Media Release - HRNZ Board Elections and Appointments

HRNZ BOARD ELECTION & APPOINTMENTS

In June of this year, the clubs and kindred bodies of Harness Racing New Zealand voted to make a significant change to the make-up and structure of the board of Harness Racing New Zealand.

The new board will have eight members (down from 11) and for the first time two independent directors will be appointed.

This move to a more streamlined board model will see HRNZ better equipped to deal with the challenges that the industry faces in an increasingly competitive racing and sports environment.

The clubs and kindred bodies of HRNZ have voted for four places on the newly constituted board.

As a result of that vote the following people have been appointed to the new board of HRNZ, effective after the AGM on September 28th: John Coulam, Colin Hair, Kevin McNaught and Ken Spicer.

The Auckland Trotting Club has selected Ross Johnson as their appointed director and John Grainger will continue to represent the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club.

The new board will meet for the first time after the HRNZ AGM in September. The Chair, Deputy Chair and the head of the Audit & Risk Committee will be elected at this meeting.

The recruitment process for appointing the independent directors will now commence. This will be managed by the nationally recognised governance recruitment specialist, Sheffield Ltd.

Ken Spicer, the current Chair of HRNZ said, “I would like to extend my thanks to the current members of the board and in particular those directors who will not be continuing with the new board. They all have a common goal of seeing harness racing in New Zealand thriving and growing returns to
stakeholders and I applaud them for the way they have led and embraced this change process”.