JOSIE BOYD - (PRESIDENT) NORTHPOWER

Josie is Northpower’s COO – Network, with responsibility for managing Northpower’s electricity network, including engineering, asset investment, customer, operational, commercial, and regulatory functions.  Josie joined Northpower in 2011, was its General Counsel for a number of years and prior to that worked in a range of legal roles in the utilities, construction and professional services industries.

Josie has been a member of the EEA Executive Committee since 2018.  She believes the EEA has a vital leadership role in supporting the electricity supply industry as it enables New Zealand’s net zero targets, and is particularly focused on supporting active collaboration in the areas of engineering, safety and capability development.

Josie is a member of the Institute of Directors, and has completed the Stanford Executive Programme.

Link to q&a with josie boyd

GEOFF DOUCH (VICE PRESIDENT) - ELECTRA

Geoff is the Chief Executive at Electra, which owns and operates the electricity lines and assets in the Kāpiti and Horowhenua districts.

Previously with Network Waitaki from 2019 - 2023, he held leadership roles at Counties Power and Wellington Electricity. Previous industry experience includes roles at Unison and Vector.  He has a strong interest in improving public and worker safety through good asset management and operational practice through industry wide collaboration and standards and also the training and development of people to meet the future needs of the industry.

Geoff has been a member of the EEA Executive Committee since 2017 and has previously been a member of the EEA Asset Management Group.

He has a degree in Electrical Engineering, a Graduate Diploma in Business, has completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Melbourne Business School and is a Member of the IET.

JOHN BATCHELOR - DOWNER NZ POWER AND GAS

John is the General Manager of Downer New Zealand's Power & Gas division, which is part of the company's wider Utilities portfolio.  John leads a talented team of more than 530 employees and is passionate about creating development and career pathways for people coming into the industry, through apprenticeships and graduate programmes.  His top priority is the health and safety of those who work with and for Downer NZ, and through his strong focus on safety leadership, he empowers his operational teams to demonstrate best practice.

Downer Power & Gas is a major player in New Zealand's electricity industry, working alongside clients such as Powerco, Wellington Electricity, Aurora Energy, Genesis Energy, Transpower, Vestas and Chorus providing Asset Management, Project Management, Network Design & Build, Operations and Maintenance services.

With more than 30 years' experience in the electricity distribution and industrial sectors, John has a trade background progressing through supervisory, technical engineering, project management, operational and corporate management.

CHANTELLE BRAMLEY - TRANSPOWER

Chantelle joined Transpower in 2022 as the General Manager, Strategy and Customer.   She came from Essential Energy, the distribution network owner and operator for regional and rural New South Wales, Australia, where she held the role of Executive General Manager, Corporate Affairs.    An economist by training, Chantelle has almost 20 years' experience in the international energy and electricity sectors.

She was the Executive General Manger, Strategy and Economic Analysis at the Australian Energy Market Commission and also worked in senior strategy roles at Direct Energy, one of North America’s largest vertically integrated energy retailers.

Link to q&a with chantelle bramley

CHRIS EWERS - MERIDIAN ENERGY

Chris has worked his entire career in the electricity supply industry and brings a well-rounded set of experience and knowledge.  Chris holds the position of GM Wholesale at Meridian Energy, where he is responsible for leading Meridian's wholesale, planning and generation control functions.

He has spent 22 years working in a wide range of operational roles including generation control, trading, transmission connection and coordination, new windfarm connections, outage management, governance, policy, various industry working and advisory groups, and process safety.

Prior to this, Chris was part of the ECNZ graduate engineering programme, where he worked on thermal and hydro assets around the country.

While undertaking his BE (Hons) at the University of Canterbury, he work summers at the Tasman Electric Power Board in a wide range of roles including transformer refurbishment and network planning.

Link to q&a with CHIRS EWERS

KAREN FREW - POWERCO

Karen’s team manages our electricity network, responsible for planning, designing, constructing, maintaining and operating our network 24/7.  The team utilise the best information and engineering advice from within the electricity group for investment decisions and operations.

Karen has an electrical engineering degree and a diploma in management.  She is a chartered engineer with 25 years’ experience in electricity generation, distribution and large industrial sectors in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

She has held leadership roles in Powerco across engineering, asset management, strategy, system project delivery, regulation, and service delivery and operations.

