KiwiRail has appointed Sue Tindal as chair and Jeff Kendrew as deputy chair, bringing strong commercial, freight and rail expertise to the board, with their terms commencing July 1, 2025.
Minister for rail Winston Peters says new appointments to the KiwiRail bring a ‘can do’ attitude to the board.
“We want railways to be successful for New Zealand and have every expectation that a focus on lower cost, higher reliability, increased volumes, improved safety and better performance will be delivered on,” he says.
Tindal has been a chief executive, chief financial officer and chief operating officer and was on the Mainfreight and New Zealand Post boards.
She is currently deputy chair of the Infrastructure Commission and Quotable Value boards. She understands construction, freight and infrastructure, and how to get an efficient outcome from an asset-intensive company.
She has also held several roles at Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Auckland Council and WEL Group.
“Mr Kendrew is the Chair of Port Taranaki, and previously chaired Western Australia’s bulk rail freight company Arc Infrastructure. He brings real world experience of rail infrastructure, engineering and freight,” Peters says.
Kendrew’s past governance roles include the boards of Powerco, GeelongPort and Patrick Terminals. He was also the previous chair of Arc Infrastructure, which owns and operates Western Australia’s bulk rail network and chair of Linx Cargo Care Group which owns C3 Logistics.
“We have also reappointed Liz Ward as a KiwiRail director, reflecting her experience as a former CEO of CentrePort, Gough Group and Kennards Hire and her current role as a senior executive in Sydney’s passenger rail system,” he says.
“A reappointment decision has also been taken for Nicola Greer as a director on the New Zealand Railways Corporation given her financial and property expertise.”
Lastly, Peters thanks KiwiRail director Rob Jager for his service, who has been acting chair since June 2024.
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