The affairs of the Electricity Engineers’ Association (EEA) are governed by the Executive Committee, consisting of a President, Vice President and seven other persons. All Executive Committee Members are elected biennially and need to be full members of the EEA.
Geoff Douch (President) – Chief Executive, Electra
Geoff is currently the Chief Executive at Electra, the electricity distributor supplying the Kāpiti and Horowhenua region.
Prior to joining Electra in late 2023, Geoff was Chief Executive of Network Waitaki, and he has previously held senior leadership roles at Counties Power and Wellington Electricity. He has over 20 years’ experience in the electricity distribution industry across a variety of technical and leadership roles.
Geoff has been a member of the EEA Executive Committee since 2017, vice president since 2019, 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 and the Institute of Directors.
Pete Armstrong – General Manager, Network, EA Networks
Pete Armstrong is a power systems engineer and senior executive with over 30 years of industry experience in distribution, transmission, generation and consulting sectors in NZ and internationally, including power planning in NZ, Australia, Samoa, Cambodia and Afghanistan.
He has worked in five NZ electricity distribution networks and currently is EA Networks’ General Manager – Network. Pete is qualified with a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Business Administration with distinction from the University of Waikato Management School.
He has a strong interest in safety climate and effective safety leadership through his MBA Major Research Project “The relationship between Safety Climate and Safety Leadership in an Electricity Distribution Company” and applying that knowledge in safety leadership within the electricity sector.
He is also strongly interested in responding to the challenges of electrification of process heat and transportation and applying Advanced Distribution Management System applications for the benefit of customer reliability and connection of utility scale solar generation.
He has governance experience on the Board of Trustees of A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand since February 2021 and has reported to the Boards of Mighty River Power, Powerco, Waipa Networks and EA Networks in a management capacity since 2007.
He has significant financial, operational and regulatory management experience in the NZ electricity sector to bring to bear if successful in being elected to the EEA Executive. Pete has had a long association with the EEA, attending and presenting a number of papers at EEA Conferences since 2001 and winning the Best Paper Award for a Member in 2017 for his paper “Initial Lessons from St Kilda a 100 percent PV subdivision”.
Chantelle Bramley – Executive General Manager Operations , Transpower
Chantelle was appointed Executive General Manager Operations in February 2024 after joining Transpower in July 2022.
Prior to joining Transpower, Chantelle was Executive General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Essential Energy, the distribution network business covering regional and rural New South Wales. An economist by training with twenty years of international energy and electricity experience, Chantelle held senior roles in Canada and the US at Direct Energy and was the Executive General Manager Strategy and Economics at the Australian Energy Market Commission prior to joining Essential Energy.
Chris Ewers – (Vice President) GM Network, Electra
Chris joined Electra as General Manager Network in April 2026, bringing more than 30 years of experience across New Zealand’s electricity industry. Before joining Electra, he held senior leadership roles at Meridian Energy in wholesale, trading and operations, including six years as General Manager Wholesale.
At Electra, Chris leads asset management and planning, network growth and new connections, network information and standards, and network operations. His generation-sector background is complemented by extensive knowledge of grid and system operations.
Over 25 years in operational roles, Chris has worked across generation control, trading, transmission connection and coordination, wind farm connections, outage management, governance, policy and process safety. He has also contributed to numerous industry working and advisory groups.
Chris began his career through the ECNZ graduate engineering programme, working with thermal and hydro assets across New Zealand. While completing his BE (Hons) at the University of Canterbury, he spent his summers with the Tasman Electric Power Board in roles ranging from transformer refurbishment to network planning.
He serves on the Electricity Authority’s Security. Chris holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, has completed the Advanced Management Programme at the University of Auckland Business School, and is a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Karen Frew – General Manager Electricity, 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.
Michael Gibbs – Chief Operating Officer, Network, Northpower
Michael Gibbs is an accomplished executive and electrical engineer with over 15 years of experience in the electricity industry. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer – Network at Northpower, where he leads the electricity distribution business through a multidisciplinary team of over 100 professionals – across strategy, operations, engineering, customer relations, regulatory compliance, and digital.
Michael has held a range of leadership roles spanning asset management, project delivery, and strategic planning. His career includes pivotal roles at Transpower NZ and ABA Project Management, where he held leadership roles in large-scale infrastructure projects, asset management and regulatory submissions, including Transpower’s RCP3 and the Aurora Energy Customised Price Path (CPP).
Michael holds an MBA from the University of Otago, a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Business from Massey University.
Emma Lloyd – Project Engineer, Meridian
Emma Lloyd is a Project Engineer at Meridian Energy, where she delivers renewable energy and electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects across New Zealand. Her work focuses on enabling electrification and supporting the transition to a reliable, affordable and sustainable energy future.
Before joining Meridian, Emma worked as an Electrical Engineer at Connetics, contributing to projects across electricity distribution, generation, industrial decarbonisation, renewable energy and private networks. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury and brings experience from both network and customer-facing parts of the energy sector.
Emma is actively involved in industry leadership and governance. She is Chair of IEEE New Zealand South Section, a Trustee of the Aruhiko Power Engineering Excellence Trust (PEET), a member of the Electricity Authority’s Network Services Technical Group, and serves on the EPECentre Advisory Board.
She is passionate about developing future leaders and broadening participation in engineering and governance. Emma is a strong advocate for young professionals, women and Māori, and is committed to creating pathways that strengthen the sector for the next generation.
Steve Macdonald – General Manager: Electricity Network, Orion NZ
Steve is the General Manager – Electricity Network at Orion NZ and leads a team responsible for customer management, health and safety, construction, maintenance and operation of the Electricity network. He has a NZCE (Electrical) and has worked for Orion and its predecessors for 30 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'Neill – Program Manager: Network Planning & Development, Waipā Networks
Mat has over 25 years’ experience in New Zealand electricity generation and distribution businesses and is currently Program Manager – Network Planning & Development at Waipā 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.