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Job title: Chief executive officer

For: Kiwifruit New Zealand

Unusually for a lawyer, Mike Chapman has not followed the normal big law firm path. After graduating from Otago University, he worked for the Royal NZ Navy for 15 years, prosecuting courts martial and working on the law of war, among other things.

And with the small size of our defence forces, he also did some work for the Air Force and the Army. The verdict: "Fascinating."

Chapman, aged 46, followed that as the Commerce Commission's chief counsel in Wellington, and commuted weekly from Tauranga for his last job, as professional standards director of the Auckland District Law Society.

"I've always pushed ahead a little bit and gone for more on-the-edge jobs where there's an element of risk involved," he says, "rather than going to a large firm and doing the law.

"I've always been interested in management and finance - but I always held a [law] practising certificate."

This latest post sees him back in Tauranga, living a three-minute drive from Kiwifruit New Zealand's Mt Maunganui office.

Chapman admits he was attracted to the job by the chance to take up a chief executive's role. Kiwifruit New Zealand - formally known as the New Zealand Kiwifruit Board - oversees the activities of the Zespri Group, the only body authorised to export kiwifruit. It's big business - between 66 and 70 million trays leave our shores annually.

Once again, part of the job involves investigating disputes. But new to him and interesting, says Chapman, is collaborative marketing and nurturing innovation: "This industry is good at it."