She was the winner of the NZ Energy Awards Young Executive of the Year in 2013.  She joined Powerco in 2002.

THAHIRAH JALAL - TRANSPOWER

Thahirah is currently the Analytics Practice Manager at Transpower.  She in responsible for the development and delivery of the analytical management capabilities and practices in Transpower.

She was previously the Business Development Manager at ETEL Transformers, responsible of finding opportunities to expand ETEL's business through new technologies and markets.  She was previously the Asset Intelligence Manager at Unison Networks, where she and her team developed and implemented novel data analytics solutions as part of Unison's Smart Grid and Digitalisation Initiatives.

Thahirah graduated with Honours in Engineering Science from Oxford University, United Kingdom.  She then completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Canterbury.  In 2019, she completed her MBA from Imperial College, London.  She has a vast experience in research and development through an early career in the academic world, followed by 9 years of pioneering work at Unison Networks.  She is enthusiastic about working with progressive companies in Australasia on new technology trials and supporting their transition to a new energy future.  She actively participates in CIGRE and IEC Young Professionals.

EMMA LLOYD - CONNETICS

Emma is an Intermediate Electrical Engineer who works in the substations team at Connetics, a Christchurch based power design consultancy.    She is a recent university graduate, who has been working in the industry since 2021.  Since beginning her career, Emma has been involved in a diverse range of projects including designs for major distribution substations, generation network upgrades, industrial solar installations, and private network de-carbonisation.

As a young engineer, Emma is passionate about the benefits of collaboration between established engineers and those who are new to the industry.  She has been actively involved in initiatives to encourage more women, Māori, and school students to pursue engineering.  She is also currently on the committee for the Canterbury branch of Engineering New Zealand's Young Engineers and serves as Vice-Chair on the IEEE South Section.

Emma strongly believes that young professionals and students who have not yet entered the electricity industry are essential to bridging the talent gap.  She can see that representation from this group along with experienced executives, will enhance the boards perspective, increase diversity of thought, leading to progress and innovation in establishing a robust future workforce.

STEVE MACDONALD - ORION

Steve is the General Manager - Infrastructure at Orion NZ and manages the safe and reliable construction, operation and management of the Electricity network.  He has a NZCE (Electrical) and has worked for Orion and its predecessors for 28 years in different trade, technical and management roles within the business, including its subsidiary company, Connetics.

Steve is passionate about the industry and believes that good governance supports good management.

MAT O'NEIL - WEL NETWORKS

Mat has over 25 years' experience in New Zealand electricity generation and distribution businesses and is currently General Manager Asset Management at WEL Networks.  Mat comes from a trade background and is a registered electrician as well as holding a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Canterbury.

Mat has held senior leadership roles in asset management, engineering, network planning, network operations, works planning and delivery.  With a strong analytical and practical engineering skill set, he is passionate about the safe integration of distributed energy resources, the advancement of distribution system operators and the application of big data in asset and network management.

MICHAEL WHALEY - CONSULTANT

Michael has more than 30 years' experience in the transmission and distribution sectors of the electricity industry, with almost 20 years’ fulfilling various roles at Powerco.

Michael is passionate about engineering, specialising in the electricity distribution sector where there seems to be no end of new situations and things to solve.  He takes a special interest in asset management, how infrastructure organisations organise themselves to fulfil their objectives, and training and development.

Link to q&a with MICHAEL WHALEY

PETER BERRY - EEA

Peter joined the industry in 1986 as the Executive Officer for the Electricity Supply Association of NZ and has been actively involved in the reform of the NZ electricity supply industry from its beginnings in 1987.  In 1993, he was appointed Executive Director of the EEA and has refocused the organisation to meet the needs of its members in a changing environment.

Previously, Peter held positions within the University of Waikato, the NZ Army (Royal New Zealand Engineers), the Ministry of Civil Defence, and a leading NZ market research company.  Educated at Waikato University and Victoria University, he has two Masters Degrees and a post-graduate diploma in business management.  He is a Member of the Institute of Directors in NZ and has held a number of directorships. He is a founding member of the Electricity Supply Industry Training Organisation (ESITO) and the Electric Power Engineering Centre at the University of Canterbury.