Changes for port’s board

Port of Tauranga has made two key boardroom changes after David Pilkington, the company’s chairman for the past nine years, stepped down from his role at the end of last month.

Brodie Stevens, departing Swire Shipping country manager, has been appointed as a director, while Julia Hoare succeeds Pilkington as chair.

Pilkington, who was on the port’s board for nearly 17 years, says the extensive shipping and logistics sector experience of Stevens will be invaluable to the board.

Stevens, pictured, trained as a lawyer and then joined Freightways Group as a management trainee in 1982. He spent 10 years at Freightways and was national marketing manager for Post Haste before joining the Owens Group. 

He was divisional general manager of Seatrans New Zealand and Owens Shipping Services during his 12 years at Owens Group

He joined China Navigation Company (trading as Swire Shipping) in 2004. During his tenure, the company expanded into freight forwarding, shipping agency, and stevedoring.

“The maritime sector is in my blood, with a family business history in stevedoring and shipping,” says Stevens.

“I have had a long association with Port of Tauranga through my previous roles and I’m looking forward to being on board for the next stage of its growth.”

Hoare, who joined the port’s board in 2015, has a range of commercial, financial, tax, regulatory and sustainability experience through governance roles and over two decades as a partner with PwC.

She is deputy chair of a2 Milk, a director of Auckland International Airport and Meridian Energy, president of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Chapter Zero New Zealand steering committee.