There may be a new Auckland mayor and council decided, but there are a number of power players who really pull the strings in the Super City. Photos / Supplied
There may be a new Auckland mayor and council decided, but there are a number of power players who really pull the strings in the Super City. This is Spy’s list of the movers and shakers.
The late Sir Rob Fenwick's daughter Izzy is carrying her father's torch in environmentalism as well as putting her own stamp on spheres around Auckland - and indeed throughout New Zealand.
Fenwick's career and clout are bustling with hope and future planning. The 33-year-old founded FENWICK, a recruitment and talent management agency that connects next-generation advisers with leading organisations.
She is a NEXT fellow and a guardian and emerging director for the Aotearoa Circle, which brings together public and private sector leaders to champion sustainability. Fenwick is also co-chair of Koitu's Rangatahi Advisory Group, where Youth Court hearings are held at a marae.
It is through the younger generations that Fenwick sees the future of Auckland. In this year's paper - Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Harnessing The Region's Potential – in which Fenwick had a production role, she was outspoken in establishing a Future Generations' Commissioner. Not just for Aucklanders but to attract younger people to want to visit Tāmaki Makaurau.
As she has done with the public and private sectors - if there is one person that can future-proof Auckland for the youth of today and tomorrow, it is Fenwick, building a bridge between the generations.
Steve Armitage was previously responsible for the promotion and development of Auckland as a global destination in his role as GM Destination at what was then ATEED.
Part of this role was about attracting and delivering events for Aucklanders and visitors to enjoy, ranging from cultural festivals - such as Lantern and Diwali and sporting events like the Supercars - through to major events like last year's America's Cup.
Armitage worked with the Government and other key stakeholders to bid for and secure events such as the Women's Rugby World Cup and next year's Fifa Women's World Cup, co-hosted between NZ and Australia.
The work Armitage and his team put in went into positioning Auckland as a global business event destination and will be realised once the NZ International Conference Centre opens in 2025.
Since leaving the council, Armitage, 43, has taken on several governance roles, including chair of Business Events Industry Aotearoa and is sitting in as interim CE at Heart of the City for former mayoral candidate Viv Beck at a key time when getting people back into central Auckland is vital.
Armitage has also been involved in the attempt to establish a single-operating model to oversee Auckland's network of stadiums and has co-founded consultancy Daylight which is focused on events and destination management.
You'll find James Kellow's fingerprints on most of the larger and more interesting property deals around the city. He is the enabler of Auckland Property Developers, as one Rich Lister says on his LinkedIn profile - "(JK) makes the deals happen". And they happen, mainly orchestrated from his flash New Zealand Mortgages & Securities Offices in Ponsonby Rd, or sometimes from the many rural pursuits for which Kellow is also famous.
With a career spanning 25 years, Kellow has acted as a financier and facilitator to billions of dollars of Auckland property development and city improvement, often providing 100 per cent of the money. He is known to keep business simple - people bring him property development opportunities and he gets the money and makes them happen. Kellow, 48, is often called on as a commentator - he recently made comments focused on the building of houses below the medium house price in order to do something about the Auckland housing crisis - which can only be a good thing for the city. Kellow has said Housing Minister Megan Woods used his comments of support in Parliament to defend the KiwiBuild reset. Perhaps we will see a move to politics from Mr Kellow one day...
Innovation in health for everyone in Auckland and the wider country is what drives Dr Angela Lim. The paediatric doctor-turned CEO promotes innovation in the health sector by improving knowledge in her company, Clearhead. The AI-driven diagnostic and triage platform for mental health and wellbeing has been operating for four years and has never been more in demand.
The tech entrepreneur wants high-quality mental healthcare to be available to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Lim shares her knowledge through speaking engagements, including TEDx talks. She also sits on several nationally-led health IT projects, governance boards and leadership groups.
She has passions for population health, inequality and healthcare governance, which are all on her focus to commercialise NZ's melting pot of health innovations for a total approach.
Lim has been involved with Auckland City Council's Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel, (EPAP) and a raft of other organisations which complement her passion to see Auckland and NZ among world leaders in cutting-edge science and medical innovation.
The man who transformed the Auckland cafe scene has gone through a business transformation himself in the past few years. Hospitality king David Lee is famous for bringing a swathe of cafe favourites to the city, including Dear Jervois, Major Sprout and The Candy Shop. The latter, which he still owns, sees Lee show in full his proud Korean heritage in the Western-Korean fusion all-day eatery in Newmarket.
The man who gave Aucklanders delicious healthy cafe food upped the coffee stakes with Camper Coffee too.
Lee has created a new frontier of eateries within Commercial Bay - Gochu, Green Door Pizza and Good Dog Bad Dog have all become regular favourites of business folk and shoppers alike, as well as foodies looking for their Lee fix. He has spread the Good Dog love throughout Auckland. Poni - also at Commercial Bay – see's Lee's influence at a whole new refined level, the all-day Asian-inspired eatery is as elegant to dine in as the magic in the food.
Next month the 44-year-old's ever-evolving food story will continue, Lee will open a new offering, Aigo Noodle Bar.
