Our Directors
The Northpower Board of Directors includes a Chair and six Directors appointed by the Northpower Trust.
Nikki Davies-Colley, Chairman
BBS, MBA. CFInstD
Nikki was elected Chairman in August 2014 and has been a Director of Northpower since 1995. She previously chaired the Audit Committee and is currently a Director of Farmlands Co-operative Society Ltd, WorkSafe New Zealand and Landcorp Farming Ltd. She is a Chartered Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a Kellogg Scholar. Nikki and her husband Peter have been farming and involved in Northland’s forestry industry for over 30 years.
David Ballard, Director
BE (Hons), MBA
David has been a Director of Northpower since 1999 and Managing Director and founder of NZ Bloom Ltd since 1992. David has extensive experience in the exporting industry and has established offices in Auckland, Los Angeles and Osaka. Prior to this David was a Technologist with the NZ Dairy Board.
Richard Booth, Director
MBA, Dip Ag
Richard is the former independent Chairman of the Kaipara District Council Audit and Risk Committee. He retired as Chairman of Delta Produce in Dargaville in August 2016 and was a ministerial appointment to the commission governing Kaipara District Council until October 2016. He has held previous directorships on the Board of the Northland Dairy Co-op, the New Zealand Dairy Board, Kiwi Co-op and Fonterra. He has private business interests in two dairy farms and an avocado orchard and retired as President of the Mangakahia Rugby Club in November 2016.
Michael James, Director
BCom, CA
Michael is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Plant & Food Research, a Crown owned science company assisting New Zealand’s horticultural, arable and food sectors. He has had significant senior executive experience, particularly with innovative or high technology organisations with international scale. Previously he was CFO at Navman, a global supplier of GPS based navigation products and General Manager Europe for Dynamic Controls.
Mark Trigg, Director
B Eng Chemical and Materials
Mark joined the Northpower Board in 2015 bringing extensive industry experience, with 18 years in the electricity generation and retailing sector. During that time he had responsibility for business development, large-scale project management, operations, strategy and trading. Prior to his time in the electricity sector he had a decade in the financial markets industry. Mark has completed an advanced executive programme at Columbia University and also holds directorships on Liquigas, Century Drilling and Energy Services, and Ngati Tuwharetoa Holdings Limited and associated subsidiaries.
Laurie Kubiak, Director
Laurie’s career has spanned the ICT, telco, aviation, infrastructure and energy sectors. He has held roles in strategy, economics, regulation, country management, operations, business development and general management - in public and private sectors. Before becoming NZIER's Chief Executive in 2014, Laurie spent 25 years in numerous commercial and strategic roles for FTSE-100 companies active in international markets.
Phil Hutchings, Director
B.Eng. (Hons), Dip Bus Admin
Phil is an experienced Director of listed and unlisted companies, with international experience in renewable energy in Germany and Australia. His early career was in commercial management in the mining sector with BHP Billiton and Queensland Nickel. He then moved into corporate finance as a partner of Wilson HTM Ltd (stockbrokers) in Brisbane. Since 2000 Phil has consulted to technology and energy companies, including periods as CEO or General Manager.
