmond meat suppliers.

Barnett is a company man who has worked for PPCS since 1972 and has been chief executive since 1986, the rural publication reported.

But - even when pressed - he refused to tell the reporter his age or his personal aspirations for the chief executive's role.

Jan Cameron

No, we do not have a photograph of the founder of the Christchurch-based retail chain Kathmandu, Jan Cameron.

When the business magazine Unlimited tried to profile the Australian at the start of this year, the piece ran with neither a photograph nor quotes.

The National Business Review rich list put her worth at $105 million but the estimate seemed to be plucked from the ether.

And, like Unlimited, the publication had not managed to speak to her.

The website for the company known for its "live the dream" slogan poses the question, "Who are we?", then comprehensively does not answer it.

It says the company headquarters are in Christchurch and it has 34 stores in Australia, New Zealand and Britain selling outdoor clothing and "equipment for travel and adventure".

It says Kathmandu began in the back of a student flat, making outdoor clothing and equipment for friends and family. It does not mention Jan Cameron.

Jamie Peters

It's not that Peters is not known in the business world - especially the property world. It's just that he won't do media.

Peters, the head man in the Starline Group of Auckland, turned up this year in a deal with Trans Tasman Properties to buy three Finance Centre buildings for $58 million.

Peters has made his biggest mark at Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula north of Auckland and the Quay Park precinct of disused railway land owned by Ngati Whatua.

In 2001, his Starline Group bought 100ha of Gulf Harbour land for $55 million from a company owned by Singaporean investor Goh Cheng Liang, the project's founder.

The Business Herald called Peters for a chat about his low profile.

He confirmed his reclusiveness by not returning the call.

Peter D. Wilson

When Peter Wilson - that's Peter David Wilson, not one of the other ones - was named in a Massey University study as the country's number one "linchpin" director, one reaction from reporters was: "Who?" It turned out the study had erred, overstating his number of listed company directorships by one - lowering him a rung down the scale intended to highlight cross-company connections.

But a scan through the Wilson collection shows a reasonable collection - Westpac companies, Port of Napier, Evergreen, Colonial Motor Co, the listed investment product, Global Equity Market Securities - for someone with limited name recognition.

Contacted by the Business Herald, Wilson played it all down: "In terms of influence at a national level, I thought they had come to the wrong conclusion. I don't see myself as being in that category."

He later added: "Keith Smith" - a director on boards including Skellmax, The Warehouse, Tourism Holdings, Wrightson - "was not on the list ... well that's crazy."

Wilson is a former partner in accountancy firm Ernst & Young.

David Hunt

A sharemarket analyst got us thinking about David Hunt at listed energy giant Contact Energy, describing him as bright, politically well-connected and a great strategist in the energy industry.

"I don't particularly want to have a profile, I don't think I deserve one," said Hunt when the Business Herald contacted him.

His title has been general manager of corporate development, but a Contact staff member said he was being seconded to Origin Energy after that company's big buy-in last year.

Hunt joined Contact in 1996. Before that, his jobs included economic adviser to the Minister of Finance, energy policy manager at Treasury and economic counsellor at the High Commission in London.

John Monaghan

Imagine the grilling Bruce Sheppard and the Shareholders Association could give Rod Deane if they turned up at the next Telecom annual meeting knowing every single shareholder was also a member of their association.

That's the position that Fonterra Shareholders Council chief executive John Monaghan finds himself in.

The council is charged with making sure Fonterra is doing the things shareholders want it to be doing.

In the annual report card it gives to management - and the public - it never pulls punches.

Last year, the council published a cutting critique accusing Fonterra of failing to add economic value for shareholders and describing parts of its business as mediocre.

Management was criticised for the way it communicated with shareholders - its approach was described as "almost dictatorial".

Since then one of the most noticeable changes in Fonterra's performance has been its commitment to keeping shareholders informed.

In December, when it proposed change to its capital structure, Fonterra held 75 shareholder meetings before it gave the information to the media.