Of all the communication whizzes in this city, Gemma Ross is someone you want to know. The business she co-founded - Hustle and Bustle - specialises in purpose-led brands like the female empowerment app Bumble. Hers is the name to drop when Auckland welcomes back the ASB Classic tennis tournament in January. Hustle and Bustle are luxury aficionados too, working with brands within the LVMH group including Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Louis Vuitton, which is a good thing as the 40-year-old has a large portion of this city's Rich List on speed dial.
Ross is behind the scenes in advisory roles to sportspeople Blair Tuke, Peter Burling and Dan Carter as they use their sporting platforms for social and environmental good.
She can get political when she needs to. She has come a long way from her early days of handing out flyers for then Auckland Central candidate Nikki Kaye in 2008. Fourteen years later and the political nous she has accumulated came in handy when she was the strategist behind the MIQ plight of journalist Charlotte Bellis, delicately telling her personal story on behalf of the thousands of Kiwis denied entry into their own country in emergency situations during the border closures. It was a fight about which Ross was as passionate as Bellis and neither took any prisoners.
Two people and their teams pick up a large percentage of the slack behind the scenes of Auckland's entertainment industry. The first - Tamar Munch of PR company, The Public Good. The Queen of the Screen is forever choreographing publicity for the big film and television productions both local and international. In the early stages of Auckland's lockdowns, Munch - who prefers to stay behind the curtain - was feverishly pushing the city as a safe place to film. A little over a year later, she was championing the industry to plan ahead as New Zealand became less accessible for productions.
Away from filming - her business represents talent agency Johnson and Laird, which has a large chunk of A-list talent. Her business will make sure the NZTV Awards are celebrated from every angle next month and recently entertained client Prime Video with key local figures finding ways to work together.
The second is Chris Henry, owner of Entertainment PR company 818. Henry and his team are at the forefront of publicity for NZ movies, TV shows, theatre and live events, working alongside distributors, promoters, producers and digital strategists to celebrate and activate the narratives - much of which goes down or starts in Auckland with a launch or a red-carpet premiere.
Behind the scenes on Dancing with the Stars, the latest live Disney production, through to the Auckland Live Cabaret Season, music events and festivals - the 37-year-old's touch is on it all. Henry has stepped in front of the curtain this year hosting an often-hilarious podcast Out the Gayte, starring fellow gay men, Breakfast's Matty McLean and NZ Falcons' club president Brad Christensen.
Crossing the Tasman six years ago, Nick Sautner has made a huge impression in Auckland. The Eden Park CEO has been bluster with substance, getting things done and discussions happening for the future of our biggest sporting ground. In that time the 45-year-old and wife Eliza have welcomed two "Kiwi" daughters and are proud to call Aotearoa home.
Sautner has been involved in the sports, entertainment and venue management sectors for more than 20 years, and it's fair to say that has shaped his vision for Eden Park.
The new experiences now on offer at Eden Park include rooftop tours, glamping at the stadium and a driving range, through to zip lining.
With Rita Ora part of the entertainment in yesterday's Women's RWC opening games, we wouldn't be surprised if she was in Sautner's box in between numbers with husband Taika Waititi.
We hear at last month's Bledisloe Cup match, that along with Hauraki's Matt Heath, Sautner had Hollywood star Elizabeth Banks, English actor Mickey Sumner and NZ star Rena Owen in his suite.
The often-heated debate about concerts at the park seems a distant memory with Six60 set to perform again at the stadium next month - exactly five years after Sautner took over the reins as CEO.
In December, the international acts will play in the garden of Eden with Billy Joel on December 3 and Guns N' Roses a week later.
Sautner has continued the park's tradition of including the community sports teams in the venue and of course is understood to be a fan of rugby and cricket equally. His own sporting prowess is on the football field.
Anne Norman is the diamond of Auckland's retail scene. She and husband David own James Pascoe Group.
James Pascoe opened his first jewellery store in Ponsonby more than 100 years ago and, as his granddaughter, Anne has grown that business into a retail empire throughout NZ and Australia.
In NZ, along with the Pascoes chain of jewellery stores, the group also owns Stewart Dawsons and the Farmers and Whitcoulls chains, as well as having a large shareholding in The Warehouse.
Norman is known for her generosity and not just for the many philanthropic causes she and her husband champion. She supports local business associations and their celebrations of the retail outlets in their quadrants of the city. Norman is approachable and will give advice to a business no matter how small. The other hat she wears well is marketing - her advice is something the new mayor and council could learn from.
If only Auckland transport had Mainfreight Group managing director and CEO Don Braid - the city might run more smoothly. Braid, who has more than 40 years of experience in freight and nearly 30 with Mainfreight, has shown he is the man in times of crisis. His management of the business through the pandemic and this year with Mainfreight being affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been admirable.
Both he and Mainfreight chairman Bruce Plested are said to run a company culture that is rewarding and team-focused. This year Braid thanked his team of more than 10,000 with a generous bonus for their efforts working under unimaginable pressure last year - going on to fill 15 pages of this year's annual report with each of their names. Mainfreight operates in more than 280 locations across 20 countries. The company prides itself on being non-hierarchical and for promoting people from within.
As for Braid the man, he is Southland-educated and likes to keep fit, which keeps him looking much younger than his 62 years. He likes to think far, far into the future for planning. He prides himself on empathy but will call out governments of the time on the things that matter to business, the city and the country.
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