PURPOSE
CIP’s purpose is to partner with the private sector and local government to deliver infrastructure to improve the lives of New Zealanders. CIP does this by:
- developing innovative solutions to meet Government policy objectives, acting commercially to achieve policy outcomes, and taking pragmatic approaches where appropriate; and
- utilising a mixture of private sector approaches and government frameworks to procure, contract and manage delivery, and focusing on outcomes-based project management, utilising insightful monitoring and reporting tools and by maintaining strong stakeholder relationships across all areas.
CIP is directly responsible for overseeing 46 Infrastructure Reference Group (IRG) projects, and also contracts with third parties, with Government funding of $1.3 billion and a total project value of $2.4 billion. The Infrastructure Reference Group (IRG) was established to advance infrastructure projects as soon as the construction industry returned to normal following the response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
CIP has been appointed by shareholding Ministers as ‘facilitator’ to implement transactions within the regime established by Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 20201 (the IFF Act), where CIP can facilitate the funding and financing of a broad range of infrastructure, in a wide range of scenarios.
CIP has a focus on telecommunications infrastructure including improving rural broadband through the Rural Broadband Programmes (including The Rural Broadband programme, the Rural Capacity Upgrade programme, and the Remote Users Scheme); Rural Mobile ( including the Mobile Black Spots programme, and Spectrum towers), Marae Digital Connectivity and the Public Safety Network, which is upgrading New Zealand’s critical emergency services’ communication networks.
CIP has been appointed by the DPMC Cyclone Recovery Unit to manage the Cyclone Recovery Programme of work, which spans several appropriations covering: North Island Weather Events (NIWE) ~$1.7bn, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) ~$12.3m, Flood Resilience Co-Funding Fund (FRCF) ~$80m.
BOARD MEMBERS
Mark Binns (Chair) was appointed a Director of the Company on 1 June 2018. His career has seen him involved in many of New Zealand’s largest infrastructure projects, including the Wiri Prison public-private partnership, Waterview Connection, Eden Park, SKYCITY, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Manapōuri tunnel. For 22 years, Mark worked at Fletcher Building and its predecessor, Fletcher Challenge Limited. Mark was Chief Executive of Meridian from 2012 to 2017 and is also a former Chief Executive of the Infrastructure Division of Fletcher Building Limited. Mark is a qualified lawyer. He is currently a Director of Auckland International Airport, Metlifecare Limited and Te Pūia Tāpapa, a trustee of Auckland War Memorial Museum and Chair of Global Taskforce Limited.
Alan Dent, BCA, CA established and led the Deloitte Corporate Finance Wellington practice from 1990 until May 2020. He led the Deloitte NZ Firm’s Financial Advisory Services practice from 2014 till 2020. He was a member of the Deloitte NZ Partner Board from 2000 to 2012. Alan retired from Deloitte in May 2021 after 39 years with the firm – and 26 years as a partner. Alan has provided commercial and financial advice in a broad range of contexts across both the public and private sectors including mergers and acquisitions, SOE/Crown entity establishment, financial reporting, and dispute resolution. Alan has been extensively involved in advising on government-initiated sector reform and the related establishment processes. Until his retirement Alan led the Deloitte Water sector team and has delivered multiple projects in the Three Waters sector. Alan is an Associate Member of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand and a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Mr Chris Gudgeon has been involved in property investment, development and construction in New Zealand for more than 25 years. He was previously Chief Executive of Kiwi Property Group and Capital Properties NZ Ltd. Mr Gudgeon holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from The University of Canterbury. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, a director of Argosy Property and is a past President of Property Council New Zealand.
Bella is a chartered accountant and has worked in the oil, gas and utilities industries. She has a wealth of global market understanding and governance expertise.
She is currently a Director at The Lines Company, a member of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Council, an independent member of the Group Audit and Risk Committee of Waikato Tainui, a trustee of the Māniapoto Māori Trust Board, Māngai Māori representative for the finance committee of the Hamilton City Council and is a current Director of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited including Chair of Audit and Risk Committee and Director on Te Ohu’s Portfolio Management Services Limited.
Mei Fern Johnson is a partner at law firm Russell McVeagh. She has more than 20 years experience advising on mergers and acquisitions and complex commercial contracting, with particular expertise in investment in the infrastructure, technology, transport and energy sectors. She also works with many public sector agencies and Crown entities, and was (Acting) General Counsel for the Accident Compensation Corporation in 2014-2015. Mei Fern served on Russell McVeagh’s Board from 2018-2022.
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Graham Mitchell is CEO of Crown Infrastructure Partners, established by the New Zealand Government to invest NZ$1.6 billion (~US$1.1 billion) with private sector partners to deploy ultra-fast broadband (Fibre-to-the-Premise) to 86% of the population by 2022.
Prior to this, Graham was the CEO of Cogent Communications, part of the OneSource Group. Before then, he headed US telecommunications venture capital funded, Optical WDM OEM.
During ten years spent at Telecom New Zealand he held senior positions including Group GM of Business, Wholesale and Network Services and GM of the Internet and Directories Division, both in Australia. Graham’s considerable corporate finance experience is derived from roles with Telecom, Brierley Investments, Electricity Corporation and Transpower.
Sean joined Crown Infrastructure Partners in April 2010. Prior to this, Sean was the CEO of twenty4media, an out of home media business that operates television networks for banks and airlines in Australasia. Before this Sean was CEO of INL where he was responsible for selling the company’s publishing interests to Fairfax Media for $1.25 billion and for the company’s $2.5 billion merger with Sky Television.
Sean was previously with Saturn Communications and later TelstraSaturn where he held the positions of Director Corporate Development, Managing Director Residential and Director Sales and Marketing. Prior to this Sean was with a national law firm.
Sean has a Bachelor of Law from Victoria University.
Kathryn oversees the legal, corporate governance, communications, government relations and commercial operations functions at Crown Infrastructure Partners.
Kathryn has over 20 years of in-house legal experience spanning a diverse range of industries including telecommunications, power generation, electrical engineering, facilities management, roading and infrastructure.
Kathryn has held senior management positions in legal and tax. Prior to joining Crown Infrastructure Partners in 2010, Kathryn was the General Counsel and Corporate Risk Officer for Transfield Services.
Kathryn has a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Social Sciences from Waikato University.
John joined Crown Infrastructure Partners in May 2010 after 27 years in the Telecommunications industry. Prior to his appointment as CTO, John held various roles in Telecom New Zealand Limited, and was Head of Technology Strategy at the time of his departure. Previous roles have included Director of Networks for large business and residential ISPs in Australia and New Zealand, Head of Networks for AAPT, an Australian carrier, and various engineering and architectural roles in Telecom New Zealand.
As an Engineer and project manager, John has often been at the leading-edge of telecommunication technology implementation in New Zealand. This has included Internet Service Providers, Intelligent Networks, and ISDN (including one of the world’s first national ISUP implementations).
Dougal Evison joined Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) in January 2014. He is responsible for the financial reporting, valuation advice, assessment of commercial transactions and forecasting CIP’s capital requirements and the ongoing financial performance of Local Fibre companies (LFCs).
Prior to joining CIP Dougal was previously with KPMG and progressed to finance roles in Insurance and Banking with AMP and ASB.
Dougal has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (Hons) from Victoria University.