Two new members have been appointed to the Maritime New Zealand Board, each serving a one year term.
“The appointees have extensive governance experience and strong backgrounds in health & safety, regulation, port operations and logistics and will add significant skills and experience to the Board” Maritime NZ Board Chair, Dame Jo Brosnahan says.
Ross Wilson was the National Secretary for the New Zealand Harbour Workers Union and General Secretary for the Rail and Maritime Transport Union during the 1980s and 1990s, becoming President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions in 1999. Ross has extensive governance, health and safety, maritime, and regulatory experience. He led the development of the Government Regulatory Practice Initiative (G-Reg) Master Class for regulatory boards and was the Board Chair at WorkSafe New Zealand until 2022. His knowledge will be valuable on the Authority, particularly as the Health and Safety at Work Act designations around ports are transferred from WorkSafe to MNZ over the next year.
Parke Pittar has extensive operational experience in ports and logistics throughout New Zealand and offers broad operational maritime experience as well as being a Chartered Accountant. He was the former Chief Executive of C3 (NZ on port logistics and stevedoring service provider), former Chief Commercial Officer at Port Nelson, Container Terminal Manager at CentrePort, and a Stevedoring Supervisor, and is now Chief Executive of AVA Timber, one of New Zealand’s largest exporters. His stevedoring and logistics experience are a big value add for the Authority’s work, as is his deep understanding of the work that takes place on ports and in the broader maritime sector.
The appointment of Ross Wilson and Parke Pittar bring the total number of members to six – one above the minimum specified by the Act Crown Entities Act 2004 – and fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Mike Purchase on May 2023.
