New appointments have been made to the boards of KiwiRail and the New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC).
Angela Nash will be joining the KiwiRail board on July 1, while Chris Gudgeon will be joining the NZRC board on May 1.
Angela Edwards, who has been on the Railways Corporation Board since 2020, has been reappointed.
Currently serving as a director on the Quotable Value Ltd Board, Nash has previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer at Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Limited (REANNZ).
She was also Chief Information and Technology Officer at NZ Rugby and Chief Information Officer at AA Insurance.
Her governance experience includes the role of Co-Chair at Faucet Foundation, and as a director at NZTech, AA Home, Parafed Auckland and Tennis New Zealand.
The chair of both KiwiRail and NZRC, Suzanne Tindal, said: “Miss Nash brings strong digital transformation and technology management experience to the Board, complementing the considerable range of skills already there.
“She has governance experience in state-owned enterprises, in operational leadership and in infrastructure project delivery.”
Meanwhile, Chris Gudgeon has held leadership roles as chief executive of two publicly listed companies, Kiwi Property Group and Capital Properties NZ Ltd.
He is Chair of Ngāti Whatua Ōrākei Whai Rawa Ltd and was on the property advisory committee for KiwiRail for 9 years until 2024.
As he joins the board of NZRC, the Crown‑owned statutory corporation responsible for holding and managing the ownership of rail land on behalf of the government, Tindal said his leadership and governance experience in property and infrastructure strategy, funding and development will be useful.
“Mr Gudgeon is an experienced director with a 30-year executive career in real estate investment, management and development across retail, office, industrial, residential, hotel and airport sectors,” she said.
Angela Edwards is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand and partner leading the audit and assurance practice at the BDO Office in Kerikeri, and has served on BDO’s National Board of directors. She is currently a director of Crown Regional Holdings Ltd.
“I look forward to working with our new directors and continuing to work with the existing members of both boards,” said Tindal.
“Strong governance is essential to meeting expectations for improved performance, value for money and stewardship of public assets.”
