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Experienced markets practitioner Rob Hamilton has been appointed NZX Board Chair-Elect following the announcement in February that current Board Chair James Miller is to retire after next year’s annual shareholder meeting (ASM).
Mr Miller says Mr Hamilton’s appointment follows a comprehensive succession process. He has been appointed to the Board effective immediately. He will take over from Mr Miller in April 2023 following confirmation at the ASM.
“I am thrilled Rob will be joining the NZX Board as his leadership skills, intellect and more than 30 years’ experience in the financial sector will place him well to oversee the myriad of matters that NZX manages as a market operator and business,” Mr Miller says.
Mr Hamilton is a respected member of New Zealand’s capital markets and finance community. He is a former Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at First NZ Capital (now Jarden) and Chief Financial Officer at Sky City Entertainment Group. He is a director of Westpac New Zealand, Tourism Holdings, and Oceania Healthcare. Mr Hamilton will serve on all Committees whilst he remains Chair-Elect and will be a member of the NZX Clearing and Nominations committees and an ex-officio member of the Audit and Risk Committee following his appointment as Chair.
Mr Miller also announced that Rachel Walsh would be joining the NZX Board effective immediately.
Ms Walsh is a senior financial executive and a qualified chartered accountant. She is the Chief Financial Officer of Datacom Group and a member of the External Reporting Advisory Panel (XRAP). Ms Walsh was previously CFO at listed healthcare company Abano Healthcare Group. She has worked at Rank Group Limited where she was involved in private equity acquisitions and divestments, debt raising in the US markets and financial reporting in the US market and under International Financial Reporting Standards. Ms Walsh has also worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Director in Audit. She will be a member of the NZX Audit and Risk, Clearing and Technology committees.
“I am delighted with Rachel’s appointment. She brings a private equity lens to the board table, in addition to her extensive financial expertise,” Mr Miller said. “Rachel will bring capacity and depth to the Audit and Risk, and Clearing committees.
“Rob and Rachel are proven performers. They are outstanding leaders whose strong understanding of markets, listed company requirements, financial services and increasing business performance will be of great value to NZX,” Mr Miller says.
As part of the succession process, current directors Nigel Babbage and Richard Bodman have decided to take the opportunity to retire from the Board on 22 November 2022 and 31 December 2022 respectively. Both have served more than five years on the Board.
“With increasing business and family interests, alongside the time-consuming workload on NZX committees, Nigel and Richard have indicated they require greater capacity to devote to their other commitments,” Mr Miller says.
“Nigel and Richard leave NZX in good heart and financial position. They have been part of a Board that has moved the organisation from being a narrow-based exchange operator into a scaled diversified financial with the expansion of Smartshares and the growth of Wealth Technologies.
“Nigel has been a long-term supporter and champion of NZX and expects this to continue in the future. His deep financial and capital markets experience and insights have been of great benefit to NZX in delivering to our growth strategy, particularly around derivatives.
“He has made an outstanding contribution to the Clearing Committee and the Nominations Committee throughout his tenure. On behalf of NZX and New Zealand’s capital markets we would like to thank Nigel for his contribution.”
Mr Miller said Mr Bodman had been an excellent director, bringing first-class technical skills alongside promoting high-quality ethical standards and behaviour.
“At NZX he has helped drive the establishment and expansion of our Wealth Technologies business alongside improvements in our technology and clearing operations.
“We thank Richard for his significant contribution and wish him all the best for the future.”
